December 2, 2013

Retail 'influencer' gives her thoughts on why we will have stores and online shopping, too

MJ Munsell got her first taste of retailing when she was young helping at her grandmother's clothing store called The Vogue in Christoper, Ill.

In high school and college she worked for a department store, a specialty store and The Limited.

Now Munsell is a principal and retail design leader at Bellevue-based MulvannyG2 Architecture.

Munsell

She recently was named a Retail Design Influencer of the Year by DDI Magazine, joining other “influencers” like Harry Cunningham of Saks Fifth Avenue and Bill Sleeth of Starbucks.

Munsell has 30 years of retail design experience, and also helps clients find new customers and new markets.

She began her career in 1981 with NBBJ in Ohio, and worked there until 1986. She went on to Limited Brands with Victoria's Secret as it was becoming a global brand.

In 1990, Munsell joined Callison in Seattle and spent 22 years there working for Nordstrom, Harvey Nichols, Kohl's, Ann Taylor and Harrods.

She has been at MulvannyG2 for about a year, with West Marine and Uniqlo among her clients.

She said the Seattle area has great national and global retailers — Starbucks, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Nordstrom — that continually adapt to expand their customer base and get younger customers, Munsell said. “You've got to keep going as your customer changes, you've got to be willing to change.”

Successful retailers respond to local markets with their store designs and products, she said.

For example, each Nordstrom store in the Puget Sound region has things that appeal to a particular customer base. The Bellevue store recently got a cocktail bar, which Munsell called “an amenity for women who want to make a day of their experience, or an afternoon.”

The downtown Seattle Nordstrom's metro level is dedicated to men's clothing, with a lounge where people can read newspapers, a fashion lounge for personal shopping and The Grill restaurant. “It's a whole men's environment,” Munsell said.

The retailers that MulvannyG2 Architecture works are trying to keep baby boomer customers and attract Millennials, but each group shops differently and has different needs, Munsell said. “It's tricky.”

Nordstrom has done a great job of not alienating boomers while bringing in their children who have their own taste and style, she said. Younger people might be less concerned with high-end customer service and care more about a casual environment and a speedy checkout via smartphone.

Small but successful

Munsell said Seattle has other smaller-scale retailers that have done well.

Three in the Pike/Pine neighborhood are long-standing businesses owned by people who understand their market, Munsell said.

Elliott Bay Book Co. is thriving, she said, because it understands its customers and gives them a unique environment and advice about what to buy. It also offers events and food so customers linger.

Oddfellows Cafe + Bar on Capitol Hill is a great local coffee shop and cafe, Munsell said. It's owned by Linda Derschang, who has created a number of eating and drinking establishments in the neighborhood: Linda's Tavern, Smith, Bait Shop and the soon-to-be-opened Tallulah's.

Totokaelo offers high-end clothing and home furnishings. Munsell said owner Jill Wenger gives her customers a unique product mix and a high level of service.

Wenger started by selling women's clothing and has added footwear, men's clothing, home accessories and furnishings.

“It's all very edited with a very distinct kind of style (and) point of view,” Munsell said.

Wenger reaches out to customers online and by email. If a customer can't find what they want in her store, they can buy from the Totokaelo website, Munsell said.

Call it the Amazon effect.

“Our expectations (have) increased exponentially — almost every month — and we expect those goods to come very quickly, and service to match that,” Munsell said.

Rainier Square

Munsell has thoughts on the future of Rainier Square.

The University of Washington plans to pick a firm to redevelop the area around Rainier Tower, the centerpiece of Rainier Square. The tower would remain, but much of the block bounded by Union and University streets and Fourth and Fifth avenues would change. The university owns more than 10 acres downtown, including Rainier Square.

A study by The Seneca Group showed 62,000 square feet on the block can be developed.

Munsell said Rainier Square is an amazing location. She envisions a hotel or office tower or a mix of those uses there, with retail at the base.

There should be a pedestrian corridor between both towers and some of the retail in Rainier Tower should be reconfigured to face the corridor.

The corridor would link to the retail core and help direct pedestrians toward the waterfront, Pioneer Square and First Avenue, she said.

Munsell said Seattle needs more stores with prices and apparel somewhere between the discounters and high-end stores.

She said retailers everywhere are concerned about becoming just showrooms for online sales, but the way to address that is to offer a great retail experience with variety, service and, in some cases, theater such as creative visual displays like those at Anthropologie.

“Their store environment is less about the architecture, and more about the visual environment,” she said.

Some online businesses have opened stores because “at some point the customer wants to see the real thing, the real product,” she said.

For example, Bonobos menswear began online, but now has shops with “guides” to help customers.

Piperlime, a footwear, apparel and home accessories seller owned by GAP, used to be online only but it opened a flagship store in New York City.

Munsell said most people shop online to compare prices before purchasing in stores: “You can't replace the opportunity to look, to feel, to touch — and to try on,” she said.