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Fashion On Her Mind: Cotton Club’s Lisa Spain Combines Designer Fine Jewelry And Clothes | June 11, 2014 (0 comments)
Houston, TX—It's relatively rare to find fine jewelry and clothing sold within the same square footage. Lisa Spain of the Cotton Club Collection, Houston Texas, has managed this feat, with an enviable merchandise turn to boot.
Spain purchased the Cotton Club Women, Sport, and Men stores with her sister in 1989. At the time, she wasn't in retail; she did outside sales of advertising specialties and telephone systems. They bought the stores, which sold men's and women's clothing, with a Small Business Administration loan—and paid it off within the first year.
Spain worked with her late sister and with her father as her CPA and advisor, as she learned the retail ropes. She bought her sister out, becoming sole owner in 2002, finding her niche in retail. In 2004, when the lease was up, Spain moved the Cotton Club Collection into a freestanding building near Houston's Galleria, in the tony River Oaks section. At the time, she sold women's clothing and a small amount of fine jewelry, but she really got her feet wet in jewelry through a leased department.
Then five years ago Spain took over the jewelry department herself, transforming it into a major part of her Cotton Club Collection business.
The store today has 4,000 square feet of selling space, plus another 1,000 square feet upstairs for office space, et cetera. The store sells jeans, t-shirts, pajamas, accessories, both European and American fashion collections, and Spain's own private label line, Pure Amici (also sold in 300 stores across the US).
Diamonds and denim definitely do go together! Above, a full view of the Cotton Club Collection interior. Below, a closeup of how clothes and jewelry displays mingle.
And then there's the jewelry. It occupies about a fourth of the selling space. The brand names are well-known: Todd Reed, Sethi Couture, Pamela Froman, Fern Freeman, Lika Behar, Just Jules, Suneera Fine Jewelry, Bertolucci, S&R Designs, Andrea Fohrman, Ila & I, Erica Molinari, KC Designs, Roberto Demeglio Lauren K, Lisa Nik, Cotton Club Collection, Beny Sofer Jewelry, Gabriel & Co, and Megan Thorne.
As it turns out, under Spain's direction, her jewelry inventory behaves similarly to her clothes, offering her a good turn. "It's a women's store," says Spain. "Customers come in on a weekly basis. It's all about turn. Since our clothing turns four to five times a year, the jewelry has to turn quickly as well."
Most sources cite jewelry turn between one and two times per year, so it's significant to note that Spain manages an average of three times per year. Most of her regular customers do buy jewelry. "Some say 'we can't buy jewelry,' but when they see it often, they buy it. We turn them into buyers. And of course, some wait for a sale."
"It's a woman's store," says Cotton Club Collection owner Lisa Spain, above. Since her customers come in as often as weekly to see what's new in apparel, she's also developed an enviable turn on her fine jewelry.
Spain has a twice-yearly sale. "The clothing has to go," she says. "The jewelry doesn't, but we do what we can to move it. Part of my success with jewelry is because this is a clothing store. A clothing store is so different from a jewelry store. Many people are not comfortable coming into a jewelry store, but they are comfortable coming in here. Our store looks like a house. We serve coffee and bake cookies every day. We serve the guys beer and pour wine for the women. It's comfortable. It's a non-pressure environment. People come in and walk around and browse."
The low threshold resistance has helped Spain turn her clothing customers into jewelry customers. "Most of my customers come in weekly to see what's new in stock.”
Along with inventory turn, Spain also manages a healthy average sale price. "For clothing, it's about $1,000. For jewelry, the average is $1,500." And while fashion apparel may be where Spain started, today jewelry sales total 55% of sales, outpacing the clothes.
Spain chooses her jewelry and designers carefully. "I'm always looking for designers who continue to evolve and change, since we have to continually change as fashion changes."
Todd Reed is one of those designers for the Cotton Club Collection. "My big thing with Todd is his repurposing. That's huge for me. My clients bring in pieces from their jewelry boxes. Todd sits down with them and comes up with a sketch and a price. He takes something that's old and makes it cool. And he loves doing that. He came down last fall, set up at a table, took appointments all day and sketched."
Along with clothing and jewelry, Spain also sells handbags, which seem to go nicely with jewelry. "Handbags are seasonal," says Spain. "Our customers have to buy one of them every season. No black bags in spring! In spring, it's all about color. They buy an orange handbag, then find earrings to match. Here, we sell jewelry as fashion."
One might wonder how Spain manages the sales aspect of both clothing and jewelry. In her store, it's simple. Everyone is trained to sell everything. Her staff of six (four full-time, one part-time, and one general manager), along with Spain, make sales six days a week, Monday thru Saturday (and other times by appointment).
Spain sees advantages for her sales staff to sell jewelry. "I tell them that it's a lot easier to sell a $1,500 necklace than to stay in a dressing room for an hour for $1,000 worth of clothes." The commissions are also similar; 4%-8% for clothing and a flat 5% for jewelry.
Jewelry and watch cases at Cotton Club Collection.
Customer service is paramount at the Cotton Club Collection. "That's what we have to offer," says Spain. "I will do whatever it takes. We wrap and deliver and go the extra mile whenever we're needed. We reach out personally."
Spain also keeps an extensive jewelry wish list for her clients. "The husbands love that. It makes their shopping easy and the women get what they want -- that's the bottom line. We tell them to give us his name/number and we'll take care of it."
Spain and her staff do plenty of calling, texting and emailing to customers (and their significant others). They also advertise with larger ads in local magazines, including two hotel magazines that offer the magazine in rooms.
Along with a website that will be updated soon, online Spain takes advantage of Facebook and Instagram. "We shoot pictures of what's new and our customers know they can look there for the latest in fashion."
For Spain, it all comes back to fashion. She's fashion forward and sometimes is a bit ahead of her customers on the latest trends. "On the fashion side, I bring in trends early and sometimes my customers don't get it. And then when they do, I'm on to something else."
But clearly, Spain gets it right with a very good frequency. She's all about fashion as evidenced in the sign-off on her emails, "Sent with Fashion on my mind."