Brooklyn residents stepping off the L train in New York's busy Union Square station will be treated to an odd sight starting Tuesday: a small, brightly-lit store piping upbeat music and a distinctly above-ground vibe. Should they step inside the little would-be sanctuary, they'll see a mix of millennial-friendly staples on sale, from fresh-pressed juice to luxury headphones, even an emoji keyboard. The bottled water? It's only a dollar–if you download a free app, which offers a mix of article recommendations, product offerings and a song playlist of the day.
You'll find another of the shops in downtown Manhattan's upscale Brookfield Place office complex, this time an island of shelving with no walls that can be redesigned for each day. But if Andrew Deitchman has his way, you'll soon see the hybrid media and retail concept, called The New Stand, sending carts down office building corridors and selling protein bars in the lobbies of big tech companies.
"We're focused on day improvement," Deitchman says. "There's no pixie dust here, but an opportunity to really freshen up retail."
The former cofounder of ad agency Mother New York in 2003, Deitchman stepped away from his chief executive role earlier in the fall to focus on The New Stand, teaming up with a pair of Brooklyn creatives, Lex Kendall and George Alan, who look like walking luxury ads for a Williamsburg fashion periodical. Kendall has consulted hundreds of high-end fashion shows and events and is the creative director of an electric motorcycle company; Alan has modeled for Hermès and Lacoste and helped design the nightclub Output and Playland Motel in Rockaway Beach. A fourth cofounder, David Carson, runs media partnerships after experience at Heavy and Fuse TV. For weeks, they've all have pottered around a Chelsea replica of their Union Square space, perfecting a modular system of magnetic shelving that allows the space to be redesigned every day.
For entrepreneurs used to working on a bit of everything, the founders had to spend months perfecting their app, testing Internet connections to their locations and planning brand partnerships while they waited for the paperwork. The MTA in Union Square, for example, required a formal bid process before Deitchman's group could commit to a ten-year lease; the space sat vacant for two years in the interim. ("They've moved as fast as they could and we're proud to have the space," Deitchman says of his new partner.)
As they waited, The New Stand team signed deals with brands who see potential to showcase their products to the young professionals filing by the startup's locations every day. With its app and Internet-connected panels showing recommended deals and products on a loop, The New Stand sees itself as part show-room, part market research hub, part high-touch ad campaign. "It's three parties coming together," says Kendall, the startup's COO. "We sell a product, the consumer gets a sample, and a brand hits a demo."
The New Stand offers a mix of staples, like the water, lip gloss and even socks, alongside more whimsical products such as desk games, stationary and featured higher-end items like electronics. ("Wouldn't it be cool to have an Oculus in there during the holidays?" the founders ask.) It keeps inventory risk light at the suggestion of its investors, a group of leading executives in retail, advertising, fashion and more (at least some are the founders' friends, one gets the sense) who pumped $2.5 million in funding into the startup pre-launch.
Its investor network and months of planning have also lined up major partners for the launch. In media, its first partner is Time Magazine, which will provide content for the app and sell its print copies in the startup's stores. eBay will do a holiday promotion, and companies such as high-end audio company Master & Dynamic are slated to appear. The New Stand is in talks with other developers after Brookfield, including a leading tech company that may install locations on its campuses in 2016.
Deitchman's pet idea, a 21st-century snack and accessories cart to roam office halls like the sandwich carts of the 1960s, will be piloted at Brookfield in upcoming months. More transit hubs and offices and shopping centers outside New York City are planned, in up to eight cities in 2016. And more business models, like on-demand delivery of items to the stores as ordered through the app, are in discussion.
Such plans have The New Stand's founders most concerned about keeping their focus as they juggle partners, hire up retail staff and use analytics (they'll track store data with Vend, Xero, Mixpanel and more) to figure out what is making the most money for their brand partners. Alan, who leads design and product management, disputes the notion that the concept will skew toward catering only to shoppers with plenty of disposable income to spend. "We're bringing something new to your same-old routine," he says. "With no member cost, you can just grab our daily one-dollar water and come out ahead."
The New Stand doesn't look or feel like a typical startup, but Kendall insists that it's got the same standards–and risk–of any entrepreneur. "After years of thought and planning, everything is riding on this," he says. "To freshen up retail, we think it's taken outsiders," adds Deitchman.
But for The New Stand succeed, it'll take the customers, the crowded-upon, coffee-seeking commuters the startup hopes will make checking their app and stopping by their store part of the morning rush.
