By Kelsey Groome, Managing Director, TRAUB

Retail, as they say, is therapy.  The cathartic experience today is increasingly coming from in-store wellness concepts versus shopping for shopping’s sake.  As traditional retailers around the world are reimagining the brick and mortar store, fitness for the mind, body and soul is getting more attention and more space.  At Saks, for instance, you can take a boot camp class at ConBody, followed by a BREATHE Salt Room treatment and on your way out pick up personalized vitamins by Care/Of.  Saks’ 16,000 square foot zone in NY called The Wellery is one example of a growing trend of traditional retailers tapping into the daily rituals of the consumer.

In 2016 global spend on wellness was $3.7 trillion and is expected to grow 17% over the next five years.  $390 billion was spent on mind/body exercise globally.  Contributing to this increase is the proliferation of the boutique fitness, beauty and wellness studios that are taking significant share of the consumer’s time and wallet. SoulCycle, Flywheel, Mile High Run Club, SLT, Pure Barre, Bar Method, CorePower Yoga, Pure Yoga, Rumble, City Row, are among the leaders in the rising tide of fitness studios.  At approximately $34 per class, multiple times a week, the monthly boutique fitness spend can be upwards of $400.

 

The Wellness Consumer

This consumer is making a powerful choice to prioritize health of body and spirit. They believe in a better self and focus on long-term solutions versus quick fixes; prevention over reaction; and repetition versus one offs. In doing so, they are giving the retailer a window to build deeper relationships and a sense of community with their customers.  Free People, for instance, opened a wellness sanctuary in SoHo featuring meditation workshops, yoga classes, make up consultations and panel discussions.  And in Paris, Colette launched Colette Gym and has featured workouts from Ballet Beautiful to a skateboard fitness routine.

Department Stores as Partners

As custodians of multi-brand environments, department stores are the perfect partner to cluster the wellness concepts under one roof, making it convenient for consumers to have access to a breadth of services.  The same week that Saks opened the Wellery, Harrods opened a 10,500 square foot holistic wellness clinic that offers bespoke treatments ranging from skin care products tailored to DNA to an intense vitamin drip through the Elixir Clinic to cryotherapy.

 

Palacio de Hierro is leading the charge in Mexico in their Santa Fe store by transforming floor space into a large wellness zone that includes fitness studios, soccer training facilities, meditation areas and healthy dining concepts.  Selfridges was one of the first to bring a spinning studio instore as a pop-up with Pyscle and they partnered with Headspace to bring meditation pods in store.  Bloomingdale’s recently partnered with the wellness video network Grokker to offer yoga and fitness classes in select stores for the month of May.

As traditional retailers embrace the wellness mantra, they are engaging with their customer emotionally, spiritually and physically.  As a result, it is an opportunity to become part of the consumers routine and increase repeat visits, lengthen dwell time, drive footfall and energize the floor space.

Through wellness, shopping may have found its Namaste.

Kelsey Groome is Managing Director at TRAUB where she manages TRAUB’s strategic consulting practice with clients domestically, as well as in the UAE, South Africa, Europe and Mexico.  In particular, Kelsey’s focus includes working with retailers and brands to develop and implement growth strategies as well as advising real estate clients on leasing and merchandising strategies.  Currently, TRAUB is serving as the exclusive leasing advisor to Gulf Related, a joint venture that it helped forge between New York based Related and Abu Dhabi based Gulf Capital. Kelsey, together with TRAUB CEO, Mortimer Singer, has led the merchandising and leasing strategy for The Galleria, a state of the art luxury retail development in Abu Dhabi, which includes a large selection of the world’s leading luxury brands. Kelsey’s wellness routine includes Soul Cycle, pilates and daily meditation in TRAUB’s Somadome meditation pod!  For more: kgroome@marvintraub.com or www.marvintraub.com