Oddly enough, people love trucks: take Ashton Kutcher's infamous — and grossly unfortunate — trucker hat phase in the early 2000s, for example. Recent years have seen an outpouring of trucks selling just about anything, popping up in cities throughout the country. What started off as a food truck trend has quickly expanded beyond the realm of falafel and banh mi to now include clothing and accessories too. So au revoir traditional retail storefronts, hello mobile fashion trucks.
From Food to Fashion
Inspired by the innovation of the food truck revolution, Amy Lynn Chase (nicknamed "Punky") decided to expand her online retail store into the mobile vintage shop, Haberdash Vintage, back in February 2009. At the time, Chase was looking for a retail space, but found that everything was too expensive. Chase was hanging out with friends one night, wondering how she could make this work, when something serendipitous happened:
"We walked outside of the bar and there was a food truck there. I go [to my friends], ‘I'm going to put all of my clothes in my trunk and sell them out of my trunk,'" Chase said. "I was just joking around at first. But then I go, ‘Or, I'll buy a food truck, and put [the clothes] in the food truck.' And so the next morning I was on eBay looking for trucks."
Emily Benson had a similar experience when she decided to open up shop with The Fashion Truck in the summer of 2010. After gaining six years of retail experience working at stores like Henri Bendel and Club Monaco, Benson thought it was high time to open a boutique of her own. Like Chase, however, Benson realized that the advantage of a retail truck is that start-up costs are much lower than that of a traditional storefront. Watching the whole food truck trend skyrocket in New York City eventually pushed Benson to take a risk by bringing retail fashion to the streets.
"I always thought, ‘How cool would it be if a store pulled right up to your house or your office?' It always intrigued me, and when I saw the food trucks I thought, ‘Hey, I can make it look like a store instead of a kitchen,'" Benson said.
For Derrick Cheung, a senior at Emerson College and co-owner of the high-end street wear truck, Green Street Vault, along with business partner Howard Travis, this flexibility and freedom to reach out to customers are what sparked their desire to create a mobile retail truck.
"We figured if it's not busy in one spot, we should be able to move to another spot. React to what's going on, react to the business, and then move to another location that's busier," Cheung said. "We weren't trying to work off of the food truck trend or anything like that. We were just trying to reinvent the retail wheel and create something new."
Setting Up ‘Shop'
Mobile retail trucks may be a more prudent option economy-wise, but setting up shop in the confines of a moving vehicle isn't exactly a cakewalk.
"I wouldn't say to anyone that opening a store inside a truck is easy. It's definitely not," Benson said. "But I really fell in love with the idea of having a shop of my own that I could kind of curate and play in."
Chase spent about two months renovating her own retro-style trailer into the makings of a real boutique. "My space is only 12 feet by 7 feet. You have to be creative," Chase said. "I was so obsessed with the trailer that every waking minute I was playing with it. It was all very hands-on."
When Haberdash Vintage opened in 2009, Chase unknowingly paved the way for the fashion truck trend when her trailer became the first mobile vintage shop in America.
"I didn't really know that there was no one else out there until we started getting press right away," Chase said. "We started in Worcester, and then I started doing the SoWa Open Market. Soon stores in Boston were requesting that we come and just open up shop outside their stores. Everybody wanted Haberdash there. It was really cool."
Beyond the obvious innovation, what is interesting about the Green Street Vault truck is how the concept even came about. Cheung was only a junior when he created a business plan for the mobile retail truck in Emerson's Entrepreneurial Studies (E3) program last year. After winning the first prize of $5,000 in start-up cash in the E3 Expo, sneakerheadsCheung and Travis hit the pavement in style with the Green Street Vault this past August.
On the Road
Unlike traditional storefronts and even their food truck counterparts, mobile retail trucks benefit from their ability to move from location to location on a whim. Green Street Vault, for example, sets up shop just about anywhere in the suburbs of Boston depending on the weather, the day and the demand from customers.
"Food trucks are now limited to food truck spots in specific locations. Whereas we can just pull up to a spot, pay for two, three hours and then just set up shop," Cheung explained. "[But that's] only because no one's really done this before in the way that we're doing it."
While Green Street Vault sets up shop in places like Porter Square and MIT, the heftiness of The Fashion Truck — which spans two car lengths — makes maneuvering around the city too difficult. As a result, The Fashion Truck makes its rounds outside of Boston.
"I've been focused on being very targeted in where I go and who I go to," Benson said.
In fact, Benson has developed a three-pronged approach to reaching clientele, including events like the SoWa Open Market, private parties and a mix of going out on the streets and building up an online store.
Hoping to expand her customer base, Benson also uses her fashion expertise with services to help clients organize their closets, build their wardrobes, put together outfits and act as their personal shopper. In addition, Benson explains that hosting private parties on The Fashion Truck is a huge opportunity for business at the moment.
"Women love getting together with other women. And parties are a social experience — as is shopping — so the two go hand in hand," Benson said. "I'll drive to your house on a Friday night at 7:00 and you can have a really fun night with your girlfriends and shop."
What about when things get too cold in New England over the winter? The Fashion Truck will quite literally be migrating south to Florida for the season until things warm up for its return in April.
While it may be harder for people to make their way to the shop when it is hopping around town, this aspect of spontaneity is what keeps customers coming back for more. By constantly updating their Twitter, Facebook and website pages with their changes in location, Cheung and Travis allow customers to keep track of where the Green Street Vault will be at any given time in the Boston area.
"It's really easy for us because it's just me and Howard on the truck every day," Cheung said. "So if someone tells us I need this in this size, we'll write it down and get it for them. We'll tweet at them on their personal Twitter accounts, they'll come out to us."
Great Things Come in Small Packages
Because fashion trucks have such limited storage, all three mobile retail truck owners agree that innovation and creativity in opening up the space and designing displays within these confines is key. One solution is to have a quick turnover of products so things don't get too cluttered.
Fortunately for Chase, being a fashion blogger gives her access to a huge outreach of shoppers that keep a steady stream of business flowing in. "We've been able to have a really good turnover rate. So each event that I do, we have to restock the store," Chase said.
For newcomer Green Street Vault, it's all about economizing space for their mix of brand name and local Boston-based street-wear apparel and sneakers.
"We buy small runs in pretty much everything because we like to keep our inventory fresh," Cheung explained. "We like to cycle through all of the inventory that we have to make the space work."
Fun, Fresh Fashion on Wheels
So, what is it about buying things out of a truck that people find so appealing? For mobile retail boutiques, it's as much about the products as it is about the unique customer experience.
"The novelty aspect of the truck is still so fresh," Benson said. "Most women, — and guys, actually — young and old, have this sense of ‘Wow, this is cool.' And that's what I'm going for."
It's this originality and element of surprise that Chase also believes make fashion trucks so sought after. "We shop every day and consume everything. But when there's an extra element involved in an unexpected place, it's fun," Chase said.
Cheung said that the ultimate goal for mobile retail trucks — as with any traditional retail store in today's economy — is to "create an experience for the customer that they can't find anywhere else, which is what we do every day."
Benson's goal, simply put? "I just want people to leave with a smile."
