ACCESSORIES ARE THE CROWN JEWEL OF RETAIL

It’s about time – accessories in all colors, styles and sizes are making the rounds of celebrity-hood. And not in the Hollywood sense of the word, but in a retail sense. If you’ve been to fashion boutiques and department stores lately (Henri Bendel is a good example) you will notice that accessories (bracelets, bags, hair accessories, hats and baubles) are selling and creating a fashion buzz. They also have a section on the first floor with headbands, head-wraps and fascinators.

Having just come back from New York, it was impossible not to become enamored with the amount (and placement) of brilliantly colored accessories in more than one department. Like a pretty girl, accessories are the drawing card to lure in consumers. At Henri Bendel’s accessories were scattered all over the first floor almost as a welcome mat. Their ongoing promotion marries fashion merchandise with trends from the gospel (fashion magazines). The current promotion combines the authenticity and fashion authority of Elle Magazine with that of Henri Bendel. And I must say it is impressive.

But what is interesting is that accessories (especially hats) take up residence on the second floor as well as the mezzanine. And as many retailers have said, accessories are a “feel good” remedy for whatever ails you. And the obvious is that the price tag of a hat is quite a bargain compared to a jacket or dress (for men a suit or sweater).

The interesting thing to note is that this sparkling array of baubles and beads is quite charismatic and has the ability to pry open the wallets of consumers (the first floor was quite crowded and the energy felt like a nightclub). But make sure you take your blood pressure medicine before you pull out your wallet, the prices are stratospheric (pre-Madoff money for sure).

You could say that accessories are the new Prozac and hopefully hatters will be able to join in on this party-line. We noticed that Grace Hats were sitting on the first and second floor at Bendel (we liked their unfinished edged straw fedoras).

There’s another new trend going on - and it’s commonly known as customer service (nice is the new retail personality disorder). The second line of defense is discounting to delirium. The Ellie Tahari store in Town Center Mall in Boca Raton was offering $100 off on any purchase last Saturday. They also had a table with champagne, wine and chocolates (another Prozac inducing euphoria for women). If you can’t kill them with kindness, than stores are seducing customers with discounts (Borders Books offered 40 percent off any thing in the store last weekend).

Regardless of the situation we hear that headwear sales are holding their own. Could they be better, of course. But many vendors are having a decent time at trade shows. We just heard from Toshi of River Up U.S.A. and he said that business at the last MAGIC show was great. They were worried they might not get orders for Fall- Winter ’09, but buyers were more than willing to spend, said Toshi. He also noted that there were a lot of buyers from the East coast rather than from LA.

We have heard from other hat vendors that there are bright spots on the retail horizon. But, let’s face it, we’ve seen better times. But the challenge continues to be getting everyone to wear a hat. I was surprised to see men and women of all ages walking around NYC without hats on amidst the chilling temperatures. Go figure.