Late last year we spoke about Southern Florida as a huge growth opportunity for brands and retailers at large. Three Leap-powered stores opened in West Palm Beach in Q4 of 2020. This new store cluster is generating significant buzz, sales, and new customers. Real estate experts in the Palm Beach market are also noticing a domestic migration to South Florida, hailing Rosemary Square as a catalyst that’s attracting new customers and brands.
Sarah Bowgren, Leap’s General Manager at Rosemary Square who oversees our three stores there, has seen this success firsthand.
Read her highlights from Rosemary Square below, including our latest developments, new store exclusives, and her favorite part about working across three different brands.
Q: It’s clear Rosemary Square is onto something special - what has been your favorite part about working for Leap in Rosemary Square?
Rosemary Square is not just a place of work for me, I also call it home. My family and I live in one of the buildings in the Square, and I feel this really brings an elevated community feel. I can’t tell you how many neighbors swing in just to check and see how things are going.
When people ask me what I love most about my job, the answer is creating personalized guest experiences by developing dynamic teams. I take pride in seeing our associates drive results by getting to know our guests, building trust, and finding the right products to fit their needs.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about the shoppers at Rosemary Square and the three brands that Leap powers there?
Our guests are usually a great mix of locals and tourists, so it’s important to help them create a connection to the brands by telling each individual brand stories.
Faherty is the most established brand with about 20 stores nationwide, but this is their first store in Florida. I love introducing them to a new market and building awareness of their quality merchandise.
For Spanish brand Mint & Rose, this is their first-ever storefront in the United States. They need our support in not only sharing their brand story, but getting guest to try their products so they can tell stories of their own.
Solid & Striped is similar, as they are building brand awareness in a new market where “swimsuit season” is year-round. Solid & Striped and my team have worked together to create a great, immersive experience for customers when they walk in. My team also knows how intimate it can be to purchase a swimsuit, so we have an intuitive understanding of which styles work best on different body types.
Q: With three stores powered by Leap under your leadership that are all right next to one another, talk to us a bit about how this strategy of “clustering” comes to life.
Our setup at Rosemary Square is truly unique. I can cross-promote and bring a guest through all three doors for a truly remarkable experience-one you will not find anywhere else.
For example, I can help a guest choose a beautiful swimsuit for the beach at Solid & Striped, walk over to Mint & Rose for handcrafted sandals, then stop by Faherty to complete the look with a summer dress. We also partner on a ton of events, activations, and promotions, which is a lot of fun for the team and for our shoppers.
One day I was helping cover a break at Mint & Rose and was wearing a dress from Faherty and a beautiful pair of handcrafted wedges from M&R. A couple walked in visiting from Michigan and the wife started telling her husband how much she loved my look. I told her she had great taste and was in luck! She not only left with both items, but she left the store wearing them for a night out on the town. It’s those success stories you strive for in the business model we have set up here at Leap. We truly succeed when all doors are working together to boost each other’s business.
We’re excited to build on this success in West Palm Beach and are rapidly launching new stores and clusters across southern Florida and other markets in the US. Visit our website to learn more about our clusters and how we power omnichannel retail for modern brands.
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