Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 42
MEMBER PROFILE
ALL DRESSED UP
Trendy Toronto retailer enjoys success and growth with smart and
innovative business model and excellent customer service
BY R ANDY SCOTLAND
WHEN you step into Rent frock Repeat's funky
Toronto showroom, it's evident that this is not
your typical dress shop. And that is precisely
the point, says Kristy Wieber, the company's
co-founder and president.
"We really wanted it to be an anti-retail experience," she says of the cool loft vibe. With
its soaring ceiling, rolling racks of designer
dresses, fashion stylists and backroom buzz
of shippers packaging orders, the ambiance is
anything but retail conventional.
"When we first launched the company we had
no intention of having a showroom," admits
Wieber, who co-founded Rent frock Repeat in
2010 with business partner Lisa Delorme, the
company's CEO.
"We thought we'd be completely e-commerce.
But we kept getting asked over and over again,
'Can I try the dress on? Do you have a place?' So
three months later we opened the showroom."
The company has since opened a second showroom in Ottawa, and is scouting other locations
in western Canada.
Here's the Rent frock Repeat premise:
Women looking for a high-end label for a special event go online (RentfrockRepeat.com) or
visit the showroom in person, find a dress-the
current inventory has about 300 different styles
to choose from-and rent it at a fraction of the
retail cost (the priciest frock currently in stock
retails for about $5,000).
Depending on the dress, four-day rentals start
at $50 and go up to $260. For peace of mind, another dress size can be rented at the same time
Kristy Wieber, president and co-founder of Rent frock Repeat.
for an additional $10. The dress then arrives
in the mail, or you can pick it up at the showroom and save on business partner had read about a company in
shipping. After the event, the dress goes back in a prepaid return the United States that rented designer dresses,
package, or can be dropped off at the showroom.
and we though 'that's brilliant'. So we went onIt's an unusual business model for a womenswear retailer. And line, we went through the whole process, and at
it's one that came about surreptitiously.
checkout it said 'we don't ship to Canada.'
"The whole thing started because my business partner and
"That was that moment we looked at each
I were invited to a wedding," Wieber explains. "We were both other and I could see the lightbulb over her
complaining that we didn't want to go buy another dress that head and she could see it over mine. And we
was just going to be worn once and then sit in our closet. My both said, 'let's do this.'"
42 |
CANADIAN RETAILER | HOLIDAY 2015
http://www.RentfrockRepeat.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015
Publisher's Desk
Retail Currents
Retail: At Issue
Interac Ups Its Game in Power Play Showdown With Credit
Light in the Darkness
A Lifetime in Protection
Grocery Sector Stands Up to LP Challenges
Enter: The CSIO
CSCA Retail 100
Advertiser's Index
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - cover1
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - cover2
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 3
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - Publisher's Desk
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 5
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - Retail Currents
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 7
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 8
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 9
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - Retail: At Issue
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 11
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - Interac Ups Its Game in Power Play Showdown With Credit
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 13
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 14
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 15
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 16
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 17
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 18
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 19
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - Light in the Darkness
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 21
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 22
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 23
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 24
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 25
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - A Lifetime in Protection
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 27
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - Grocery Sector Stands Up to LP Challenges
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 29
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 30
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 31
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - Enter: The CSIO
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 33
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 34
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 35
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 36
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 37
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - CSCA Retail 100
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 39
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 40
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 41
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 42
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 43
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 44
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - Advertiser's Index
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 46
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - cover3
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - cover4
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 49
Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 50
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Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 52
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