The Elyse Walker Experience: How She Designs and Adapts Her Stores in the Challenging Retail Landscape

Elyse Walker wants customers entering her stores to feel different from how they feel at other retailers.

It’s about striving to make people feel comfortable, creating a communal feeling and sparking a dialogue about styles and products with associates and stylists in the stores. She operates six Elyse Walker luxury designer stores, in Pacific Palisades, Newport Beach, St. Helena and Calabasas, Calif., and in TriBeCa and on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. She also operates two Towne by Elyse Walker stores in Pacific Palisades and Newport Beach that lean more toward modern contemporary labels.

“I studied mathematics, art and architecture. So whenever we’re building a store, I think of the experience for the customer,” Walker told WWD. “We try to build a community in the store. We have chandeliers in all Elyse Walker stores. We always try to have a couch in the middle, because we want you to feel like you’re in a home.

“We always have our jewelry counters at the checkout counter because when you’re paying, you are going to hang out with beautiful, sparkly things — and it opens up a dialogue. Jewelry is conversational. You’ve been in that dressing room for half an hour, or maybe three hours. Then it’s time to start the dialogue on accessories.”

A New York Feeling on Madison

The 6,000-square-foot Elyse Walker store on Madison Avenue and 74th Street evokes a modern, sophisticated New York feel. Just like the merchandise, the decor seems curated, creating a warm, intimate atmosphere conducive to that interaction with the staff Walker encourages.

In creating both the Madison Avenue and St. Helena stores, Walker worked with Janson Scuro, a New York-based architectural and interior design firm. At the Madison store, “there’s an edgy, sexy, dark palette” inspired by the moody New York City clubs of the 1980s, “like Aria,” said Steven Scuro, partner in the design firm, referencing the Manhattan club that was a popular scene but had a short run from 1983 to 1987. “Elyse was in New York back then so she fully understood where we were going.”

One of the design challenges at the Madison site revolved around two columns that were off center and not in alignment, so Scuro created a decorative black screen that serves to unify the columns and creates continuous movement. The odd placement of the columns isn’t noticed. The store is further distinguished by its concrete floor with in-laid stone, and the shoe and handbag areas in the back that’s also the hangout area, with a wool area rug and large, tufted velvet couches.

“We wanted to maintain the customer-focused DNA of her existing stores, so when you come in, you hang out, and look at some beautiful clothes,” Scuro said.

The store also has curving chocolate-colored tables, custom bronze and glass chandeliers, and soft lighting spotlighting the merchandise. The walls are constructed from light gray concrete panels with a pitted, fluted texture creating a focus for the clothing while “retaining the grittiness of old New York,” Scuro said. The fluting casts shadows, and wall sconces marching down both sides of the store produce some ambient lighting.

Capturing a Napa Valley Feeling

By contrast, the St. Helena store has a softer, whiter palette evocative of California’s Napa Valley lifestyle, though elements from the Madison Avenue store are seen, linking the locations, Scuro explained.

“We lightened the feel of the Napa space by painting the ceiling and walls a warm white. White fluted concrete panels are hung in front of the walls to create a tone-on-tone effect. The existing exposed brick walls are maintained but with a soft white painted wash added. A medium gray concrete floor and black metal fixtures complete the palette.”

Scuro added luxurious touches to the Napa site, such as an antique mirror, lacquered wood cabinetry and a large white marble block housing the cash wrap. A long dark gray velvet tufted sofa, a wool rug and the custom chandeliers complete the story. As an organizing tool, Janson Scuro detailed the round columns in the center of the space with new moldings and fluted sides. The columns were then painted black to create what Scuro considers “a strong center to separate the merchandising groups.”

The Elyse Walker stores in Calabasas, St. Helena and TriBeCa range from 2,500 to 3,000 square feet. The three “flagships” in Newport Beach, Pacific Palisades and Madison Avenue range from 6,000 to 12,000 square feet, with Newport Beach the largest.

The two Towne stores are brighter, whiter, with marble walls, marble display pedestals and leather chairs, and range in size from 1,500 to 2,500 square feet. “Our Towne stores are way more casual. It’s a different kind of a vibe,” Walker said.

Elyse Walker sells ready-to-wear, shoes, bags, belts, accessories and jewelry with a mix of established and emerging designer brands, but not too many of either. The merchandising is restrained yet ample as befitting an upscale fashion boutique, and there’s sufficient space for events. About 90 percent of the business is in women’s and 10 percent is in men’s.

Going Narrower and Deeper

Customers will see a change in the merchandising, with the buyers taking a narrower and deeper approach to bestselling labels and trends. “When we feel or see a trend, we are going after it really aggressively,” Walker said. “We’re buying deeper on fewer brands. We carry over 200 brands, but 25 represent 50 percent of sales. Now that doesn’t mean the other 175 brands aren’t important, though they could be at a different price point.”

In the past, Walker would typically buy eight, 10 or 12 units of a strong-selling item. Now, up to 20 per door could be bought, she said. “Most styles aren’t in all eight stores. Sometimes they’re in two, four or six. But our mega brands are in all six Elyse Walker stores. We’re actually sitting with a more aggressive stock position, so we never lose a sale in any store.”

Among the brands where the buy has been pumped up are TWP, Sablyn, Totéme and Citizens of Humanity. “We are going back into our own Elyse Walker label, because we have great cashmere,” Walker added. “By the way, I’m so excited for Chloé, and it’s coming back. It’s going to be awesome.” Other labels where she’s seeing growth include Celine and The Row.

“We’re in an aggressive state of really going deeper with [brands] that have been great partners with us,” Walker said. “We’re also loving some brands that aren’t over distributed.” Still, business is business. “We’re not afraid to cut ties with brands that we’ve been struggling with,” she said.

A Year of “Stability”

Walker characterized 2024 as a year for “stability and increased profit.” It’s also time to further digest all the growth initiatives from 2022 to 2024 when Walker opened three stores, bringing the count to eight, launched e-commerce, and most recently started a rental service. Considering the size of the company — just under $100 million in revenue — the expansion has been relatively outsized. She has a total of more than 125 employees, including about 25 stylists, 45 selling associates and 20 managers covering different areas.

The independent owner and operator of the six Elyse Walker designer stores and two upscale contemporary Towne by Elyse Walker stores is operating a bit less independently than before. P180 — a partnership with Brendan Hoffman, the former chief executive officer of Vince, Lord & Taylor, Wolverine and neimanmarcus.com, and CaaStle founder and CEO Christine Hunsicker — took a stake in Elyse Walker earlier this year. CaaStle is handling the logistics for Walker’s rental business, which launched last May. It’s called Borrow by Elyse Walker. Meanwhile, P180 will continue to invest in or acquire brands and retailers that stand to benefit from CaaStle’s business-to-business rental technology and logistics, but P180 will also provide data and analytics to help Elyse Walker and other retailers buy and price merchandise better, and sell more goods at full price.

“I have a partnership where we all bring something different to the table, but we’re like-minded,” Walker said. She’s a product and people person, and not a techie, she added.

Her relatively new online operation accounts for about 10 percent of total sales. “We’re kind of holding our own there again. We have lots of plans for growth, but I’m in no rush. The return rate can be so high there, and we’ve managed to decrease our return rate tremendously. We are finding stability there and then with P180 and CaaStle’s expertise we have some nice plans for the next 12 months. CaaStle is for our rental business but they are digitally savvy, so we’re going to be working [together] on a lot more than just rental.”

For the online business, “we do it all,” Walker said. “We built our own warehouse. We have our own shipping department. We have our own photography studio. So again, that’s been a big expense, a big investment, but we’re in it for the long haul. We want to control the experience and the narrative.”

Aside from the sophisticated clothes and decor, what visitors to Elyse Walker stores might notice are less conspicuous markdowns.

Finding a New Partner

“P180 really is going to home in on some of the weaknesses in the industry with the markdown cycle,” Walker said. “We are so excited to instead of just throwing things into markdowns, or even liquidation, we can extend the shelf life by putting it into Borrow. We turned Borrow on in May. It lets an aspirational Elyse Walker customer say, ‘I can’t really afford to buy that, but I can borrow it for a fraction of the retail price. I can renew and borrow it again. Or, if I actually really like it, I’ll buy it.’”

She said Borrow has sparked an increase in site traffic, even on the full-price side of the business. “It leads to more viewers, greater interest, and I think more trust. It makes us more approachable.” Asked if Borrow would have been launched without P180 and CaaStle, Walker said without hesitation, “Absolutely not.”

“People are really back shopping in stores,” Walker said. “It’s a great time for brick-and-mortar, as long as you have a point of view. I feel like our buying team is more in sync today, and we’re working together with our sellers and managers as a core unit. Our team members are on the sales floor and really focused on what customers need more of, and what customers are tired of.

“Our Napa store is 35 percent over last year. At Pacific Palisades, which is our bread and butter, and our original, 25-year-old store, gross profit is up 21 percent and the margin is up 10 percent. So people are coming into stores.”

Regarding opening additional stores, Walker said, “I don’t have any leases out. I would say that probably after the new year, we’ll start to look again. I stay up at night or wake up in the morning knowing we should be in Chicago, Miami, Dallas, Houston or San Francisco.”

Because Walker operates only a handful of stores, she stages private “styling suites” in various settings around the country to reach more of the population, and often to support charity. “I don’t like calling them pop-ups, because they’re really great styling suites and very interactive.”

“I always say I work for my customer, and I always tell everyone on our team to get on the sales floor, see what your store looks like, see what brands may be overlapping or redundant. You’re not going to see what a store looks like in a sales report.”

Asked what she likes most about retail, Walker said, “Every day we wake up with a fresh canvas. We’re starting all over and every day I know we can do a little better. I know we can buy better. I know we can increase customer service. I see opportunity everywhere.

“At the end of the day, it’s just clothes. So it should be lucrative. It should be fun. It should be exciting. And you know, sometimes when you’re working too hard with brands and it doesn’t feel that way, you need to take a step back and maybe work on some new partnerships, or try a new perspective with that brand.

“Don’t be afraid to take a chance or to follow your instinct, because your instincts are usually right, and don’t be afraid to make a mistake,” Walker advised. “You learn from your mistakes. You can’t be too safe. Sometimes you swing the pendulum too far into the trend. This past season I couldn’t find a straight-leg skinny jean in my store, so we course-corrected. Some people still want a classic one, right? Not everyone wants the big, full jean. One thing our company does have is a sensibility of what’s actually happening on the selling floor.”

As of late, Walker said her contemporary business is ahead of plan. “Our accessory business is equal or ahead,” depending on the category. The business with belts is ahead. Jewelry is also ahead. Shoes are flat.

“People are really loving the new silhouettes — these wider jeans, these high waisted, pleated trouser pants. And there are a lot of new colors. All that red from last season has turned into this yummy, yummy Bordeaux color.” Western boots, she noted, are also selling well. “Our customers want newness, but they also want to see that continuative point of view, and it’s our job to balance between those two.”

It’s been apparent to Walker how very important the hand of the fabric feels like to the customer. “If the fabric is beautiful, it’s a much easier sell for us. We will take fabric sometimes over style.”

Designer, however, “is definitely slower, so we’re feeling that as well,” Walker added. “I don’t know if it’s an oversaturation. Brands are really pushing direct-to-consumer, and I think they’re pushing a little too far. They’re pushing this pendulum too far.” Having wholesale partners that bring a curated presentation to shoppers, a point of view, is as critical as ever, Walker suggested. “We’re important brand ambassadors to mono brands.

“We’ve never been all designer and we’ve never been all advanced contemporary,” so shifting dollars from designer to contemporary, or from one category to another, is not hard, Walker said. “Sometimes we switch dollars into new brands, right? Because we feel the floor looks maybe a little flat and we need more excitement. So for us to shift 10 percent or 15 percent from one category to another is not hard.”

With it’s soon to eclipse the $100 million mark, Walker said her 25-year-old business can either be considered a very large “mama and papa” business or still “a baby brand” going on to the next level.

Asked about the impending Saks takeover of the Neiman Marcus Group, and how it could impact her company, Walker replied, “I don’t think that their merger will hurt us or hinder us or anything, but we might have a stronger voice in the industry with designers. I hope that merger works out well, because if they’re doing well, chances are I’m going to be doing well.”

Retailing can be unpredictable, and sometimes a grind, but Walker said, “I know there’s a lot of complaining about where the industry is at. People are saying there’s so much volatility in the market, especially on the designer side. What keeps me going is just opportunity. I would hate to feel one day that I’ve peaked. That would be a terrible feeling to wake up with. When I wake up, honestly, I still feel like we’re just getting started.

“I always see opportunity. I really do.”