The future of brick-and-mortar fashion retail

As though the threat that millennials and their online shopping habits posed weren’t enough, the global Covid-19 pandemic has redefined how the traditional brick and mortar fashion experience will evolve. With shopping institutions like Macy’s and GAP plummeting their employee numbers and bond ratings, earlier this month, the retail world sat up and took notice. We catch up with two trailblazing boutique owners—Tina Tahiliani of Ensemble India and Aparna Badlani of Atosa as they bare all and tell us what they think about the future of brick-and-mortar fashion retail.

Nykaa Fashion: Is that tactile, visual romance of shopping in a beautiful boutique at threat? What will the immediate impact of Covid be on our collective boutique habits?

Tina Tahiliani: The impact on brick and mortar is going to be severe. Larger gatherings are going to be scarce for a while which will adversely impact demand. Customers will only start going out when they feel confident that the situation has come under control. At this point, it is very unclear when that will be…

Aparna Badlani: The mood is completely somber and it’s going to be a while before people get back to shopping at a store again. There is so much uncertainty—events and weddings have been cancelled or postponed indefinitely. As a brick and mortar store it worries us even more since we have fixed overheads, staff that we are paying salaries to, through the lockdown period. We can honestly only hope that once the situation eases out, people will come back into stores to shop [in an attempt to get back to a normal life] and enjoy that boutique experience!

Nykaa Fashion:What do you predict, could potentially be the positive outcome of the pandemic on your customer?

Tina Tahiliani: Hopefully everyone on this planet is going to think about recalibrating their carbon footprint. As a store, we are very conscious about quality and really encourage our customers to re-wear their garments. I do think that especially the younger generation and millennials will be very aware of this, which will be a positive development.

Aparna Badlani: People have had the opportunity to really spend some quality time with themselves, evaluate what they have and respect freedom; which I think we have always taken for granted. This pandemic has made us realise how much we have abused our rights and the planet we live in. As city dwellers even more so, we are over exposed and have easy access to everything we want or desire. I do think that this pandemic will make us value basic things a lot more. As humans we have always thought that we are above it all!

As we tread uncertain territory and hope everyone’s safe at home, Nykaa Fashion stands with and supports India’s fashion community— designers—from established icons, to the new guard, to the small and ingenious craftsmen, artisans and the entire gamete of workers who contribute to our diverse and celebrated fashion landscape.