June 14, 2018
MM.LaFleur/for PhillyVoice
MM.LaFleur's San Francisco showroom. A similar concept just opened in Philadelphia.
The Shops at Liberty Place is getting a new tenant Thursday with the addition of MM.LaFleur, a New York-based online retailer with a growing brick-and-mortar footprint aimed at dressing working women.
MM.LaFleur echoes the trend set by made-to-order businesses, such as Stitch Fix or Trunk Club, which send subscribers new batches of clothes every month or so based on their personal style profiles, saving shoppers from having to actually go shopping. In the case of MM.LaFleur, however, customers receive a "Bento Box" of goods to try on and keep what they like. There's no subscription requirement; instead, you can reorder (or not reorder) a Bento Box as desired.
The target customer? Professional women whose neutral-colored pantsuits have run the course -- the company describes its offerings as "luxury workwear that is both practical and elegant."
In addition to offering regularly scheduled boxes of clothes every month, shoppers can shop online or, now in Philadelphia, visit a store for a styling session.
Philadelphia is the fifth city to get a sstore after New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. A handful of other U.S. cities have pop-up stores. The Philadelphia store, unlike a traditional shop, will only offer one-hour styling appointments in a lounge-style showroom. The company expects to hold events in the showroom as well.
Customers shouldn't expect to walk out with shopping bags, however. To make the process more streamlined, a visitor with an appointment can expect a collection of clothes ready to be tried on. You can order what you like, skip what you don't, and expect the goods in the mail a few days later, shipped for free.
This is a growing trend in the retail world as well. A couple years ago Bonobos, an online men's clothing retailer, joined the lineup on Walnut Street so that Philly guys could try on clothes sold online and leave bagless, expecting their selected items in the mail later.
MM.LaFleur will be open in Philadelphia from Monday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 6:00 p.m.
