div > div.group > p:first-child"> At Hudson Yards, an 18-million-square-foot real estate development on the West Side in New York, one million square feet will be devoted to retailers ranging from Lululemon and Sephora to Louis Vuitton and Fendi. But it will also include a space dedicated to so-called digitally native brands, which were started online and just now starting to open storefronts, like shoe maker M.Gemi and sock retailer Stance.
The born-on-the-internet brands — including men's athletic apparel company Rhone and trendy beverage brand Dirty Lemon — opening up shop this week at Hudson Yards look at it as an opportunity to test the waters before they decide if they want to grow further. Men's underwear brand Mack Weldon, for example, will be opening its first bricks-and-mortar store ever there.
Opening at Hudson Yards is also a chance for these young brands to acquire customers at a cheaper price than online, as ad placement on channels like Facebook and Google seems to be getting more and more expensive for some. As hundreds of legacy retail stores — like those of Gap and Victoria's Secret — go dark across the U.S., online brands like mattress maker Casper will open at least 850 stores altogether by 2023, with a little more than 41 percent of them choosing New York first, commercial real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle found in a recent study.
A business known as Fourpost is doing something similar at the Mall of America. And then there's Neighborhood Goods, often referred to as the"department store of the future," which is opening up standalone locations that house digitally native brands — like men's wellness company Hims and sneaker marketplace Stadium Goods — and soon is coming to New York.