This article originally appeared on InsideHook.com
Running a retail fashion company in 2020 is an increasingly delicate proposition. We’ve seen how difficult business was for big brands like J.Crew or Barney’s even before COVID-19. Throw in a global virus that has radically changed our day-to-day lives, and being in fashion right now is tough. How can you sell clothes if your primary business model is dependent upon a brick-and-mortar, in-person experience?
These were just a handful of issues at play for one of D.C.’s hottest and newest clothiers, Somewhere. The combination retail store and coffee shop opened in September of 2019 in the District’s rapidly expanding (read: gentrifying) Navy Yard neighborhood, practically a baseball’s throw away from the ballpark of the Washington Nationals. While the store appeared to be thriving, one has to keep in mind the staggering statistics facing new retail businesses: approximately 20 percent of new ventures close within the first two years of operation without factoring in a one-in-a-lifetime pandemic. “The irony of the situation is right before shelter-in-place went into effect locally, we had one of our most successful in-store pop-ups we’ve ever done,” Somewhere co-founder Dominick Adams tells InsideHook. “There were like 400 or 500 people outside waiting to get inside, and the whole street was blocked off. That was literally the Sunday before shelter-in-place happened. Three days later, it was like, OK, don’t go outside and wear a mask. Like, wait a minute — I just hugged like 50 people yesterday!”