

Ask HN: Room for innovation in retail niches? - dnsworks

Any fat man knows what I'm talking about. We've got three options: Custom tailor, casual male xl, or rochester big &#38; tall. Our clothing options begin at 2-3x the cost of a non-fat guy's equivalent .. For 20-30% more fabric, and the same amount of effort.<p>Camera stores are another one. If you've tried to buy a hot camera in the past year, like the Canon 5D Mark 2, or the 1D Mark V, then you know what it's like. The smaller shops tend to have some in stock when Amazon and the 2-3 larger players are empty.. But so many of the smaller shops are playing some pretty awful bait and switch games.<p>It seems that there must be a better way for both of these niches, and others.
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JayNeely
I think one of the most fascinating and under-utilized trends in the retail
world is pop-up stores: <http://trendwatching.com/trends/POPUP_RETAIL.htm>

Combining this concept with serious statistical analysis of _when_ people most
often make purchases within different niches, and well-executed pre- ("coming
soon...") and post- ("You missed us, but you can still buy online at...")
store duration marketing campaigns, I think stores within many more niches
could make a sizable profit.

Now's a particularly good time to do this because of the increased
availability of prime retail space. Nation-wide there are malls with a larger
number of unfilled spaces for rent due to the recession.

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gprisament
Here's a B&M retail idea I thought of recently: "Green Home" a
sustainable/organic/green alternative to Home Depot & Lowes. I think the Whole
Foods approach could be applied to the lumbar yard: give DIY homeowners a
feel-good alternative at a premium. The shop would feature lots of bamboo,
solar panels, and products from companies like Terracycle
(<http://www.terracycle.net/>).

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pierrefar
For your large people idea, don't forget tall people too.

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dnsworks
Tall people actually seem pretty well served. Big & Tall clothing really means
"For tall people, but we'll make sure fat people don't go naked if they can
stand hawaiian shirts"

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Mz
Tall _men_ may be well served, but tall women are not. Women have specialty
stores/departments for short ("petite") or fat sizes. Tall thin women can have
quite a challenge finding clothes that fit.

