Boutique boom: Cluster of boutiques amid Spokane’s rebounding downtown scene suggests economic turnaround

Contrary to the national trend of declining brick-and-mortar retail, women’s fashion boutiques spread across downtown Spokane are not terminating lease agreements and heading for the digital marketplace.

Independently owned, local clothing and accessory stores appear to be flourishing in downtown – 14 in all.

Kevin Henrickson, a Gonzaga University economics professor, believes the success of these 14 boutiques might signal a revitalization of downtown life, a type of renaissance.

“Signs point to that,” Henrickson said. “As far as the number of stores and the amount of land involved, it’s a concentrated area.”

Economists call this type of retail density a cluster, which tends to form where economic drivers like construction and real estate are robust. The presence of a 14-member grouping is interesting because it suggests an area shift in population numbers.

“Stagnant growth doesn’t support a retail cluster of this size,” Henrickson said.

Echo Boutique, at the corner of First Avenue and Madison Street, is part of this women’s fashion retail collective that has been quietly achieving success.

Owner Suzy Gage is also part of downtown’s newest wave of female residents. During her store’s recent spring update, Gage said, “I live and work in downtown. It’s economical, convenient, I walk everywhere.”

With a dowel rod she reached, carefully, to remove a classic Chanel hand bag from a wall peg about 10 feet above the floor.

“For women, clothing is about so much more than clicking a mouse,” she said.

“There’s always been more to it, and I believe there always will be more. For women buying clothes, it’s an experience,” she added.

Gage takes a quick look at the Chanel before jotting down a few notes, then back to its lofty perch goes this iconic leather bag that is as relevant today as when it first showed in Paris about 60 years prior.

“Boutiques are a total experience for women,” she said.

At Echo, that experience is all about tall windows, natural light, exposed brick, high ceilings and a meticulously laid out showroom, and its location near other businesses of its kind.

“For us, synergism with sister boutiques is vital. We also get foot traffic from Lavish Salon, and up the street people wander our way from the Montvale Hotel.”

If Echo is the Nordstrom’s of the downtown boutique scene, Fringe & Fray, just three blocks west of Echo, is the H & M, catering to a younger demographic with lower prices. They have a tightly curated inventory from cowboy boots to sunglasses to sun dresses to jeans inside a quaint space at 1325 W. First Ave.

“We’re doing well,” owner Grace Johnson said recently. “It’s been six years we’ve been open, and Spokane is changing so much.”

Johnson attributes foot traffic and making smart marketing decisions, more so than web traffic, to the store’s success. Neither Fringe & Fray nor Echo has a strong online presence, but both use Instagram and Facebook, and each has its own website but neither presently processes transactions online.

Five blocks from Fringe & Fray and two blocks southeast of Echo is The Pop Up Shop, in the Steam Plant at 159 S. Lincoln St.

The Pop Up Shop sells new clothing, jewelry and home accessories – all by local designers. A percentage of sales goes to fund artists’ installations in vacant storefronts like those of the Ridpath Hotel. The Pop Up Shop has no official online presence other than its Facebook page and various designers who have posted on Instagram.

The Pop Up Shop is one of two vendor collectives downtown that house microshops within a larger aggregate. The other is Chosen Vintage at 7 W. Main Ave., where funky, upscale vintage clothing and collectibles are sold. The store is packed from the entrance door to the main floor area and up the stairs. Not even the walls of this multiroom, two-story, 6,000-square-foot building have space for the eyes to rest. Here, they put pretty much zero time into online sales and social networking, owner Dena Kieffer said.

Life along downtown’s Main Street appears to be good to local indie boutiques, with five along the less than a mile in stretch. There’s Chosen Vintage Finders Keepers II, Kizuri, Jig Saw and Kloth. Others scattered throughout downtown are: Reclothery, Katze Boutique, Lolo, Cues, The Makeup Studio, and Kendall Yards’ Boutique Bleu.

“It’s about the in-store experience, going to these downtown boutiques,” said Elizabeth Hooker, marketing and program manager for the Downtown Spokane Partnership.

Hooker, along with colleague Juliet Sinesterra, DSP economic development manager, are putting the finishing touches on Spokane’s first downtown fashion weekend Sept. 14-16. The weekend will include three days of runway shows and clothes-centered events with a local flair.

“Spokane is pivoting,” said Jordan Tampien, real estate broker and principal of 4 Degrees Real Estate, also located downtown. “We’re here because the area has huge potential.”

Tampien recounts 2009’s recession and what it did to downtown as far as slowing business growth and contracting Spokane’s urban residential market. “This is not the same area,” he said.

Once a hub for social services, extended stay motels and places to land for the disenfranchised, according to Tampien, downtown is moving toward what he calls its pivot point, where property is bought, short-term residents are minimal, businesses grow and little neighborhoods form.

“The game has changed,” he said. “We’re seeing more young professionals moving into downtown, and many of those are women.”