Why luggage brand Calpak is opening its first store
Thirty-five years after its founding in 1989, the luggage brand Calpak is getting its first permanent storefront.
Last week, the brand, which conducts business online and through wholesalers like Nordstrom, opened a location in Century City Mall in Los Angeles, California. About 80% to 85% of Calpak’s SKUs are available in the store, with the exception of some colorways. Items are grouped by category, including duffels, roller bags, backpacks and packing cubes.
The store, while a major milestone for Calpak, isn’t the brand’s first go-around with physical retail. In 2019, Calpak held a four-day pop-up in New York City. The event was so successful that Calpak had to bring in more inventory as styles sold out, said Jeannie Shin, Calpak’s vp of marketing. After learning from attendees that they liked being able to see products in person, Calpak looked into opening a permanent store in 2020. It paused plans due to the pandemic, but it used those four years to expand more into accessories and launch new categories like baby gear. Now, Calpak aims to use its stores to show off the full breadth of its merchandise, drive lifetime value and raise brand awareness.
“We really want to be a destination [where] consumers are not just coming to us for just their travel needs,” Shin said. “We have a large category of bags, and so whatever they need… they can start their journey with us.”
Calpak has managed to grow its SKUs from some 10 to 15 in 2016 to more than 500. The brand declined to disclose revenue numbers, but Calpak saw 100% year-over-year growth as of July 2023 and sold roughly 60,000 items last year, Modern Retail previously reported. Calpak’s products are available in hundreds of retail doors, including The Container Store and Hudson News.
While it took some time to open its first store, Calpak plans to open two to five additional stores in the next five years, Shin said. The brand is eyeing Orange County, California, and Chicago as possible next markets. All in all, 10 stores “is where we would feel confident in terms of volume,” Shin said. However, the brand is being careful about location throughout this process. Calpak decided to open its first store in Los Angeles because Calpak has 1 million lifetime users from the city and is already known in the area.
Narrowing it down further, Calpak zeroed in on Century City Mall — home to Figs’ first store — because it caters to both tourists and locals. Rebekah Kondrat, the founder of the consultancy Rekon Retail, told Modern Retail that luggage brands have to balance their audiences.
When it comes to locals and visitors, “you’re going to want to tap into both customers so you don’t tap out your market really quickly,” Kondrat said. “There’s only so many suitcases that people buy, and you don’t upgrade your suitcase every year.”
Calpak is relying on findings from its pop-up five years ago as it builds out its store footprint. For instance, it found that while many online customers buy its largest suitcases, people attending its pop-up mostly purchased medium and trunk-size luggage. In addition, at the time, Calpak offered a few core accessories, including a backpack, vanity case, travel wallet and packing cubes. After the accessories fueled a “really big jump in sales” at the pop-up, Calpak started developing more accessories, Shin said. Some of its top-selling accessories are a portable luggage tag/charger and a tablet organizer.
Calpak is one of several DTC luggage brands opening more standalone stores as shoppers demonstrate an interest in in-person shopping. Away, for instance, has stores in San Jose, Seattle and Washington, DC, while Monos opened a store in Toronto in June. Established luggage brands continue to build their footprints, too; this week, Samsonite International revealed it opened 83 new stores in its most recent quarter, mostly in Asia and Europe. Rimowa — which is owned by LVMH and has locations in New York City, San Francisco and Miami — renovated its Beverly Hills location in February.
According to Anshuman Jaiswal, vp of growth strategy and operations at Nextuple, an omnichannel order management advisory and software firm, there’s no shortage of online luggage players — but there’s a reason why stores are so important to these brands: young shoppers. Recent data indicates that the majority of Gen Z and millennials still prefer to make purchases in stores. “Online, mobile and social media are extremely important to engage and convert the customer, but equally important are the human touch and personalized product experiences,” Jaiswal told Modern Retail.
Calpak’s Shin also acknowledged the value that in-store shopping can bring to the luggage sector. Customers want to see color variations, unzip pockets and compare sizes side by side. “You can only tell that story so much through digital assets and the digital platforms,” she said.