New Columbus Victoria's Secret store offers peek at the future

Victoria's Secret will open a store at 3626 W. Dublin-Granville Rd. next month, part of a push by the company and other retailers to open stores outside of malls.

The store is expected to open Oct. 21 in the Sun Center, a shopping center near Dublin that is also home to Bath & Body Works, Torrid, DSW, Whole Foods Market and Carter's.

The Reynoldsburg-based lingerie brand operates off-mall stores in major cities including New York City and Chicago, and its Tanger Outlets and Easton stores are walk-ups as well. The upcoming Northwest Side store is part of the company's goal of opening 16 North American stores in mostly off-mall locations this year, according to a company earnings commentary.

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In 2021, as Victoria's Secret was becoming its own company, the retailer announced a refresh of its stores and a new "store of the future" design. The company expects around 14 renovations this year, with over half characterized by square footage reductions or consolidations of Victoria's Secret and PINK stores.

Victoria's Secret, Express among retailers leaving the mall

Lee Peterson, executive vice president of thought leadership and marketing at Dublin-based retail consulting company WD Partners, said the move to off-mall stores is a smart one, and Victoria's Secret isn't the only company doing it. In recent years Columbus-based retailer Express has also found success with new off-mall stores.

Since opening a pop-up store in Upper Arlington in 2020, the retailer has opened six Express Edit stores and plans to have 11 in total by the end of this year. Express CEO Tim Baxter told analysts during an earnings call in 2021 that the new store concepts are "tightly curated" and tailored to each location.

Each Express Edit store is less than 4,500 square feet and is under a short-term lease to allow the retailer flexibility.

"Express Edit stores are strategically located in high-traffic, opinion-maker destinations and diversify our brick-and-mortar fleet," said Baxter in a call earlier this year. "These stores acquire new customers, reactivate lapsed customers ... and boost digital sales in the surrounding ZIP codes."

Express and Victoria's Secret are backing out of malls as indoor malls continue to struggle. Malls' problems began before COVID, but were vastly magnified during the pandemic, forcing some mall operators, including Columbus-based Washington Prime Group to file bankruptcy.

Peterson points to WD Partners' study "The Amazing Evolution of the Retail World," which questioned 2,700 Americans on their offline shopping habits. Of those, 37% said they would shop at a local brand or store when not shopping online and 16% said they would shop at a free-standing box store, while just 11% said they would shop at an indoor mall store.

The move out of malls is part of the continuing evolution of Victoria's Secret as it seeks to reinvent its public image away from its hypersexual reputation. Earlier this year, the retailer cut 160 management jobs in a move to "better align with a shifting consumer landscape" and position more resources toward high-growth, high-return initiatives.

Peterson said for consumers, convenience and ease are now the most important factors while shopping. Save for a few highly successful shopping centers such as Easton, it makes the most sense for Victoria's Secret to shift away from malls. "It's a really smart move, and a necessity," he said.

tmoorman@dispatch.com

@TaijuanNichole