Gen Z and Millennials may live their lives online, but savvy brands and marketers are finding this cohort increasingly enjoys shopping in real life — or IRL as the kids say.

A.k.a. Brands, whose portfolio of digitally native brands includes Princess Polly, Petal and Pup, Culture Kings and mnml, has been engaging with the brick-and-mortar space, from new stores to a push into wholesale distribution.

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Princess Polly opened its first U.S. store in September 2023 in Los Angeles to “really great response,” and now the brand has 11 stores plus a “nice halo effect for the online business,” noted Ciaran Long, chief executive officer of a.k.a. Brands, in a podcast with Alex McKeown, senior vice president of Hilco Global Consumer Retail.  

The stores have added a new layer to the shopping experience. “Watching consumers walk up to the store with their groups of friends and the excitement they have on the face, and then hearing them talk to each other, ‘Look, there it is. Let’s go. Let’s go!’ You can tangibly see how they want to feel the product, touch the product, engage with it and be there with their friends,” he said.

Petal and Pup rolled out chain-wide at Nordstrom after a test, while the Culture Kings store in Las Vegas is about “retail-tainment,” from its half basketball court, licensed bar, car racing simulators and DJ booth to the hat wall with 4,000 skus.

“Over the last 18 months, as we’ve looked to scale the brands, we’ve taken the approach of, let’s put our product in front of our customers, wherever they are…from a channel and marketing perspective,” Long said.