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A LITTLE LIGHT HUMOR

Black Chandelier Brings Eclecticism, Even Eccentricity To The Mall

By Molly Knight

After 10 years as an idea man for the likes of Barneys New York, London-based Browns Fashion and Nike, Jared Gold has found a home for his abstract and fantastical clothes: Black Chandelier, a fledgling apparel chain that many would label eccentric — even whacky. How whacky? Well, some stores offer courses in the making of edible apparel. And each time a new unit opens, Gold throws a party that features a performance by the Misfit Toys, a rock band that plays toy instruments. All of this is to the good, some say. “Retail needs Jared Gold,” said Dr. Robert K. Passikoff, president of Brand Keys, a New York City-based retail consulting firm. “He has a great reputation in the industry and a whole lot of credibility as being one of the best edgy young designers out there. Expansion of stores with his stuff is certainly exciting.”

But rather than bring his unorthodox designs to New York City or Los Angeles, Gold has chosen to focus on a more conservative area of the U.S. “Black Chandelier does well in secondary markets due to the lack of retail focused on including customers in the magical world of design and art,” Gold told SCT in an e-mail.

Currently, Black Chandelier has four units, all of them in Utah: at Trolley Square and The Gateway, both in Salt Lake City, where Gold bases his operations; at The Shops at River Woods, in Provo; and at Fashion Place Mall, in Murray. This last unit opened in January, making it the newest in the chain. Insiders estimate that the 1,440-square-foot store will generate annual gross sales of about $1 million — nearly in line with the chain’s $800 per square foot average.

Fashion Place is thrilled with Black Chandelier. “It’s a fresh new face and a welcome addition to our retail mix,” said Tamara DeMilt, senior marketing manager at the General Growth Properties-owned mall. “Our customers are embracing their unique merchandise.”

Black Chandelier has agreed to open a fifth store in June, at General Growth’s Boise (Idaho) Town Square Mall. Richard Surber, president of Salt Lake City-based Nexia Holdings, which bought Black Chandelier from Diversified Holdings X in September, says he and Gold will visit other General Growth properties in the Western states through the spring. Their goal is to have about 50 Black Chandelier units running within the next five years or so.

Beyond the store in Boise, Gold says Black Chandelier plans to open yet another store this year, and possibly two more besides. “Since leases are still in negotiation I cannot disclose their locations besides stating they are in Idaho and Colorado,” Gold wrote.

Gold acknowledges that Black Chandelier looks for some fairly unconventional qualities in its employees, among them the ability to handle a theme-park-like atmosphere. “The environment doesn’t feel as much like retail as it does a toy,” he wrote. “Our staff training is complex, they must be museum docents, personal shoppers, librarians, historians, and be fearless while being friendly and sweet.”

Gold’s personal ability to draw such people into his team is the result of the quality with which his clothes are made, Passikoff says. “He has a tactile approach to creating apparel,” he said. “It’s almost as if how it looks is secondary to how it feels — even though it usually looks great.”

Well, both the look and the feel share the same inspiration, and Gold explains what that is. “I never read forecasting reports, I never read fashion magazines,” he wrote. “Black Chandelier feels timeless because it is. If something is never on trend, it never goes out of style. I have a massive library with volumes of books on historic ornament, architecture, printing techniques, costume, jewelry and performing arts. This library is where everything begins.”

Gold says Black Chandelier offers clothing, gifts, books, curiosities and more. If his spring 2007 Glinka line is any indication, he’s been mining the East European composers section of that personal library. On BlackChandelier.com, Gold writes: “The name Glinka comes from the Russian composer Mikhail Glinka, noted for his operas and often regarded as the father of Russian classical music. Glinka is fueled by the dark, obscure visions of endlessly complex gypsy operas, crossed with psychedelic cattle ranchers, deep country sorcery, and glitter rock refugees.”

Passikoff describes the line as “high-fashion bohemian meets colorful punk.” The clothes range from brightly colored flowing skirts to cropped dark bell-bottoms. Despite the punk feel, Gold says Black Chandelier has a broad audience among females 12 to 65 and males 16 to 45. “This is due to the complete absence of sexuality in the marketing and merchandising of the stores,” Gold wrote. “We market to intelligence and humor and this strategy opens the ‘covetability’ of the merchandise to a much larger age group.”

Passikoff says it is futile to try to pinpoint a Black Chandelier demographic. “There simply isn’t an age range for people who are interested in making statements about themselves with the clothing they wear,” he said. “People of all ages enjoy dressing eccentric, especially these days.”

The company looks for spaces that range from 1,400 to 2,000 square feet. “We do rather well in smaller spaces due to the outlandish build-outs and costs associated with them,” Gold wrote. “Co-tenancy is simple for us. Since our age demographic is unusually large we simply require foot traffic patterns to be correct. Most of our product is proprietary and commands its own demand, regardless of the neighborhood.”

Gold says he would welcome like-minded stores in adjacent spaces, but he sees few, if any. “If a store is working the same angle as Black Chandelier and is in the retail neighborhood of the store, we consider the store a welcome advantage to show customers the viability of something a little different, something a little special,” wrote Gold. “The competition in this is minimal, however.”

One thing that allows Black Chandelier to thrive where other small retail chains have floundered is that the company does not have to compete with department stores, says Gold. “We are very experimental and very bold, this does not sit well with department store buyers that are afraid to take a chance on something spectacular or as specialized as Black Chandelier,” Gold wrote. “We are a design-focused company, we are inventors, and we are artists. Customers know the difference immediately.”

The remaining question is whether expanding the company’s audience will flatten its offerings. Passikoff advises against following industry trends, in the interest of escaping the woes of such mall-based punk retailers as Hot Topic. “Jared’s going to have to keep it fresh,” said Passikoff. “There’s really no doubt in my mind he will.”