In local retail, the word of the day is cooperation

By ANDREW MCGINN
a.mcginn@beeherald.com

The Allies.

The Coalition.

The Rebel Alliance.

When evil encroaches, the forces of good have historically (and in “Star Wars”) banded together.

And it doesn’t get much more evil these days than free, two-day shipping.

Brick-and-mortar retail everywhere is feeling Amazon’s hot breath on the back of its neck, but two local retailers have forged an alliance that would have been unlikely a generation ago.

The fact that Sensibly Chic snatched up a line of ladies’ footwear that Addie’s is losing isn’t the story — it’s that Addie’s offered the shoe line to its would-be competitor down the street.

“All of us downtown are trying to figure out who does what best,” explained Rosie Tucker, owner of Sensibly Chic, which sells home furnishings and ladies’ accessories.

In a previous era, Tucker might have regularly sent spies into Addie’s, a women’s clothing store, to gauge which brands owner Heidi Naberhaus was selling.

Today, they’re finding it better to complement one another than to compete with each other.

“What’s good for one is good for the others,” Tucker reasoned.

Sensibly Chic is set to welcome the new fall styles of Corkys shoes and boots in August and September that would have been intended for Addie’s — except that Addie’s is out of space.

“I didn’t want them to not be available,” Naberhaus said. “I only had so much room. Something had to give.”

In the past year, Addie’s has added little girls’ clothing, in addition to picking up tuxedo rentals and beginning to offer in-house alterations for customers.

The boutique’s selection of Corkys footwear had to give.

“People love them,” Naberhaus said, “but they take a lot of space.”

Even ladies’ fashion retail — once thought to have the upper hand for the simple fact that Amazon doesn’t have a dressing room — is now susceptible to online competition thanks to the likes of Stitch Fix, an online personal shopping service, and Amazon’s own Prime Wardrobe.

Together with The Printer’s Box on the same side of the Square, the unified front presented by Sensibly Chic and Addie’s offers something Amazon still can’t.

An experience.

The women visiting town on various bus tours have taken note.

“They’re so unbelievably excited to see this many shops in this condensed of an area,” Tucker said. “We get a lot of praise for promoting each other.”

“It’s just fun we can work together,” she said.