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Rachel Shechtman, CEO and founder of STORY, the groundbreaking New York-based concept store known for its ever-changing, editorial approach to retail, shared her unique perspectives on the shopping experience. A fourth-generation retailer, Shechtman called STORY, “a living lab” that is constantly changing, a “community center” where she and her team are “creating unexpected opportunities” for customers. “The process of access and discovery in the physical world is so important,” she noted.

Shechtman explained that “STORY takes the viewpoint of a magazine, changes like a gallery by updating its themes, design and products every three to eight weeks, and sells things like a store.” In four years, STORY has created 28 unique retail installations in partnership with companies such as Intel, American Express, GE, Target, Lexus and Cigna, who serve as sponsors for the experience.










STORY partners with different marketers by using merchandising and experiences to tell the story of their brand. Shechtman stressed that “experience per square foot is more important than sales per square foot.” She added that the key to a successful partnership with her clients is combining “a contextually relevant brand telling stories through a retailer for a contextually relevant product.”

Shechtman and Kepron then engaged in a Q & A session about her retail philosophy, which she summed up as being about “content, commerce and community.” She agreed that retailing “is not just about selling things, it’s about experience. Experience sells things, not the place. If you’re not actively trying to open their pocketbook and you give them an experience you will have mind blowing results.”

Using a Q&A format, DavidKepron (l) queried Shechtman about her retail philosophy, which she summed up as being about “content, commerce and community.
STORY takes the viewpoint of a magazine, changes like a gallery by updating its themes, design and products every three to eight weeks, and sells things like a store.
In response to Kepron’s question, “How do you engage the makers in the telling of their stories?” Shechtman responded that “every single touch point experience is the telling of that story by the maker.”

Asked how she measures STORY’s success, Shechtman said she doesn’t judge it based on sales, but instead uses traditional media pricing as a measure. “I look at us more as a media property,” she said.

Given STORY’s uniqueness, Kepron wondered if Shechtman thinks it is scalable to other locations. “I’m not interested in scaling the experience,” she said. “If STORY is a lab, I would rather try to scale our capabilities.”

Shechtman said that as a shopper, she is drawn to stores that “offer something I can’t do on my couch. It has to provide an experience that requires me to be standing in that store, because I think at the end of the day, we all have one very scarce resource, and that’s time.”

akarp@jobson.com