Plus-size online retailer Eloquii to open a series of brick-and-mortar stores

By

Rebecca Taras

Published
Jul 6, 2017

Eloquii, an online retailer specializing in trend-driven and contemporary fashions for plus-size women in sizes 14-24, is opening its first brick-and-mortar store this September at Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio where the company is based.

To ensure that it was worth the risk of opening a physical store during shaky retail times, Eloquii opened a temporary pop-up shop at Fashion Centre at Pentagon City in Arlington, Virginia and it was reported that it was an extremely successful experiment, thus giving the company confidence to move forward with plans for a permanent store a few doors down from the pop-up this month, a store in downtown Chicago next month and finally the Easton store in September.

Eloquii—originally a part of The Limited—was founded in 2011. The first brick-and-mortar location under this ownership was in Detroit back in 2012, but it closed one year later when The Limited owners decided to focus on their core brands. Eloquii was revived in 2014 by former employees with the assistance of an investor and Series A and B funding. Ironically, the Easton store will be in a space that was previously occupied by The Limited.

The Eloquii website offers approximately 1,300 styles, but the stores will only offer about 250. Old-fashioned, back-to-basics customer service—not high-tech strategies like virtual dressing rooms—will be the core focus, though the personal stylists will be armed with iPads to assist customers with looks as well as free two-day shipping.

Unlike the previous Eloquii model, the company plans to customize each store by region to avoid a cookie-cutter shopping experience. Before expanding, however, Eloquii wants to establish a proper infrastructure. The company anticipates a growth of 40-plus stores over the next three to four years.