My Top Drawer

BODY associate publisher Ted Vayos interviewed Lisa Robinson and David Robinson, owners of My Top Drawer in Ontario.

TED: How many years have you been in this industry?

LISA: We have been operating My Top Drawer for 24 years this coming October!

TED: How did you get started in this business? 

LISA: David and I were owners of a very large and busy hair salon in my home town of Simcoe Ontario. We were both hairstylists since the 1980’s (remember the big hair days?) and had purchased my parent’s successful salon (Dolmor Salon) in 1991. After a fire in 1994 that completely destroyed our business and the family owned building, we rebuilt the salon building to include a retail space adjacent to our entrance. After several businesses came and went in this space, we decided that we should put a retail business into the space ourselves as the salon had over 300 women passing through it weekly and we wanted to take advantage of the traffic. Our small town was missing Bridal and/or Lingerie in its retail mix. We are 100% certain that we made the right decision in choosing Lingerie as our store-next-door! We made the decision in August to open a lingerie boutique and were open for business in October as we felt we needed to be open for the Christmas season. Having absolutely NO experience in the lingerie or retail business, we credit our initial original sales reps for helping us to learn the ropes and of course our ‘cheerleaders’ who were our salon clients in our tight knit small town for helping us through those tough learning curves.

TED:  How many stores do you have today? 

LISA:  We have five stores in total plus a web store. Our second store opened in 2004. We acquired an existing lingerie store in a neighboring community which was a 30 minute drive from our original store.  Our sales reports showed that clients were willing to travel approximately an hour to find a good lingerie shop. Since many of the clients were traveling from an area that was under serviced, we chose to open store #3 in Niagara Falls (2006) to service the Niagara region. Also Niagara Falls is a destination location which we felt would be important to shoppers ’stopping in’ while they were in the area enjoying one of the Natural Wonders of the World! Store #4 was opened in 2011 and we chose to locate in London Ontario. Again, it was 1.5 hours from home (a do-able travel distance) in a good sized city that was under serviced in lingerie/swim. After opening in London, we closed the Tillsonburg location as it was half way between our home store and London. Clients could choose to travel to either one as they were basically equidistant from one another. There were more opportunities for us in London than Tillsonburg as it was easily 5 times larger in population….hence more women to fit! In 2014 we chose to open store #4 in Burlington. It was a relatively easy 1 hour drive from home and it allowed us to service the areas of Hamilton, Burlington and Oakville (which is referred to as the western end of the Golden Horseshoe) During Covid shutdowns in Canada, an opportunity arose at the exclusive Sherway Gardens Mall in Toronto for store #5.(2021) It was a daring move. We have since vacated the fancy mall and have relocated a block away in a plaza where we have ample space and easy parking.  There is a long answer to your short question!

TED:  Please describe your locations to our readers. 

LISA:   Aside from our original store which is located in a small farming community in Southern Ontario (15,000 people) know as Ontario’s Garden, our other stores are in communities with far larger populations. We choose to locate in plazas so that we can control our own store hours, our clients can easily find parking close to our entrance, and we can offer accessible shopping. Stores 2-5 have ample display/shopping areas toward the front and all have fitting rooms with doors that close for privacy. These stores have 5-6 change rooms and square footage is typically between 1800 and 2600 square feet.  Our head office and distribution center is located in Simcoe Ontario and is attached to our original store. We have 5 full time employees working here. All issues relating to supply chain management happen here and as well as online order fulfillment occurs in this space of 2500 square feet. Decisions regarding products, ordering, receiving, tagging and distribution and replenishment our locations happens at head office. All stores carry basically the same selection and all have access to our entire inventory through store transfers and our web-store.

TED:   Do any other local businesses send customers to your stores?

LISA:   Yes, the sure do. Many dress and bridal shops in our areas do send clients our way. They realize that having the proper fitting bras will help the clients to look and feel even better in their outerwear products! Because we are considered a ‘reference’ shop, we also carry slips and camisoles, shape wear and adhesive products that clients of dress shops are often looking for to complete their ensembles. Surprisingly, there are some ‘main-stream’ lingerie chain shops who will send their difficult to fit clients to our stores. Thanks guys! We appreciate all referrals.

TED:  Do you have any competition in the area?

LISA: We do. Yes. There are a few lingerie shops in our communities of London, Niagara Falls, Burlington and Toronto. We have a good working relationship with all of them as there is plenty of business to go around. But in Simcoe, we are the only game in town! 

TED:  Do you have an internet website?

LISA:  We do. 

www.mytopdrawer.com

TED:  What makes your stores special?

LISA: We have a store culture that is inclusive, safe and judgment free. Remembering that all clients are to be treated equally and respectfully. Everyone works hard for their nickel and a $90 purchase is as relevant to that client as the $1000 purchase made by another. Stocking an extensive inventory coupled with our distribution network, we will always recommend the best option for our client. We never sell for the sake of a sale or quota. We make a point of carrying All sizes and this way All women feel represented and they can see that we have their best interest at heart. Having a desire to offer honest service and advice to our clients is key and of course, doing it all with a sense of humor and a smile…that goes a long way. These things combined help to create our ‘Special Sauce.

TED: What do you look for in a brand?

LISA: Presently we are searching for brands that are “Made in Canada”.

TED: List some of the brands that are important to your stores.

LISA: Most of our key brands are European designed. We LOVE family businesses…as we can relate to that them and enjoy supporting them. Key, long-standing brands in our stores are as follows: Chantelle, PrimaDonna, Empreinte, Anita, MarieJo, Fantasie, Elomi, Felina, Simone Perle, Janira, Mey, Wacoal and Amoena.

TED: Do you sell lingerie?

LISA: Lingerie brands that we support are Cosabella, Aubade and Montelle.

TED: Do you sell bras? How are they different?

LISA: Our top selling bras are as follows: Chantelle, PrimaDonna, Anita, Empreinte, MarieJo, Elomi, Fantasie, Felina, Simone Perle, Mey, Wacoal  Clearly the fits are entirely different…one from another. Fits for small frames, more ample frames, deep cups, shallow cups, price points….you know. They are as different as people are different.

TED:  Do you sell sleepwear? 

LISA: Cool Girl, Patricia, Montelle, Mahogany, Cosabella. We’ve always chosen to carry Canadian brands where we can (hence #1,2 and 3) and Cosabella, well, we like the say the word with a bit of an accent. Haha. No. We love the quality, the story, the family business aspect and we love our sales rep! We always have our eyes open to fill a niche.

TED: Do you sell shapewear? 

LISA: Janira is our top seller followed by Leonisa. PrimaDonna factors in as well. We are delving back into Shapeeze as it is a Canadian brand. We love the ‘wearability’ of Janira and you just can’t beat their gusset. However Leonisa offers great slimming fabrics that are quite firm and their sizing too, is very good. We also carry some Ulla shape wear and are building it in our stores and some nice smoothing slips from Commando.

TED: Do you sell hosiery? 

LISA:  We do offer some hosiery but it is slow to move. Basics from Threads (supporting an upstart and a Canadian brand) and some Falke and Commando as well. Threads is our daily-wear brand and we have some eye catching and specialty pieces from the other brands.

TED:  Have any brands disappointed you?  How? 

LISA: We have had some brands that have not sold through or that didn’t work in Our Stores as well as we had hoped. I can’t say that it was a problem with the brand…it could have been an unrealistic expectation on our part as buyers. 

TED: What can be done to improve your industry? 

LISA: The answer is simply this: In a perfect world all manufacturers would use the same sizing system. This would make life so much easier on new trainees and even for some of us more seasoned ones! Not to mention the ease in ordering and re-ordering and for our online business. Then again, I had hoped to grow up to be a Unicorn…but that’s not happening either.

TED : Have you brought any new products or brands into your store recently?

LISA: We have certainly added more wire-free options to our drawers as the public demands this. We’ve searched for more ‘Made in Canada’ options as well and are now including Cloud Nine pajamas to our sales floor. The bamboo is really heavenly. We also are adding socks from Butler Socks which is a relatively new company out of Truro Nova Scotia I really loved their product (made in Turkey) and support their story…emigrating from Ukraine and now making a life for themselves here in Canada. Regarding Swimwear, we added Jantzen to our offerings this year. The fabric and body shapes are terrific. It ships to us from Montreal so this makes it an easy choice.

TED : Describe the popular styles or trends in your store.

LISA:  ‘Comfort bras’ or ‘Wirefree’ bras have become a really significant category in our stores. We see that manufacturers are working diligently toward producing better support and more fashionable options in this category. Best sellers for us in wire-free are from Anita…specifically the ‘Essential Lace’ which happens to tick a lot of boxes with our clients. With respect to the Swim side of our business, we simply cannot keep up with the demand for Tankini-style bathing suits. Women love them for the ease of wear and also to help alleviate issues with fit, i.e. larger bottoms than tops or vice-versa.

TED :  What are your most popular colors?

LISA:  As much as we try to promote color and fashion…the skin tone bras still outsell others by far. We are happy to see more ‘options’ in skin tone from our manufacturers. New blush tones are very popular for bras, followed by black and red of course. In swimwear women tend to lean toward shades of blue and you can never rule out the power of basic black.

TED : Describe your price points and size ranges.

LISA: We are all over the board with price ranges. I’d say that we are ‘medium to premium’ in our bra and swimwear options. It is impossible to carry significant inventory and offer service in fittings while offering low prices. The math does not work. Size ranges are definitely inclusive. AA-P in cups. 28-56 in bands. Multiply out all of the possibilities in combinations and we service over 200 sizes of bras. Yes. We are Crazy…but we built this business as an “Every Woman’s” lingerie store and we plan to continue that inclusive vision. Our by-line is ‘You Bring ‘em, We Fit. ‘Em”.

TED:  What is your typical or average customer size?

LISA:  If you check our data, you’d see that 34-38 E,F and G get the most turns in our drawers. That being said we might have a day when most clients are 42D. Petite women tend to be less frequent visitors in our stores for bra fittings as they have less trouble finding comfort in ‘fast-fashion’ stores.

TED:   What does your average customer spend per visit to your stores.

LISA:  An average ticket is $178.00

TED:   Describe your customer base.

LISA: Our client is typically someone who has had trouble finding a comfortable fit in traditional retail outlets. They crave service and selection and they appreciate independently procured products that will work to solve their particular issue. Big Box stores or online shopping has not been their answer to support and comfort. Our age range is shocking…from 20 something to 80 something. (Which really make inventory ‘interesting’) and our size range certainly attracts clients who simply can not find answers to their fit issues in traditional stores. An ever increasing percentage of our clientele are loyal My Top Drawer clients because they know that we have selected quality garments and we align with their desire to receive great service and ‘better’ options than the mass market stores.

TED:   What have you done to draw attention to your location?

LISA:  Our newest store has been trickier to market. Because it is in a larger center, finding the advertising niche has been difficult. We have tried some direct mailing to postal-codes in our immediate area and to areas with an income that we are looking to target. This was marginally successful. We have done a series of digital billboards in combination with television marketing which was expensive and somewhat successful. We have done some radio advertising too…but as always, nothing works as well as the referrals. So we have ramped up our referral program and that is also relatively successful. Social Media pushes that direct clients to the website and then to the store nearest them works well. We have had a geo-targeting campaign….again, it is hard to say how successful it was as we continue to use several methods to promote our newest location in an attempt to build a loyal clientele.

TED:  Who are your favorite sales representatives in the business?

LISA: Oh boy…now that’s a tough one. We are lucky to have really good relationships with all of our reps and their brands. And having long-standing reps makes a real difference too. I’d have to name Nadia Salhany from the Eveden brands, Nicole Torossian from Vandevelde and Melissa Pusching from Anita as people who we love to see in our office. Kevin Silver who is our rep for several key brands including Wacoal and Mey is always a pleasure to deal with. I’d be remiss if I left out my Hungarian compadres, the Farkas boys form Felina, and Audrey Pauls from Chantelle and Melissa Stuart from Stivell. How can we not mention Paul Fabrizio from Cosabella and Sunflair. Special mention to our very first rep for My Top Drawer, Norm Jacobs. We are both still going strong!