There is a new clothing store in Vancouver called Cocoon, which is having it's opening party tommorrow night (Wed, Nov. 16th). And the concept, if not unique, New York and TO have prototypes, is a wonderful example of how Vancouver is emerging into a genuinely cosmopolitan city. It is based on a shared retail space. Up and coming designers now have the opportunity to rent a part of the store with only a 4 month commitment, and very reasonable rates ($250-550, depending on how much space you use). The rent covers all the costs of running a business, the designer gets to set the price of their product and keeps 100 percent of the sale. This is an amazing opportunity to get your foot in the door if you are a new designer. And as a shopper it sounds like a wonderful venue to discover new, local talents - before they take off to the big leagues.

I sent Tiffany Ho some questions, which she very graciously answered, in order to get a better picture of what was going on over there on 17th and Cambie.

1. What inspired you to start this store?

Shop Cocoon came about mostly from off and on dialogue between multiple local designers and also through hammering out ideas between Brenda and myself. It has often been discussed in the local fashion scene that there really are no avenues for "getting your foot in the door." As a result of these discussions we had for sometime been thinking of how we could offer low retail to up-and-coming labels. A few weeks ago we saw that an import shop had vacated at Cambie and 17th, an area we thought would work well for our idea. So after a couple of mad days deciding if we could pull this off we snapped up the lease and spent the next three weeks renovating, promoting, and recruiting in the hopes of opening within time for the holidays. So far so good...

2. What made you feel that the Cambie location was right?

Our selection was based on cost, future potential, and neighbours. Right now most of the retail areas within the city are oversaturated and overpriced. Our principle aim when selecting a location for Shop Cocoon was to provide a location that would be marketable while still affordable. Cambie offers us this opportunity. From a cost perspective it couldn't be better. The property rentals are relatively reasonable, which translate into major savings for our resident designers, yet the area is quite close to the city center. This will only improve with time and fairly quickly in our opinion. Within the next couple of months a giant Capers will be opening up three doors down from our location, adding to the already significant foot traffic in the area. From a longer term perspective we have to look at RAV, while many view RAV negatively, from a business perspective this can be nothing but positive to the Cambie area. With RAV, Cambie promises to become a major artery between Vancouver and Richmond and we feel that our shop location smack dab in the middle of the longest stretch of small businesses along that artery positions us to be central to the growth of the area. Finally our neighbours played a significant role in the selection of our store's location. Cambie does not as of yet have a destination shop, quite simply we would like to be it.

3. Have you visited other stores with the same concept?

The idea isn't completely new. Its been tried and been quite successful in other cities, but it is new to Vancouver. Brenda visited NYC a short time ago and while she was there she stopped in at several boutiques that operated on similar arrangements. When she came back she shared her experiences with me and we went online to research them and other stores to find out what has been working and what hasn't. From that we worked out what we thought would work for us if we tried a similar venture over here and then we sat on the idea for a bit till our chance came along.

4. Which designers do you already have on board?

We have five inaugural labels within our shop. Andrea Facey of Joe Blob Clothing who specializes in cartoon screen printed apparel in what she describes as "cutesy-horrific-stupid and sometimes obscene." Tracey Wood of Juicy Jewels who uses semi-precious stones, vintage buttons, and hand-pressed silver to create colourful, vibrant jewelry. Sara Gold of Mike Hunt who reworks found materials to create extraordinarily beautiful one of a kind pieces. Jinky Chan and Liz Yeung of Modish who specialize in stylish, unique, and affordable jewelry. Lastly Brenda Li and I, Tiffany Ho, have our own line, Third Floor Design, of comfortable, fun lingerie and accessories. In addition to these labels we're still in discussion with other designers who are interested in coming on board within the next week or two.

5. How will this concept work practically; will designers have the opportunity to stay after the four month commitment?

The concept behind Shop Cocoon encourages the rotation of designers, but we are not going to be cycling them personally. Our designers are required to give a four month commitment. Following this they can opt out whenever they like. Our intention is to give our designers a leg up, we expect that designers will come on board when they are just starting out, or are looking for some retail space in the city, and once they outgrow us that they will move on to bigger and better things. As such designers will definitely rotate as it is the nature of the store, and they will likely rotate fairly often, however the exact frequency will be largely dependent on the particular residents at any one time.

6. How many labels are you expecting to be able to host at one time?

We are not locked in on any real number of labels. What works well for the store will be what we go with. Also with certain labels there may be some cross-over that will affect the numbers. However our initial maximum capacity is eight clothing, three or four jewelry, two paper goods or handbags, and one or occasionally two artists/photographers on our walls.

7. How would you describe the type of look you are aiming to host? (I think you said something about going for a cohesive look)

When we first started promoting the store and looking at different labels we were looking at having the store as exclusively a woman's store. This meant we had to be a little more selective to make sure we could merchandise our garments well. However once we started interviewing interested parties it became apparent that many designers catered to both sexes so we had to modify our approach a bit. What we have done is design the store to be as neutral and attractive as possible by keeping it simple so that the clothing can speak for itself. Our opinion now is that the cohesiveness will be drawn from the fact that all designers will be intimately involved in the sales process. Our target demographic is the contemporary customer who looks for well-made, unique items. As such our focus on selecting applicants is now in large part driven by both quality and whether or not we feel the items will satisfy this customer.

8. Can people shop during the opening?

Yes, definitely. Please do!

The Launch party is open to the public...it is on Wednesday, November 16, 2005 between 5pm-8pm. Address is 3345 Cambie Street (@17th)

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