The Relevancy Read

Hot takes, early calls and astute observations, carefully curated.

A Sampling

Tourist traps' ironic allure.

June 27, 2023

Childhood dining dreams are hot in hospitality.

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone poured $40M into reopening the iconic Denver restaurant, Casa Bonita, a nostalgic spot providing dinner and a show for kids and adults alike. After closing during the pandemic, the new space has all the same waterfalls, cliff divers, characters, and themed décor people love, with an elevated experience and a six-time James Beard nominated chef. Iconic food franchises have quickly taken on cult status, but what started in fashion is now moving to hospitality. Still abuzz on the internet, Chain, the rotating pop-up concept by BJ Novak, features upgraded takes on popular chain restaurants with nostalgic décor and referential merchandise. While consumers are currently wearing merch from their favorite childhood haunts, expect them to be dining there soon, too. Get ready, Rain Forest Café!

Every consumer is a special snowflake with new customization at retail.

This weekend, Balenciaga converted its London Bond St. store into a customization outpost where shoppers could put their own spin on an "I ❤️ Balenciaga" t-shirt. Los Angeles designer Keely LLC acquired a cult following with hand-painted garments. Urban Outfitters took note, tapping into a flair for personalization and upcycling in an Earth Day collection. Angelina Jolie’s new fashion venture Atelier Jolie will allow customers to collaborate with tailors, patternmaker, and artisans, satiating demand for self-expressive outlets and vintage/deadstock pieces. As consumers buy less, they’ll customize more. Invest in new personalization services and technologies to excite, engage, and innovate alongside your customer.

Designer beach clubs strengthen ties between retail, fashion, and hospitality.

A cross-section of luxury consumers remains obsessed with logos, driving a growing number of luxury brands to the summer beach club scene. Gucci is in St. Tropez, taking over Loulou Ramateulle with logo-splashed cabanas, a restaurant, and limited-edition product at the shop. Dior’s “Diorviera” pop-up at Malaysian beach resort One&Only Desaru Coast features similar bells and whistles (retro changing rooms are a CD & Co. favorite). Meanwhile, Jaquemus opts for a more minimalist, lemon-hued interpretation of St. Tropez’s Route de Bonne Terrasse. As demand for luxury travel and experiences soars, notable names in adjacent industries are getting their piece of the pie. Watch brands and businesses at more accessible price points follow suit in different settings.

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Buckle up for the future of flying cars.

Summer is here, which means helicopter rides from NYC to the Hamptons. This year, we’re noticing the casual ease with which many are jumping on and off choppers. Blade offers customers $50 off their first ride, which by our math, is just about the same as an Uber to JFK. We Wore What designer Danielle Bernstein recently transported guests to an event at a Long Island vineyard in “WWW Air” branded Blades, while Kygo offered helicopter transport to his festival in the Hamptons as a ticket tier package. At SXSW, we spoke to the founder of EVE, an eVTOL company expected to take flight commercially in the next 2 years, while United Airlines and Archer Aviation have already teamed up for an eVTOL air taxi service that will connect customers to Newark from downtown New York in as little as 10 minutes. With the eVTOL market expected to be worth $1 trillion by 2040, take this as your cue that air taxi travel will soon be as normal as hailing a cab.

"Quiet luxury" creeps into home and interiors, reviving old, sentimental things.

Since Instagram and iPhones made everyone a celebrity, there's a growing need for mementos that are more personal than performative. “Searches for custom oil portraits [on Etsy] have increased by 173% year-over-year in the last three months,” according to WJS Off Duty. Young art aficionados’ newfound taste for antiques has renewed interest in very old things, outlined in The New Antiquarians: At Home With Young Collectors. Tired of the throw-away cycle, consumers gravitate towards practices of safe-keeping and passing down—look to Gohar World’s embroidered lace envelopes, or new restaurant Gab’s mosaic walls made from broken plates the owner’s family saved for over 20 years. After years of fast fashion and overconsumption, it’s nice to see sentimentality reinvigorating the marketplace.