Lifestyle fashion trends change at an alarming pace, and each update is an attempt to maintain the sort of effortless, ahead-of-the-curve cool Boston's Bodega has quietly embodied for the past four years. Disguised to look like your neighborhood corner store, one of the world's most respected lifestyle boutiques stays hidden behind a facade of toilet paper and Tide.

Frank151: Tell us about the history of your store.
Bodega: Bodega this May will be four years old. Myself and my two other partners, Jay and Oliver, about five years ago we hated our jobs and wanted to pursue something that we had an interest in, which was niche market retailing. In Boston there was no store like this and we wanted to create a unique retail experience where the consumer could come in, find product that they wouldn’t find everywhere and just have a different and very eclectic experience compared to what is traditionally done. Our main goal was to have it operate off of word of mouth – we have no phone, no sign. We just kinda wanted to be like a speak-easy. The reason that we based it off a bodega is because traditionally, the bodega is the centre of the neighborhood, it also doubles as a social club or a weed spot, it’s multipurpose. So when we created the space, we wanted there to be a traditional bodega setting when you come in, and then in the back there’d be the secret retail area, you’d have that juxtaposition of spaces.

F151: Were there any other shops that inspired you?
B: I grew up skating, so I’ve always appreciated the sort of DIY attitude of skate companies and going against the grain and doing your own thing. So definitely this whole store, retail venture thing that we set out to do had a sort of personal resonance with myself, with a lot of influences from skating and that sort of approach.



F151: How would you describe the design of your store? What was the inspiration behind it and what type of environment are you trying to create?
B: The front of the store looks like your traditional bodega that you’d find in any neighborhood here on the East Coast. You come in the front area, it looks very unassuming (small, cramped, dirty) and then we have a secret entrance to the back retail area which is more open and accommodating. We thought the juxtaposition of the spaces would make for a more interesting experience.

The store, we try to make it accessible to everyone. We’re not going for the whole “cool guy” attitude, I think that our staff is well-educated and very inviting, we try to make everyone feel welcome. People definitely come through just to hang out, we have a lot of tourists coming through, we have an international draw now which I feel very blessed to have. It’s definitely brought a lot of opportunities to us. We definitely have a lot of big plans for the next five to six years, so we hope we can keep having success and keep bringing something interesting and relevant to this culture.    

F151: How did you decide on your location? How important has the location been?
B: It took us about a year and a half to find the location. We weren’t super knowledgeable going into it, we initially looked at some spots in Chinatown because we wanted it to be really off the beaten path, but the way things played out we found a spot basically a few blocks from the main shopping district and in hindsight location is really, really key. I think, due to the layout and culture of the city, that if we had put it in a more obscure spot we wouldn’t have been as successful, so we definitely lucked out with that. We’re very pleased with where we are: off the beaten path but not too far, still accessible.

F151: What brands do you carry, and which are your top sellers?
B: Our top brands are Headquarter Plus*, Acronym, Stussy Deluxe, Maiden Noir, Yukatan*, White Mountain, just to name a few. Right now the brands performing the best are definitely Stussy, Penfield and Clae.

F151: What brands or specific products are you excited about for Spring / Summer 2010?
B: I’m definitely excited about Yukatan*, I’m not sure where they’re out of but they definitely have a Japanese contingency to them and it’s all hand-made in the United States. They do incredible plays on American classics from moccasins to your traditional boat shoe, to boots. They have incredible craftsmanship. Penfield of course, with their take on traditional American classics. Being in New England it’s very relevant so it does well here. Headquarter Plus* is a pleaser, lots of Oxfords, mountain parkas, stadium jackets with their own unique taste and quality and craftsmanship that the Japanese put into each garment, you know. It’s top-quality, I’m always impressed by the construction. And then of course Clae, Clae has done really well ’cause it’s just a smart, casual shoe. You can wear it dressed up, dressed down, we probably move like 70 units a week so I’m always excited by the Clae brand.

F151: Are there any trends in fashion that you're excited about, both for Spring / Summer 2010 and beyond?
B: The next couple of seasons we’re going to be seeing the traditional take on American workwear, American classic. Which is cool ’cause that’s always kinda been up here in “stuffy New England”, you know, it’s just plain, simple. And being older I tend to appreciate this more than what was going on in the past with the louder, over-the-top colors and designs. It’s good to just go back to the classics.

F151: How has social networking (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) affected retail for your store and retail in general?
B: Well for us our whole thing was just like, strictly word of mouth. Although since we’ve opened we’ve added a website which we’ll be updating shortly. We still try to keep it as a unique experience and not do too many email blasts or Twitter or Facebook, we try to keep it to our website. But as an independent retailer in this market, to stay competitive you definitely need to make use of all the resources available to you, mostly the internet. Definitely going forward most independent retailers are going to continue to use Twitter, blogs, all these things we’ve come to expect from the internet.

F151: What about ecommerce? What effect has online sales had on your store and on the broader retail industry?
B: Ecommerce is definitely a big part of being an independent retailer. We have an ecommerce section with mostly our own product and we’re definitely taking bigger steps to improve this portion of our website with the new launch coming up this spring.

F151: What future plans for your store do you have that you’d like to share?
B: We’re definitely trying to grow our own brand. Creating more quality products relevant to what’s going on, definitely trying to grow that. More collaborations with our partners, both stores and different brands. No plans for expansion into other stores, maybe we might do… I dunno we have some surprises coming up! But definitely just the focus on our own brand.  

F151: What Scion promotional items have been the most popular with your staff and with customers?
B: Ah, definitely the complimentary CD’s, those things go over really well, especially being that they’re free, we put ‘em in the bags for the customers. We always have the promo stuff out and people seem to like that ’cause it gets snatched up pretty quickly. You know, nothing bad to say about it, it performs really well, it’s a free product and people like it ’cause it’s free.

F151: Do you have a favorite Scion music compilation? Did any of the compilations make it into your store’s music rotation?
B: I always thought Scion did a pretty good job at selecting up-and-coming DJs and artists. It’s very well curated. Out of all the free CDs that we received, it seems to be pretty on-point with what’s going on. It’s very relevant so I can appreciate that some time and effort is put into each CD.

F151: Can you explain the cult following for Scion socks?
B: Yeah, I’m wearing them right now! The socks are amazing. Like I’m not gonna lie, I have like four pairs of those socks. And I wear ‘em religiously. Actually that’s the best complimentary item that one can receive: socks.