Every time that lululemon opens a store in a new city (the Galleria Mall in this case), the company tasks a couple of its employees to post a “24 Hours” round the city segment on its blog.
In the case of Buffalo, lululemon found Kate Rogers and Kathleen Engelhardt from Love In Motion Yoga, who cruised Hertel and Elmwood for a day and then wrote about it. The two started with a Mysore-style class at East Meets West, a yoga studio that recently relocated to The Foundry. They ended up sipping prohibition era cocktails at Vera Pizzeria. In-between, Kate and Kathleen managed to fit in a whirlwind tour that would make any Buffalonian proud.
Over the years, yoga studios have become as commonplace as coffee shops in the city. In fact, there appears to be one on just about every corner. That means that it was only a matter of time before a store the likes of lululemon (caters to the lifestyle of a yogi) was going to land here. While it would have been incredible to see a business like lululemon open in the city, the larger chains still go where the masses shop and the international clothing stores are clustered. Despite the non-urban location, the shop still appeals to an urban demographic. After perusing the lululemon blog it appears that they are capitalizing on the trendy upswing of the city to promote their hip and healthy lifestyle image.
Who knows? There will, one day, come a time when one of the trendy chain stores takes a closer look at the city (other than for co-branding purposes). Instead of showcasing how great the city is to its potential customers, the business will opt to plant a flag in an urban commercial district and capitalize on the growth of Buffalo. In the meantime, it’s great to see a business such as lululemon flaunting the city’s mounting assets.
Here’s the link to the lululemon blog.