A new company with a familiar name is making its debut in Plano and Frisco. Santa, a mobile store concept, was created by veteran tech startup founders who recruited experienced store executives for their pandemic-inspired idea.
Santa, which will be a year-round business despite the seasonal name, is launching with two trucks that drive around local neighborhoods notifying nearby residents to open the Santa app. There they will see the latest assortment of premium fashion, beauty, tech, home décor and gifts. The dressing room is the customer’s home, and returns are picked up at their front doors.
“Santa is an attempt to create a new kind of physical store that moves around and is backed by logistics and technology,” said Roee Adler, co-founder and CEO of Santa and a former WeWork Labs senior vice president. “We are here to surprise and delight.”
The vehicles are the size of an oversized milk truck, he said, and will hold 20 to 30 items that change out weekly.
Adler says the experience is better than e-commerce because shoppers can try on clothing and test out décor in their house before their credit card is charged from the Santa app.
Adler’s co-founders, Menachem Katz and Shai Wininger, have started technology companies. Wininger was a co-founder of both Lemonade Inc., an insurance company, and Fiverr, an Israeli online marketplace for freelance services. Both companies are now listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
While Santa has staff working remotely in New York and Israel, the company is based in Dallas and has recruited retail executives from Nautica, J. Crew and Urban Outfitters for buying, marketing and retail expertise.
The sales staff on the trucks were hired locally and are full-time employees.
The pandemic meant more people started shopping online out of necessity, Adler said. Wininger is a longtime resident of suburban New York and knew firsthand about the hassle of online returns. That led them to wonder why no one had created a store that comes to your house.
Then they set out to find the right market, Adler said. They researched key metrics from 1,400 U.S. cities that included income, real estate prices and how often people eat out.
Plano and Frisco were at the top of the list. “We started calling people we all know there and asked about the lifestyle,” he said. “Everyone said ‘You must come here. People will like the personal connection.’ ”
The truck is stocked with global and local brands, including luxury fashion brand Laude the Label, founded by Carly Burson, who has a shop in Fort Worth, and Spirit of Salt, a hand-painted goods and custom artwork business owned by Heather Clark Lynn.
Lela Orr, founder and creative director of Dallas-based luxury fashion brand Ferrah, said in an email that Santa will help her reach new customers beyond a base she has cultivated as a zero-waste brand.
During a pilot period, Orr said, orders were filled “extremely fast” through the Santa app. She agreed to the wholesale relationship with Santa because it intends to “prioritize locally made goods that support local artisans.”
Twitter: @MariaHalkias
Looking for more retail coverage? Click here to read all retail news and updates. Click here to subscribe to D-FW Retail and more newsletters from The Dallas Morning News.
