Fashion industry, watch out! Bob Mitchell is shouting it out loud: At Mitchell’s stores, sales are actually higher among women than among men.

“We are still perceived as men’s fashion,” he said. “The best-kept secret of our business from an industry and customer perspective is that 56 percent of our sales are women’s fashion.”

Mitchell is co-chief executive of the $200 million Connecticut-based luxury retail group, which includes eight stores under the Mitchells, Richards, Marios and Wilkes Bashford names. “We believe we are the largest women’s clothing specialty store in the United States – and have been for some time,” he said.

Not surprisingly, Mitchell’s has long been considered a men’s clothing store. The company was founded in 1958 by Ed and Norma Mitchell “with three men’s suits, a coffee pot and a dream” in an 800-square-foot former plumbing store in Westport, Connecticut. Over the years, the company expanded on both coasts by acquiring competitor Richards, a men’s-only store in nearby Greenwich, Connecticut, as well as Marios in Seattle and Portland, Oregon, and Wilkes Bashford in San Francisco and Palo Alto, California, which also initially carried only men’s clothing and later added women’s clothing.

In fact, Mitchells has been selling women’s clothing at its main store in Westport since the mid-1960s, Wilkes has been in the women’s clothing business since 1978, and Marios added women’s clothing to its range in 1980 after selling exclusively men’s clothing for 20 years.

“When I joined the business in 1991,” Mitchell said, “women made up about 15 or 16 percent of total sales. Richards was a men’s only store until we moved it across the street in 2000. Today, Richards also sells more women’s clothing than men’s and has significantly less space.”

When Wilkes joined the company, Mitchell said the women’s range was “under-penetrated” and there was no jewellery. Marios had already built up a strong women’s business when it joined the Mitchells family in 2015, but has since added jewellery to its range.

Over the past four years, said Andrew Mitchell-Namdar, chief marketing officer and vice president of e-commerce, sales in the women’s division have increased by 32 percent, despite no new stores being opened. “This year alone, we’ve grown by 11 percent,” he said.

“Our acquisition strategy continues to be to grow the women’s and jewelry businesses,” Mitchell said. “The women’s market is by definition larger and the more people discover us, the higher those numbers will get over time. We still love the men’s business, but we now have the right team to focus on women’s fashion and we’re seeing the results.”

The team is led by Angela Pieretti, the company’s General Merchandise Manager for women’s fashion.

“One of the biggest changes in the last four years has been in our buying team,” said Pieretti. Although she has been with Mitchells for 24 years, she was promoted to general manager of women’s fashion four years ago. The lucrative jewelry division is headed by Jennifer Farrington, wife of Dan Farrington, general manager of men’s fashion at Mitchells.

Mitchell said the stores have managed to create a total look for their female customers. “We offer an amazing mix of different styles and looks,” he said.

Pieretti said that while designer goods make up nearly 70 percent of the business, the store has expanded its assortment to include a range of price points and categories. The biggest ready-to-wear brands, according to Pieretti, are Brunello Cucinelli, Akris, Kiton, Loro Piana and Carolina Herrera, while the fastest-growing collections are Celine, The Row, TWP, Khaite and Nili Lotan. In shoes and bags, Loewe, Gianvito Rossi, YSL and Bottega Veneta are the top sellers. Made-to-measure is also a big growth area.

“What has happened over the years is that we have the purchasing power,” Pieretti said. “And we put together the range for women.”

“We offer a beautiful mix of fashion and luxury for a head-to-toe look,” said Mitchell-Namdar.

“One of the biggest misconceptions,” Mitchell says, “is that you can’t get the same loyalty from women as you can from men. That’s just not true. We get the same loyalty from women, and when we have both people in the household, expenses increase and they’re here more often. And when we have both closets, we want the jewelry box. So in this case, one plus one equals three.”

Mitchell believes his stores are benefiting from the rise of monobrand stores combined with the concession model that is becoming more prevalent in luxury department stores. “We don’t think that’s how the luxury customer wants to shop,” he said. “And that plays into our ability to capture the luxury customer.” By offering a “great, immersive shopping experience,” free alterations for both genders and best-in-class technology to enhance the physical experience, Mitchells can develop that all-important loyalty.

“Price is not a strategy for us,” Mitchell-Namdar said.

Instead, the stores host fashion shows for many of their key suppliers, such as Kiton, Cucinelli and Loro Piana, to “introduce our top customers to the brands,” Mitchell said. In addition, the store hosts trips to Milan, Paris and other luxury destinations for some of its top customers. Pieretti said one of those trips was a mother-daughter outing where they were able to shop together and check out the new collections from some of the store’s top brands.

“These trips are in small groups but generate over a million dollars in sales,” Mitchell said. “They are significant. We started with ready-to-wear clothing, but now we do it with jewelry. It has become an important part of the business and takes the relationship with the customer to a new level.”

To meet women’s needs, stores need to be a certain size, but not too big, the team believes. “You need 2,000 to 2,800 square feet, not 18,500 to 35,000,” Mitchell says. “The luxury customer wants a slightly more intimate experience.”

That’s exactly what they’ll get at the new Wilkes Bashford store being built in Palo Alto. The existing store at Stanford Shopping Center is 9,000 square feet, but in November the company will open the doors to a new 22,000-square-foot store on the other side of the center. It will include a large, private VIP shopping area, a kitchen and other amenities. When completed, Mitchell says it will be the largest new multi-brand specialty store in the U.S. And the expanded space will allow the company to “really ramp up the women’s and jewelry assortment,” Mitchell said. “We think there’s a big opportunity here.”

But it’s not just the brick-and-mortar stores where ladies can shine. “We continue to use digital technologies on a much larger scale,” Mitchell-Namdar said. “First and foremost, we’re a brick-and-mortar business, but our online business has grown 20 percent this year. We can use our digital tools to communicate with our customers 24/7.” That includes employing stylists who can reach customers whenever they’re ready. “By giving the best style consultants the tools they need, we create that magical customer loyalty,” Mitchell-Namdar said.

The Mitchell family may soon expand that strategy to Florida, a state where many of their Northeastern customers relocate in the winter — or have already done so permanently during the pandemic. Mitchell acknowledged that the company is not looking to acquire an existing store in the state, but rather “build from scratch.” He said they are currently looking for the right spot in the West Palm Beach area. And they are in no rush; Mitchell said it will likely be 2026 before a new store opens.

At that point, the company will also have to decide what name to put on the facade. “We think it will be a combination of Mitchells and Richards,” Mitchell said. “On the East Coast, those two brands are the most recognized.”

Mitchell-Namdar added, “If we were to open in LA, we would use the Wilkes name. We have created regional brands of true specialty stores with curated selections in each city.”

Wherever they go next and whatever the name is, that strategy won’t change as the company continues to grow. “It’s a strategy we believe in,” Mitchell said. “Our goal is to continue it so our stores don’t all look the same.”