Timothy (00:27)
Tim Baxter ⁓ and it is a pleasure to be here with Haley today and to be joining the Robin Report, something that I’ve read for many decades. So it’s real pleasure to be here and share my new platform with you.

Haley Boehning (00:42)
That’s great. So we’re going to get into the details of this story, but I wonder if you would give us your elevator pitch for this new concept. What is the Baxter Collective? How would you describe it to someone who hasn’t been introduced to it yet?

Timothy (00:59)
Well, know, those who know me well know that I’m not good at elevator pitches. I tend to be a little more ⁓ animated and passionate about the things that I feel strongly about. But ⁓ the Baxter Collective is a curated retail platform, basically. And what we’re trying to do is fill the space between the sort of endless aisle

that exists in larger third party retailers and online and the very narrow niche assortments that exist in ⁓ boutiques. I think there’s an enormous white space there that ⁓ we’re looking to fill and I’m very confident that we’re gonna be able to be very successful filling that white space.

Haley Boehning (01:47)
Great, thank you. Okay, so we’ll go into our first movement, kind of your view from the inside. So Tim, you spent 26 years at Macy’s and you were ⁓ at the helm of Express during some really interesting and turbulent times for that business and that brand. You’ve seen a lot. So I’m curious, if you look back at the last decade or so of your career,

Timothy (01:59)
Yes.

Yes.

Haley Boehning (02:16)
Was there a moment or a series of moments that caused you to say, I need to create something new?

Timothy (02:25)
Well, it’s a really interesting question and a perspective that I myself have actually sort of struggled with because I will say that after leading Express through, ⁓ in your words, one of the most turbulent times in retail and navigating ⁓ COVID and trying to reinvigorate a 40-year-old specialty retailer, I actually really paused when I left.

And I wasn’t sure actually that I wanted to go forward in the industry at all. actually, you know, thought I’d sort of semi-retire and ⁓ just sit back and enjoy life. But as you said, my career has spanned over three decades, 26 years of which were to your point at Macy’s. And ⁓ as I began reflecting on everything that transpired over those decades, you know,

What I realized is that the retail industry is just constantly evolving. And when I started in the retail industry, I started in a training program, a department store training program at LSA, in Indianapolis, Indiana. And when I started in the department store industry, you know, there were 30 plus operating divisions of what were at the time federated department stores and made department stores.

And those were all or had been family-owned, community-based department stores that really served a very powerful role in the communities that they were in. And so I lived through the consolidation of the department stores, of all these once family-owned, locally operating department stores into a national powerhouse ⁓ and was very proud of the work that we did to create that national powerhouse. ⁓

And then, you know, ⁓ that evolved, know, the industry evolved to be digital, you know, and e-commerce and this massive evolution towards e-commerce. And you and I both remember when everybody said physical stores were dead completely and nobody would ever shop in one again and that we all had to move toward e-commerce. So I lived through that evolution. And then I was very fortunate to be a part of the Omni-Channel Evolution.

and the integration of Macy’s Department of Work with Macy’s.com, which up until 2015 operated a separate company. And so that integration of putting the customer first and integrating and creating omnichannel retail, all of that is extraordinarily powerful. And all of those things still play a really important role in the retail ecosystem. But the one thing, as I reflected on all of those years, ⁓

of doing what I was doing. The one thing that was always very consistent to me was that stores could be very, very powerful when executed well. It could become really a customer’s favorite place when executed well. And that led me to thinking a lot about what’s missing today in

in the retail ecosystem. There are a lot of great things in the retail ecosystem, many working well, some more challenged, but there are a lot of great things. And this to me is something that’s really, really missing. And that is a store that can become the center of a community again. And so ⁓ I just decided to do it. I decided to build something new instead of reinventing something old.

Haley Boehning (06:11)
I’d love to ask you about these different spaces that you’ve just articulated, that you’ve seen evolution in over the last couple of decades. The department store space, the neighborhood store, and then the large omni-channel retailer that’s been focused so much on digital. I wonder if we could take each of those in turn. Can you tell me,

What do you think is missing? What are they getting right in those concepts right now? What do you think people are getting right and what are people getting wrong? Maybe you could start with department stores because you were speaking eloquently about.

Timothy (06:48)
Yeah. Well, you know, I think department stores, you know, as I said, have been an extraordinary evolution and they have been a part of the support to note. They’ve been a part of the retail ecosystem for hundreds of years. ⁓ And so I think, you know, there are a lot of incredible things happening again in the department store space. There are obviously a lot of very challenging things happening in the department store space as well. And, you know, one of the things that the department store offers and

reason I love that business and still love that business is access, right? So they have a very broad assortment. They appeal to a very, very broad range of consumers. They provide access to brands that consumers may not otherwise have access to in a physical world and in a physical world. And they have an incredible variety, enormous, enormous assortment. And ⁓ for many people, that

is a very positive experience. That is an experience they like. But for many other people, it’s overwhelming. I find it’s interesting. I obviously still go into department stores all the time. one of the things I find it challenging to navigate a 200,000 square foot space. ⁓ And I obviously know what I want. I know the brands well.

So what should be very easy for me to navigate is often overwhelming for me. And so I think that for many consumers, the department store offers all of those things. And therefore it becomes a destination, an occasional destination. ⁓ But it’s not a part of everyday life. It’s not a part of their weekly rhythm. And that’s what we’re building.

I’d like to build something that becomes a part of everyone’s habit, a part of their weekly rhythm, and that it’s easy to pop in, see what’s new, get great service in a really comfortable, luxurious environment. I think the department stores are doing many things well, but I think they can be very overwhelming.

Haley Boehning (08:59)
So then in the Venn diagram of need, you’ve just articulated a little bit of the overlap with the neighborhood stores. So those independent specialty retailers, what do you think they’re getting right and what’s missing? What’s the gap there?

Timothy (09:13)
Well, what’s, you know, it’s a great question because it was such a key driver in me deciding what I wanted to do. And, and I, I guess I sort of touched on it in my opening comments and that is that there is this incredible space between what the department stores do and the endless aisle that is available online and these very small niche boutiques that often and rightly so often

represent the very strong point of view of their founder, you know, or of the person who operates them. And consumers go to them for that very specific point of view, but it cannot, it’s very niche. So therefore it speaks to a very niche group of consumers, a small group of consumers. ⁓ But people, you know, that’s a very positive thing for some people. And for others, it actually makes them feel excluded, right? So they know that that’s not a store for me.

And that’s okay, you know, right. But it’s not a store for me. And so what I’d like to accomplish and what I’m hopeful we can accomplish in these neighborhood stores, these community driven stores is filling that space in between. a really highly curated assortment of product, but still broad enough that it appeals to everyone that lives in that community. ⁓ You know, we’ve got something for everyone.

I want to make sure everyone feels welcome and like I said, have it become part of their everyday life. So I think those are the two extremes that we have in retail right now, sort of the endless aisle and the super niche.

Haley Boehning (10:52)
How does that third space of digital, you we’ve been hearing for years, digital is everything. As you said, know, brick and mortar is dying, the physical store is dying. So what in either that omni-channel world of large retailers who are in multiple spaces or just the digital first ⁓ experience, what’s that missing and what is it getting right that you want to bring into the Baxter?

Timothy (10:58)
Yeah.

Thank

Well, I think the challenge with digital retailing is something we’ve all talked about very consistently for probably a decade, and that is personalization. The digital experience can feel very ⁓ sterile and impersonal, and the endless aisle can be very overwhelming if you don’t know how to edit it ⁓ correctly yourself. But I do think that digital retail is clearly

potentially the most important part of the ecosystem today, right? And clearly the fastest growing part of the ecosystem. And so it is an opportunity for consumers, again, to have access to things they may not have access to. ⁓ There are many, many consumers that live in places that they don’t have access to things that they might want, and digital retailers give them that access. ⁓ It provides so much opportunity for

⁓ different ways to sell product, different ways to reach people, know, social media selling and the rise of all of that. So I think digital is still critically important within the ecosystem. And I think that the digital retailers that are performing well and will perform well are the digital retailers that understand how to use technology, the technology that exists to get really personal with the

their approach to their consumer. I’m very proud to serve on the board of Stitch Fix. so obviously a very firm believer in digital retail and you know, I’ve been incredibly ⁓ honored to be a part of, you know, their evolution and what’s going on there. you know, that’s a great example to me of a company that understands how to use technology to have a very personal

experience and personal relationship with their consumers and truly understand what their consumers want and need and make it convenient for them to get it.

Haley Boehning (13:24)
So you touch on something that I’m very curious about, which is the clarity of the brand. So understanding what those consumers, what your customers are looking for and exactly what you’re offering. In all of the experience that you’ve had in the last 30 years, I know you have seen moments when brands lose clarity about who they’re for and the needs that they’re trying to serve. I wonder if there were any insights

that you had about that, you’re bringing into this new ⁓ brand and this new business.

Timothy (14:01)
It’s a great question. And obviously, you know, during my time at Macy’s, I had the opportunity to work closely with hundreds of brands, thousands of brands. And so I have seen, you know, brands that perform very well because they are customer first and they stay true to the clarity of their brand. And I’ve seen brands that have strayed and, you know, lose their way.

⁓ because they’re not customer first or they don’t stay very clear about who the customer is that they’re targeting. ⁓ I think that’s true in specialty retail, obviously as well. When I started at Express in 2019, ⁓ the brand was 39 years old. We celebrated our 40th anniversary during COVID, but it had a ⁓ sort of, I used to say to the team there, we’re in our midlife crisis.

We actually don’t know who we are. You know, we were this young, cool, hip brand, and then we became this work that go to work brand, but we still wanted to be young and cool and hip. I mean, were truly, it was a brand that was in its midlife crisis. And I think that can happen with brands. I do think that it’s obviously important for brands to evolve with their consumer and with cultural things that are happening. But ⁓ when a brand lacks

clarity on exactly who the customer is that they’re targeting, that’s when I think you can really lose your way. And when I look at brands that have struggled, it’s often because I believe they just sort of lose sight of their core competencies and the customer that they’re targeting.

Haley Boehning (15:49)
So I wanna talk maybe about the different platforms that you’ve been considering for the Baxter Collective. So you’re opening your first store in Rye, New York, a neighborhood store. ⁓ And then I also know that behind the scenes, you are also working ⁓ on your next store being in Miami. So two very, very different markets.

Timothy (16:13)
Yes.

Haley Boehning (16:16)
different platforms for your brand. Could you talk a little bit about what in the Baxter Collective customer is the same, regardless of where you are opening your store and how you see those different platforms serving perhaps different aspects of that customer or different customers?

Timothy (16:33)
Right. Look, I think that the philosophy of each one of those potential platforms remains the same. And that is community-based, customer-first, curated assortments in a calm, considered environment. So that’s the ethos of the Baxter brand. But just as we will curate an assortment,

that targets the consumer in the particular community that we’re in. We also need to curate the environment ⁓ and the location, the space. And so here in Rye, our store is about, it’s a little under 3,000 square feet, both men’s and women’s apparel and accessories. It’s a great size and allows for very comfortable seating. allows for

luxurious and comfortable fitting room experience. It allows us to have space. I often talk about space as a luxury.

Miami Beach to your point, very different, very, very different. The expectation of a consumer is very, very different in Miami Beach than it is in Rye. But on the other hand, it’s the same, right? I want a curated assortment. I want a comfortable environment. I want great sales associates that are professional and understand, you know, and can provide great service. So there are, that’s the ethos of the Baxter Collective and each of the

the formats, we’ll just customize them. So in Miami Beach, you know, we talk about, you know, rye being a little under 3000 square feet. In Miami Beach, it will still be within a neighborhood. I want to make that clear. know, it will still be within a neighborhood, but those neighborhoods are much more densely populated, have a much different aesthetic or vibe.

And quite honestly, require more space. ⁓ To service that customer requires more space. So the reason it’s a flagship is not, you know, my ego and I want a flagship store. The reason it’s a flagship is because actually there’s such a tremendous opportunity in these particular neighborhoods within Miami Beach to build something much bigger, know, assortments that are much bigger. So for example, in Miami Beach,

we might have a destination within our store called the Cabana, where it is all things pool, beach, and yacht, which is very much a part of the lifestyle of all of those people. But that may require the same 3,000 square feet that I have in total in Ryde, right? Just that particular assortment of product. That’s a huge void right now in Miami Beach. ⁓ So that’s…

So that’s the difference. So the ethos remains the same. Anybody that visits a store will feel like it is an integral part of the community that it’s in. They will feel like they get incredible service ⁓ from professional salespeople. ⁓ And I think, so I think that’s what will be consistent about, you know, the Baxter Collective and the stores that we open within it. The assortments will clearly be very curated to the consumer that’s there.

And look, I’m fortunate, it’s no surprise, I guess, that I live in Rye and Miami Beach, which is, guess, why I’m targeting those two locations as the first two. But I dress differently when I’m in Miami than I do when I’m in Rye. I have different wearing occasion needs. Going out to a restaurant in Miami is different than going out to a restaurant in Rye. it’s, I’m the same person.

but I actually have different needs when I’m in that environment or that community versus this community.

Haley Boehning (20:31)
That’s good. Really well said.

you’ve touched on this a little bit, but ⁓ I’d love to hear your thoughts. ⁓ You’re betting big right now. As you said, when you left Express, you thought, do I really want to do this anymore? Do I really want to do the retail thing? There’s a big difference between saying, hey, I think physical retail still works.

Timothy (20:42)
Yes.

Haley Boehning (20:55)
No, I’m willing to make a really big bet here on physical retail. So I wonder like, what’s the insight or the belief that’s at the core of this big bet that you’re making?

Timothy (21:06)
Well, I think it goes back to what we talked about previously, Haley, and that is that the one thing, as I reflect on my three decades plus, the one thing that has always been consistent is that physical retail, when executed well, works really well. you know, even in the past decade, when we’ve seen thousands and thousands of store closures across the United States,

In many cases, those stores, the four wall profit of those stores was still positive, right? And, and, but they just didn’t fit into the bigger picture of the bigger company. And so when I think about physical retail, that’s the, it’s the one thing that’s remained constant in those 30 plus years, which, which is what gives me the courage and the, the, conviction to say we can make.

this concept work really well because physical retail works really well when someone has done all the thinking for the customer. I think that’s a really important point. know, it goes back to what I was saying where even when I walk into a department store, can be hard for me to navigate those 200,000 square feet, you know, and all of the brands and all of the product. So physical retail works really well when someone’s done all the thinking for the customer.

and they can come in and it’s truly a calm, great experience, you know, ⁓ that doesn’t require, you know, a million different considerations and thoughts and ⁓ people have enough chaos in their life, you know. ⁓ So a calm, considered environment with a tight curated edit and a sales professional who can help get you into something that makes you feel confident and great. ⁓

And being able to do that on a regular basis, you know, because we’re going to be based in the community. And so I’ve talked about that a little bit, but it’s a really important part of the strategy for me. So much of retail is destination retail, right? It’s a destination retail corridor. It’s a mall. ⁓ This is about being in the community. It’s about being where he or she is every day living their life and being able to pop in. So really becoming a part of the weekly rhythm rather than.

a destination and a carve out of time, you know, and a trip.

Haley Boehning (23:39)
So you’re reminding me of the early days of limited stores. ⁓ Les Wexner used to have on every cash wrap in this early days a bowl of butterscotch candies. And because he knew that he had customers that would come in just to get a candy. And then it gave him an opportunity to talk to them about what was new in the store.

Timothy (24:01)
I’m sure he did.

Haley Boehning (24:00)
I wonder,

how do you operationalize that? So you’ve just painted a really clear picture of the kind of curated experience at the neighborhood level that you want to create. Maybe you could share with us some specific operational decisions you’ve made ⁓ about the store that helped bring that story to life.

Timothy (24:24)
That’s a great question. ⁓ And as you and I both know, at the end of the day, ⁓ the success or failure of all this will come down to execution and operationalizing it. ultimately, the metrics are all the same, right? I mean, it’s going to be a function of traffic conversion and average sale. mean, the metrics are the same.

but operationalizing what we’ve talked about is a little bit different. so first, I think it starts with the location and truly understanding whether or not the location can do what I’ve just described it doing. And that is truly become a part of the weekly rhythm. It’s interesting because when you live in a town like Rye, you actually have such a clear understanding of where in town, it’s just one street.

You know, it’s sort of Main Street USA with a couple of little offshoots, but you actually have a clear understanding of where in town everybody always is and where actually they’d have to walk further to, you know? And so I think a part of the first thing is actually choosing the right location. It has to be the absolute right location that truly can become a part of that weekly rhythm. ⁓ We’ve accomplished that in Rye and

We’ll accomplish that with any location going forward because it’s such a critical part of whether or not we can operationalize what I’m talking about. The second piece of it will be the team that’s in that store. Anyone that’s worked with me over the past three decades knows that I believe so strongly in the power of a store manager, the real power of a store manager. So many times in my career when a store’s business has been good,

or a store’s business has been bad, ultimately what we learn is that we have a leadership challenge. so getting the right leader, training the right leaders, ⁓ and keeping the right leaders ⁓ is going to be a key part of operationalizing this. Ultimately, I want our store managers to feel like founders. I want this to feel like their business. It is their P &L. They are

their customers, it is their community, and they have to take that kind of ownership. And what’s remarkable is people are really sort of emerging and telling me how motivated they are by a role like that, ⁓ you know, that truly allows them to run their own business. And so as long as they’re aligned with me and with, you know, our goals and the…

or promises that we’re going to make to our customers, it’s going to be up to them to operationalize it. From an assortment perspective, ⁓ we haven’t really talked about it, but I do intend to grow. This is a platform that I believe can grow. And ⁓ over time, ⁓ it will be critical that we are still curating the assortments for each one of the locations.

And the store team is also going to end up playing an integral role in that. And currently thinking about how that’s going to work, but we’re going to have store managers who are not just store managers, but are also integrally related or linked ⁓ to the buying team for the merchant, which just one merchant right now who happens to be fantastic. I couldn’t have done any of this without her. And she has been a phenomenal.

phenomenal, phenomenal resource for me. But operationalizing it too, yeah, I think this is an important point I’ll just make. I have been a part of huge, obviously huge, enormous organizations. I’ve also unfortunately been a part of the downsizing of huge, enormous organizations repeatedly. And I don’t ever want to do that again. So this is going to stay a very tight.

very focused team. ⁓ It’s going to allow us to remain agile. It’s going to allow us all to stay very close to the consumer. ⁓ And getting me to add someone to the team as we grow is going to be just as difficult as it always was for me, you know, when we were experiencing those downsized situations. So, you know, I’d rather I’d rather grow the team at a much slower rate than the business, you know, so that we can maintain that agility.

And part of operationalizing this too is getting back to test and learn, test and learn, test and learn. You know, I have no doubt that there are going to be a whole bunch of things that I thought were going to be great in Rye that aren’t going to be, right? I have no doubt about it. know that. I know it will be. ⁓ That’s just the way it works. But because we have this team and because we’re going to be so focused on building the assortment that works in this community,

That’s what’s going to make us successful, testing and learning, and being able to be agile, and shaking and grooving. It’s like the good old days of retail, where you really say, wow, the customer’s responding to this. I’m going to do more. Wow, the customer does not like this at all. I was wrong. I’m going to do less. ⁓ So I probably got a little bit off topic, but.

Haley Boehning (29:57)
interesting. You know, no,

it was, it was all good. You brought up a couple things I want to I want to tease out. So one, you’ve spoken fairly eloquently about this team that you’re building around you, and the visceral understanding that you have of who those people are how important they are to the organization. So, you know, you’re making a big bet, they’re all making a bet on you. And and this concept. So I’m curious, like, as you’ve been ⁓

Timothy (30:23)
Yes.

Haley Boehning (30:28)
I’m curious about the team that you’re putting around you. Like who else is on that team? This dream team that you’re creating. And then, you know, as you’ve been bringing them on board, ⁓ how did you get those first believers to join you? You know, what were the things that people said, yeah, I’m in for this crazy bet with you?

Timothy (30:47)
Well, I think I’m very fortunate that I’ve been able to build a very small team. It’s a very small team right now. ⁓ Of people who have not the three decades of experience that I have, but at least a decade, you know, or more. And they have been a part of big national retailers. So they’re people that have been a part of my team in the past, you know, and so they’re people that have had the same experiences that I’ve had. ⁓ And they’re people that

that share this passion ⁓ that I have about bringing great retail back into communities and stores being an integral part of the communities that they serve. so like I said, it’s a very small team right now. Jessica Colvin is ⁓ the curator of the assortment for the store in Rye. ⁓ She’s a longtime Macy’s buyer. So she has, you

vast, vast knowledge of the consumer and she, she, she’d merchandised everything from juniors to bridge sportswear, you know, so she has this very, very broad ⁓ view of the market and a key understanding of how to both drive core businesses and key items, but also how to build collections. ⁓ that Chris Parker, who’s working with me on store execution and he was with me at express, doing

visual merchandising and store operations and execution. So he’s working with me on this as well. The team at ASG, a consulting group that you’re very familiar with. ⁓ Ultimately, a group of people that I formally worked with, many of them at Express. And they believed in the concept right away and have helped me really build it and have helped me ⁓ and are helping me evolve.

know, the team will grow as the business grows, but for right now, it’s founder led, very much founder led, very different experience for me, but working really well.

Haley Boehning (32:51)
So you’ve talked about, are two things I want to touch on before we get to closing. One is, I think everyone’s now curious about the business plan and the sequencing of these events, of these store openings and looking at different markets. I know you can’t share everything about what you’re planning, but I wonder if you can walk us through your thinking ⁓ about the business side and how you’re going to grow and scale.

Timothy (33:21)
Yeah, well, I think, you know, ultimately, the only reason to do this is to build a really profitable business, right? This isn’t a… Some people actually, when I first talked about it, thought it was sort of a vanity play of something I could do in my semi-retirement. That’s not true at all. It’s actually something that I am very passionate about. And there is a growth strategy that I have put in place. so what I would say is that it’s my goal.

And I’m in very active discussions with several different investors now, ⁓ engaging with them on the expansion plans and what this could be. I’ll say this. I believe that we can open a few stores a year over the next five to seven years.

And so I think this can be a 20 store business generating close to $100 million because of the size of the flagships. I think there could be a few flagships will be very, very, targeted ⁓ about doing stores of that size. And I don’t know if I mentioned it earlier, but that’s about 30,000 square feet, 20 to 30,000 square feet. So still much, much more manageable than the traditional department store box, but much larger than these.

With a few of those and probably 15, 16, 17 smaller format stores, I believe I can build a hundred million dollar business. And I believe that because of what I’ve talked about, about how operationally sound we’re going to be and how tight we’re going to keep this team and how closely we’re going to control any expense that isn’t customer facing, that’s an important clarification.

I think that we will and can and will be one of the most profitable retailers out there as well.

Haley Boehning (35:14)
I wonder if you could talk for a minute about ⁓ legacy acquisitions. So you’ve talked about the neighborhood stores and the flagship stores. How do legacy acquisitions fit into your strategy?

Timothy (35:25)
⁓ It’s actually a part of the strategy that I didn’t originally anticipate. And as I have been speaking to people about the strategy and getting engaged with people about the strategy, it started to come up pretty frequently. And that is that there are actually hundreds, if not thousands of independent, independently owned founder led ⁓ stores across the United States.

that fit the profile that I’m describing. They actually fit the profile that I’m describing. And many of those operators have been doing it for a very long time. And quite honestly, one way out. But they have what I’ve described. They have a legacy in the community. They have a powerful brand recognition. They have very loyal consumers. And so as I’ve been

reviewing some of those opportunities, there are definitely opportunities, there will be opportunities to potentially acquire some of those. ⁓ They’ll likely, will likely keep their name and just, you know, tag them as a part of the Baxter Collective and bring our expertise, our operational expertise, our merchandising expertise to those locations so that we can improve upon what they’ve built over time. ⁓

no doubt we’ll be able to do it ⁓ better, ⁓ maybe not even better, just differently ⁓ to drive more volume and more profit. ⁓ But that’s sort of what we’re thinking. So those will be opportunistic. Obviously, if the right ones come along, we will go after them aggressively. And if they don’t, we’ll continue to open up our own location aggressively.

Haley Boehning (37:16)
So beyond the P &L, thinking of the future, beyond the growth plan, what kind of impact do you hope that this business has if you’re successful? Looking back 10 years from now, ⁓

on what you’ve built. What impact do you wish the business and want the business to have for your team, for the communities, for the industry?

Timothy (37:38)
I think first and foremost, it’s for the communities. I want the impact to be in the communities. know, people asked me, you know, or people have challenged me, you know, about the assortment and the aesthetic of the assortment and being a fashion leader and a trend leader and all those things. None of those things are important to me, actually. I mean, obviously we want have great assortments and we want to have great product and all those things, but none of those things are important.

I actually just want people in the community that we’re in to say that we are their favorite store. That’s just the impact I want to have in the community. And that’s what’s important to me. That’s what success looks like to me. Success doesn’t look like, ⁓ know, Tim Baxter and his team are recognized as the most fashionable team around. That’s not success to me. ⁓ And just having financial success isn’t success. I want people in the communities that we operate in to say,

that’s our favorite store. want them to just want to pop in to say hello to the people that work in the store because they are friends. They are really a part of the community. So that’s first. First is that. The impact on retail, think, you know, the industry impact, what I’m talking about, if it’s 20 stores, even if we grow the business to $100 million, which I intend to, it’s still small, you know, in the grand scheme of

the retail industry. I’ve made businesses anywhere from $2 billion to $28 billion. So, you know, this is small. So I’m not sure that it will have any impact on the industry other than a proof point that physical stores, when executed well, are a really, really great experience for the consumer and can drive a lot of business.

So that, you when I think of it from an industry perspective, I hope that it would just be a proof point for the industry that physical retail can be very powerful when executed well. And finally, for the team, look, you know, as you said, they’re taking up that tier two. And I want this, I want them to be as proud of what we’ve accomplished or what we will accomplish as I will be of what we will have accomplished. And I want them

all to recognize what a critical role they play in that success. I hope that my own legacy over my 30 years has been a profound impact on the people that have been on my team. I hope that’s true. I can name a few at least, but I hope it’s true for many that I don’t even know about. And I hope that’ll be through here. I’m fairly confident it will be through here.

Haley Boehning (40:27)
Great. I believe that there’s an impact that I’ve heard you speak about in the last 30 minutes that we’ve been talking that is beyond just someone’s favorite store, but it’s why it’s their favorite store. And you’ve articulated that, that real human connection and having, you know, I think about that Harvard study, those loose connections that we have.

Timothy (40:43)
Right. Right.

Haley Boehning (40:56)
with our local coffee shop, with our local retail store, with our post office, with the person who delivers our mail. I hear you speaking about that. ⁓ I wonder if you could say something about that, those kind of human connections.

Timothy (40:56)
Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep.

I think that’s such an important part of it. ⁓

For me, when I let express them, thought that I was going to sort of semi-retire everyone, everyone that knows me, other than me, everyone that knows me, that was never going to happen. But I thought that at the time. And what I realized very quickly, the only thing I really missed was the human connection. ⁓ It was conversations with people like you who understand the industry.

and challenge my own thinking and stimulate my own thoughts. It was the people that inspire me and the people that I inspire. It was human connection that was most missing when I left the industry. so, I think we all take those experiences that we have. And as I thought about that, I thought it’s human connection that’s missing so often now. So often we’re staring at our

We’re staring at our screens. We’re talking on the phone. We are distracted by a hundred different things and we forget about the people who are standing right in front of us or the people who are sitting right next to us, right? And so, you know, I’m so passionate about the community and, you know, Rye in particular, these are communities that are built on human connection actually. And it’s…

that’s a powerful force in the community, whether it’s through the schools or through the clubs or through the neighborhoods, those specific neighborhoods, the human connection is strong and the store has got to be a part of that. It’s got to be a part of that. And I’m so passionate about that. anybody who works in that store is going to know that I’m very passionate about that. But, so far the people, store team that we’re building or have built are equally passionate about life and rise.

and familiar with life in Rye. so, like I said, I want people to just pop into the store to say hello to the people. Even if they’re just walking by, they wanna pop in and say hi, even if they don’t have time to shop.

Haley Boehning (43:26)
Yeah, something really meaningful in that. Really. That’s great. Thank you. Thank you for letting me take you down that road. And obviously, I think you found a great partner in Asset Strategies Group. often hear, I’m fortunate to sit on the board of that organization, and I hear them often say in the boardroom that when retail is about real human connection, it moves beyond the transaction and can change people’s lives. I want to share a quick story with you, and then we can close.

Timothy (43:28)
Yeah, exactly.

Yes.

does.

Haley Boehning (43:53)
I worked for Michael Weiss at Express for many years. And we were having a moment after the integration of Express and Structure where everyone was wondering who the hell we were. And so I got a camera and I went out to the stores and I said, well, why don’t we ask the people like who are on the floor? Who are we? And I was interviewing a store manager on the 34th Street store and I had the camera set up and I always had them rolling even before we started. And so I just asked her in a kind pre-interview way.

Timothy (43:56)
⁓ no.

Yeah.

Haley Boehning (44:21)
So tell me what you do here. And I was expecting her to say, I’m the store manager. You know, I’ve been her ex number of years and she said, I change lives. And it stopped me dead in my tracks. And I said, tell me more. And then she told me stories of people who came in and were, had been out of work for eight months and needed a suit. And she put them in the suit that gave them the confidence to get them the job of a customer that came in and was going to a dance and wanted a pretty dress. And she helped.

Timothy (44:34)
here.

changes their lives.

Okay.

Haley Boehning (44:50)
behind

the dress that put them in the dance and that’s where they met their husband and now they’re getting married. And that beauty we often.

Timothy (44:57)
How about

the bride whose luggage was lost on her way to her bridal shower and needs an outfit right now? I don’t know ⁓ if any of the folks there at ASG that worked with me at Express have shared this with you, while I was at Express, ⁓ we landed on sort of our core mission, which was we create confidence and we inspire self-expression. And I went on this.

this nationwide create confidence tour and did exactly what you’re talking about. I met with every store manager in the entire team over the course of like

and had them tell me stories like that. And the whole point of it was to say, you are not a store manager. That may be the title that you have, but you and your team are impacting people’s lives in ways you cannot imagine every single day. And it sounds silly, but you’re describing exactly what it is. It is, you put on a suit and you suddenly feel very different about yourself. It does create conflict.

And there were so many stories. I probably shouldn’t say this, but I would end up crying at the time when people would tell me stories of how they had impacted people’s lives and that those people come back over and over over again because of that impact that they had. I mean, it’s extraordinary. It’s really extraordinary. And it speaks directly to the human connection that we’re talking about and the ability for our teams to have that impact.

lives in in within communities.

Haley Boehning (46:40)
Thank you. I wonder if I could ask you to take this reflection back. You’ve seen so much in the last 30 years. What’s something that you’ve learned in the last 20 or 30 years that, something you know now that you wish someone had told you 20 or 30 years ago?

Timothy (46:41)
Yeah.

⁓ I wish someone had told me actually ⁓ to keep things simple. I wish somebody had told me that. You know, as I was in organizations that were scaling ⁓ massively, I described it earlier. went from starting at this little department store in Indianapolis, Indiana, to a nationwide chain generating $28 million at the time in revenue.

you know, massive change. And with that came tremendous amounts of complexity. First of all, because you were integrating, right? So there was just, there was just complexity involved in all of those integrations, but also because you’re now, you know, assorting for 600 stores plus an online consumer. You know, there was just tremendous complexity. And at the end of the day, I wish somebody had said to me, keep it simple.

There are, and you know, I’ve always said that ultimately retail boils down to just a few things, product, brand, customer, and execution. And if you can stay very, very focused on product, your brand, the customer, and how you execute it, you can win. And nobody just boiled it down for me, like, and made it that simple. I just said, hey, this is, you know, stay focused because you can get so distracted with.

you know, a million different things and go down so many different radicals because you have so much data and you’re trying desperately to understand every bit of the data. ⁓ And so I wish somebody had said, it simple because ultimately, ⁓ it kind of goes back to what I said, it’s that test and reorder mentality by more of what’s working, by less of what’s not and be agile enough to do it.

in a way that you can consume, you can keep up with the consumer because the consumer is going to continue to evolve. And maybe that’s another, the other thing that I would, I wish somebody had told me. The consumer is going to continue to evolve. So you must evolve with them. You know, you, you, you have to, the, the, way they shop is going to evolve. The way they behave is going to evolve. The way they dress is going to evolve. I mean, everything is all going to evolve and evolve with them, but keep it simple. Keep it simple.

Haley Boehning (49:24)
Thank you so much. I will pause here for a second to see if there’s anything we’ve missed that we want to go back to. But before we do that, I just want to say thank you so much, Tim, for this time with us, for sharing your insights with The Robin Report, for giving us this preview of this incredible brand and this bold move that you’re taking. And we are going to look forward to coming back to you in six months, in a year, in two years, just to check in and see what

Timothy (49:35)
Hopefully.

Haley Boehning (49:53)
what this experience is teaching you and how you’ve applied it in the industry. Thank you, Tim.

Timothy (49:59)
Thank you. I have no doubt that the next year is going to likely bring as many insights as the past 30. So I’ll be excited to share them with you.

Haley Boehning (50:09)
Thank you.