John Hardy has opened 11 shop-in-shops in the last year and a half, part of a new strategy for the designer brand.

Eight of those have been in independent jewelers, though it has also opened shop-in-shops in three Bloomingdales.

John Hardy chief commercial officer Marc Hruschka says he expects to see “quite a few” shop-in-shops open over the next few years.

The brand has already opened full-fledged retail stores in New York City and Houston. Hruschka thinks it will opens eight to 10 of those standalone stores.

But he sees bigger numbers for the in-store boutiques, which are based on the look of the standalone stores.

“Once we nailed the new look and feel of the boutiques and how we wanted the brand portrayed in a physical environment, we felt good about starting to roll that out on a wholesale level,” he says.

The boutiques feature large screens that displays John Hardy’s Bali workshop. More intriguingly,  two of the boutiques feature drawer-based front selling, as opposed to the standard over-the-counter selling found in jewelry stores. Front selling is also a feature of the John Hardy retail stores.

“We would like to have more and more side-by-shoulder selling versus over-the-counter selling,” Hruschka says. “We just think it is a more personal, more intimate experience with the customer than having that counter separate you from each other. You have security risks and things when you incorporate something like that but we have a carefully trained staff.”

Hruschka says the brand hopes to incorporate front selling in more of its boutiques and stores.

(Images of the John Hardy retail stores courtesy of John Hardy)

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