Plenty of ink has been spilled on the importance of brick and mortar. Allow us to spill a little more: Montblanc opened a new boutique in Belfast, UK, last month, in the latest example of the company’s store strategy. The space is rooted in providing an experience. For example, customers can test its high-end fountain pens and inks, as well as styling different watches and leather products.

Or, at Montblanc’s New York City flagship (which opened last year), there is the Snowcap ink table and bar, where handwriting enthusiasts can test their favorite ink color on paper.

• The 4,425-square-foot store also includes a tech wall, so shoppers can discover innovations like Augmented Paper and its smart headphones.
• The company has 62 boutiques in the US and 54 in Canada.

Open-door policy: Montblanc introduced this new, experiential boutique concept about six years ago, and has since renovated 60%–70% of those stores, Sylvain Costof, president of Montblanc North America, told Retail Brew. And tapping into the senses has been critical to its store format, he explained.

“You need to be able to enjoy the shape of the pen. You need to be able to enjoy the weight of the pen,” he said. “You can buy a fantastic suit online, but you will never have the same experience that if you put it on your shoulder, and it fits perfectly well.”

Click here to read the full story.—KM

Used-furniture marketplace Kaiyo is cashing in on the resale revolution. The company, which was founded in 2014, said revenue has grown by more than 100% YoY, and today, it announced a $36 million Series B funding round led by Edison Partners.

• The resale-furnishings category is projected to grow 54% by 2025, 3.5x faster than traditional retail, according to a Resale Report from Chairish, another furniture-resale company.
• Sales for secondhand furniture are expected to hit $16.6 billion over the next five years, a 70% jump from 2018.

Get this show on the road: Kaiyo will use the fresh funds to expand from its home market in the Northeast—the NYC, Philly, and DC areas, primarily—to California. Its white-glove pickup and delivery service will roll out in Los Angeles first, followed by San Francisco.

• The company decided to go west after an analysis of consumer behavior in San Francisco and LA found that people there favor secondhand.
• A portion of the funding will be also spent on hiring across teams, plus marketing campaigns, starting in the Northeast.

Making furniture resale comfy: CEO and founder Alpay Koralturk chalks up Kaiyo’s continued growth to creating a convenient “full-service,” same-day customer experience; the company vets, cleans, photographs, and delivers the goods.

Koralturk also said the company’s tech investments in pricing and curation algorithms have been key. “We’re not a fire-sale company,” he told Retail Brew. “We’re also not a company that just prices everything with a blunt, sledgehammer approach.”—JG

California’s largest family-owned grocery, The Save Mart Companies, has been acquired. Los Angeles-based PE firm Kingswood Capital Management purchased the company for an undisclosed amount, it announced yesterday.

• Kingswood’s portfolio also includes Alameda, California-based furniture and decor retailer Cost Plus World Market (which it bought from Bed Bath & Beyond last year) along with Canadian outdoor-gear chain MEC.

Kingswood founder and managing partner Alex Wolf said in a statement that Save Mart has “a strong foundation for future profitable growth,” and will help the firm grow its existing Northern California presence.

Save Mart operates stores under the Save Mart, Lucky California, and FoodMaxx banners, spanning ~200 locations throughout California and Northern Nevada, and also owns Smart Refrigerated Transport.

• The grocer, which celebrated its 70th anniversary earlier this month, has 14,000 employees and sales of ~$4 billion annually.

Zoom out: The acquisition is the latest in a string of grocery-biz consolidations as small players compete with giants like Amazon and Kroger. Last February, Price Chopper/Market 32 and Tops Markets announced a merger in a move they said would boost the grocers’ “ability to compete on every level.” In May, the Bodega Latina Corporation bought Smart & Final, followed by family-owned supermarket chain Raley’s purchase of Arizona-based Bashas’ in December.—EC

Today’s top retail reads.

Bearing fruit: Apple leather has emerged as an increasingly popular alternative for making handbags and shoes. (Fast Company)

A new page: Bookworms are feeling nostalgic for classic bookstore chains like Barnes & Noble, which plans on opening 20–25 locations by the end of the year. (Bloomberg)

Tapped in: Jones Road Beauty, the brand founded by Bobbi Brown, has gone viral on TikTok over the past few months, with multiple videos reaching 1 million views within 24 hours. But it’s been a long road getting there. (Hashtag Paid)

Avoid Angry Andy: One-star customer reviews are a blight on your brand … and a bummer to read. Learn how you can build a return and exchange process that turns those frowns upside down in a piece we wrote with the experts at Loop. Read it here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

What happened in the world of retail this week in…2017 and beyond? Retail Brew takes you way, way, way back.

Is it just us, or does five years ago feel like a lifetime?

• On March 30, 2017, H&M debuted a new “modern-day” brand called Arket, spanning products for men, women, children, and home.
• Also on March 30, but just a few years later, in 2020, Macy’s announced it would furlough the majority of its 125,000 employees due to Covid.
• And on April 2, 2019, Walmart partnered with Google to power voice-activated grocery shopping on devices with Google Assistant.

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• Why this “dinner-party store” is perfecting brick and mortar before digging into e-comm
• How India’s MyGlamm found DTC success
• What makes a successful loyalty program