A new company with the well-known name is making its debut in Plano and Frisco. Santa, a mobile store concept, was developed by seasoned tech startup founders who recruited seasoned store managers for their pandemic-inspired idea.
Santa, which will be a year-round business despite the seasonal name, is kicking off two trucks driving through the neighborhood notifying local residents to open the Santa app. There you can see the latest range of premium fashion, beauty, tech, home decor and gifts. The changing room is the customer’s home and the returns are picked up at the front door.
“Santa is an attempt to create a new breed of physical business that is moving and supported by logistics and technology,” said Roee Adler, co-founder and CEO of Santa and former senior vice president of WeWork Labs. “We are here to surprise and inspire.”
The vehicles are the size of an oversized milk cart, he said, and will hold 20-30 items, replacing the weekly adult ice cream cart, selling premium fashion, beauty, tech, home and gifts.
Adler says the experience is better than ecommerce, as shoppers can try on clothes and decorations in their home before their credit card is charged through the Santa Claus app.
Adler co-founders, Menachem Katz and Shai Wininger, founded two technology companies, Lemonade Inc., an insurance company, and Fiverr, an Israeli online professional services marketplace. Both companies are now listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
While Santa has remote workers in New York and Israel, the company is based in Dallas and has recruited retail managers from Nautica, J. Crew, and Urban Outfitters for purchasing, marketing, and retail expertise.
The salespeople on the trucks were hired locally and are full-time employees.
Mallory Higginbotham, Santa’s employee, places an order with a customer in Plano.(Taylor Madison)
The idea arose out of the pandemic when everyone started to buy more online out of necessity, Adler said. Wininger has lived in suburban New York for a long time, so he knew firsthand the difficulty of making returns online. That led to the question, why didn’t anyone create a store that comes to your home?
Then they set out to find the right market, Adler said. They researched key metrics from 1,400 US cities, including income, house prices, and how often people eat out.
Plano and Frisco were high on the list. “We started calling people we all know there and asking about the lifestyle,” he said. “Everyone said you have to come here. People will like the personal connection. “
The truck is loaded with global and local brands, including luxury fashion brand Laude the Label, founded by Carly Burson, who has a store in Fort Worth, and Spirit of Salt, a hand-painted goods and custom artwork store owned by Heather Clark Lynn.
Lela Orr, founder and creative director of Dallas-based luxury fashion brand Ferrah, said in an email response that Santa will help her reach new customers beyond a base she has cultivated as a zero waste brand.
During a pilot phase, Orr said that orders were fulfilled “extremely quickly” through the Santa app. She agreed to the wholesale relationship with Santa because she intended to “prioritize locally made goods that support local artisans”.
Twitter: @MariaHalkias
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