At 6:15 p.m. on a warm Wednesday this summer, upbeat music was playing through several speakers as a handful of men positioned themselves around the bar in the Watches of Switzerland store at the Hudson Yards mall in Manhattan.
Some were talking on their phones or taking photos; ice clinked in the glasses that held their beverages, mostly whisky or tequila. Pricey timepieces — some being considered for purchase, but others already owned — were removed from wrists and passed back and forth for admiration.
The drinks were free; the watches were not.
At Watches of Switzerland, shopping while enjoying a Macallan 25, a single-malt Scotch that can run $2,500 for a 750-milliliter bottle, is not out of the ordinary. But then serving high-end chocolates, cookies and drinks to customers (as well as dog treats to their pets) has become something of a trend among luxury watch and jewelry brands in recent years — all part of an effort to put shoppers at ease and, hopefully, in a mind-set to buy.
Ezra Sultan, 37, the vice president of 2 Monkeys, an apparel company in New York, was one of the men at the bar. Two hours earlier, Mr. Sultan, a Brooklyn resident, had purchased a Patek Philippe Nautilus reference 5712/1R, which can retail for more than $80,000.
“The quality of the bottles of alcohol they have here is a level above anything I’ve seen,” he said, gesturing toward the liquor-filled shelves directly in front of him. The bottles included two Japanese whiskys, Hibiki and Yamazaki Distiller’s Reserve; tequila, Don Julio 1942 and Clase Azul; vodka, Tatra and Belvedere 10; and Champagnes, Louis Roederer Cristal, Bollinger and Billecart-Salmon Brut Réserve.
Mr. Sultan said that the shop had expanded his watch collection and his cocktail repertoire. “The bartenders introduced me to an espresso martini, Moscow mule and an old fashioned,” he said. “I have a bar in my office, but choose to come here.”
“What They Prefer”
The service is part of the Xenia program, a Greek term for hospitality, that this British watch retailer introduced in 2022, Veronica Fratarcangelo said. The previous year she had become the company’s first U.S. director of visual merchandising, responsible for creating playlists, selecting furniture and décor and even deciding what kind of glassware (Waterford crystal) would be used by its American customers.
“Xenia is a relationship rooted in generosity, friendship and connection,” she said during a phone interview from the brand’s U.S. head office, in Sunrise, Fla. “We want to know our clients, and that they can enjoy shopping with us.”
The Hudson Yards store is one of the 12 American and 28 British shops that have what Watches of Switzerland calls “experiential bars” — what Ms. Fratarcangelo described as “physical bars where you can sit and be served a drink while seeing products. It’s a stand-alone, purposely delegated area.”
All the brand’s stores hold licenses to serve liquor, and all have Champagne, offering other spirits as managers choose. The costs can be significant: While it buys at wholesale, the Hudson Yards store said it might spend as much as $50,000 a year on spirits; coffee, tea and bottled water options add another $10,000 to $15,000 to the total.
“Our clients are traveling the world,” Ms. Fratarcangelo said. “We were interested in offering them what they prefer to drink when they treat themselves.” She noted that, in the United States, the most requested drinks were Champagne and Scotch and Japanese whiskys.
In an iteration of the lounge retail concept developed by Audemars Piguet, which introduced its AP House in Milan in 2017 and now has outposts around the world, drinks are available at Watches of Switzerland to any visitor of legal drinking age.
But Kiana Carrero, one of the company’s client experience hosts on duty that particular evening, said the store capped service at two drinks, “three if you’re V.I.P.”
On the Menu
Watches of Switzerland isn’t the only retailer presenting shoppers with some liquid luxury.
Cartier SoHo, the house’s boutique in Lower Manhattan, has sparkle, which doesn’t always come from the jewelry, but from the free Champagne. It also offers festive mocktails and caffeine-infused drinks. Then there are the chocolates, cookies and even lollipops with slivers of edible gold foil in the middle, a kind of echo of the glittering jewelry around the room.
At Hermès’s Madison Avenue location, dogs are offered all-natural, handmade macarons from the local dog treat company Bonne et Filou.
Their humans are offered individually packaged, jam-accented butter cookies, made by Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York, as well as a choice of Champagne, individual bottles of orange juice or cappuccino served in colorful Hermès china. In a reminder of the brand’s beginnings as a saddlery, the cappuccino’s fluffy froth is topped with a horse’s head motif, added via powdered cinnamon. The white sugar cubes have the same shape.
“Everything Hermès designs and produces is on brand,” said Natasa Valocchi, 49. Ms. Valocchi, a Manhattan resident who used to live in London, said she had received the same welcome at Hermès’s Sloane Street location.
Darcie, her 4-year-old maltipoo, usually accompanies her to the store and is fond of the macarons. “If you’re good to Darcie,” Ms. Valocchi noted, “I’m 100 times more likely to shop with you again.”
Hospitality Pays Off
That kind of response is exactly what brands want to achieve. They are not just offering free amenities; they are focusing on several different aspects of the consumer-brand relationship, according to Aliza Licht, a brand marketing consultant in New York and the author of the 2023 book “On Brand.”
“Part of the strategy these businesses are creating is an emotional experience within a specific environment,” she said. “It’s a level of service that goes beyond normal, creating the opportunity to want to return because they’ve established a wonderful environment for the client, who has spent more time in the store while they’ve had their on-brand drink or cookie, had conversations with other customers and built relationships with salespeople.”
Ms. Licht emphasized that, for example, “you’re not just buying a product at Hermès, you’re buying a part of their world,” she said. “That elevated customer experience will result in dollars and brand loyalty. These companies are playing the long game. And these free, luxury offerings bring these brands to life.”
Clients seem happy with the arrangement.
John Hoffman, 56, an independent consultant for private equity firms in Orlando, Fla., who was in New York on business, stopped at the Watches of Switzerland shop in Hudson Yards that evening for a cocktail before dinner at the University Club nearby.
“Every time I’m here, I come by to hang out and grab a drink,” said Mr. Hoffman, adding that he has more than 40 watches in his collection. “They have higher-level brands than what I would get on my own. I’m drinking Belvedere,” he said, referring to a vodka, “so this is a treat. When I’m at dinner, it’s Ketel One. I’m not buying a watch every time, but the bar and the conversations are reasons to come back.”
On some evenings, Ms. Carrero, the client experience host, can be found, dressed in black and tray in hand, passing out espresso martinis or margarita shots when she is not showcasing watches. (Sales employees were on duty, but the roles seemed interchangeable, primarily focused on not disrupting client interactions.)
“Customers are surprised, they think we sell the liquor,” Ms. Carrero, 27, said, noting that the bar’s busiest periods are 5 to 8 on weeknights.
Ms. Fratarcangelo said the company intended to expand its program. “As we renovate, more physical bars will be added to the stores in an effort to enhance the client experience,” she said. “There’s a huge value to us. It helps clients stay longer. They enjoy shopping more.”
Customers seem to agree.
“Everyone can sell you a watch, but they don’t have this bar or these offerings,” said Mr. Sultan, the Patek purchaser. “When you sit down and have a drink with someone, you create a bond and a friendship. That’s a big reason I’m here.”
The post Have a Scotch or Macaron While You Try on That Watch? appeared first on New York Times.
