Menguin to open retail store in downtown Fayetteville

Three months after Louisville, Ky.-based Generation Tux purchased for $25 million the online tuxedo rental startup Menguin, headquartered in Fayetteville at the time, co-founder Justin Delaney said the company is opening a retail/office space downtown.

Menguin has signed a lease to be in Suite 203 of The Dickson residential/commercial development, located at 609 W. Dickson St. and owned by developer Ted Belden through West Dickson Street Development Co.

Delaney said the retail store is planned to open in January. It marks the company’s entry into brick-and-mortar.

“We want to experiment with retail. We believe having an omni-channel presence can be helpful, especially with conversion rates,” Delaney said. “We’ve found especially working with weddings that customers want to work with us one-on-one personally, not just digitally.”

Fayetteville made sense to Delaney as the first location because he wanted to test the concept in “middle America.” The area is also a growing market with a good number of people that fit Menguin’s target demographic, including young professionals, he said. “It’s hard to ignore all those numbers.”

On a personal level, Delaney said he wants to “plant a flag” in Fayetteville.

“I felt like the people were so great and the community was so great,” he said. “I wasn’t willing to leave necessarily.”

As a result of the Generation Tux acquisition, four members of the Menguin leadership team, including Delaney, moved to Kentucky. He was given the title of president at both companies.

The staff remained in Fayetteville, and now the new location will double as office space for those 10-15 employees, Delaney said.

Menguin also is bringing a member of the executive team, Adam Greenberg, back to Fayetteville from Kentucky to run the store.

The 1,200-square-foot space was previously home to Gatsby’s Boutique, which relocated to Nelson’s Crossing on Joyce Boulevard earlier this year.

Menguin’s new location is a departure from its previous office near Northwest Arkansas Mall. It has a “funky” feel created by a number of elements, including black-and-white checkered tile floors, Delaney said.

“We wanted to be near Dickson. It’s more on-brand for us,” he said.

Menguin’s November sales were up by 320% year-over-year, Delaney said.