I re-connected with Laura Simon while writing about her two stores at Paseo Herencia, Carmen Steffens & Psycho Bunny. They are two of the plaza’s fashion-forward anchor stores, one strikes a classy, elegant pose, the other a trendy, edgy vibe.
When I was growing up, the Playboy Bunny was a recognized icon, representing everything sexy and adult. Later it became outdated. But this is a different bunny, reimagined. It was launched as a neckwear collection, but expanded into polo shirts, T-shirts, bottoms, cashmere scarves, socks, and golf apparel.
The British, Psycho Bunny brand has been around since 2005 and Laura reports she has been courting it for Aruba for five years until finally last November the store opened at Paseo Herencia. It turned out that this new incarnation of the friendly bunny now represents everything cool and chic, and the brand has been selling briskly to locals and visitors.
In December the brand also tested a women’s line, a limited edition, and it sold out. They are now considering the addition of that line to their portfolio.
Psycho Bunny is a pretty simple concept, we’ve seen it before at the Gap and Ralph Laurent, and again, it’s a mystery what exactly makes this product so hot, besides being really pretty, very colorful, soft, breathable and comfortable. It all flaunts the Psycho Bunny cartoon, created by 4,000 stitches per logo. Or as the brand says it: “We redefine the classics with inimitable wit and peerless quality, giving tradition an updated edge.” I agree, it is charming.
Laura says, she believed in the band from the get go, pandemic or not, in 2021 on a wing and a prayer, she decided to make the investment.
Her other store is a true fashion boutique, Carmen Steffens, opening just before the pandemic, collecting a loyal local following, and enduring the hardship of a two-year business-downturn. It is now picking up, and Laura is again optimistic about the future.
She’s been in the plaza since 2004, when she opened a Lacoste Boutique, later a Crocs’ outlet, a Converse, keeping track of trends, and willing to take a chance and move where the customers want to go.
While she is a die-hard retailer, she is concerned. Shipping fees jumped 300% in recent months, and the government’s upcoming tax reform with a double digit VAT gives her sleepless nights. The retail industry has been hit really hard, she shares, and burdened by high rents at premium locations, exuberant fees and taxes, a heavy payroll with full employee social benefits, and high utilities, has endangered its existence. My loyal employees and supportive family members have stuck with me all along, she says, and we are all terrifically resilient and unafraid of reinventing ourselves.
Retail peaked on the island in 2014, then started a long decline when the relationship with Venezuela deteriorated, until the border was finally closed in 2019.
The Venezuelans were great shoppers, and they completely disappeared from our landscape. According to Laura, Europeans are flocking to Curacao, preferring that island to the more-Americanized Aruba. And they shop. Laura believe we should be promoting Aruba to European markets, to help save the retail industry.
Laura who has also been observing trends in Curacao states that our sister island has been making inroads in educating its people about tourism, and in return, quality tourists have been flocking there.
It takes passion, courage and gumption to be a retailer, she says, it’s a long distance marathon — not for the feeble-hearted.
(FYI: MinPres just announced that GOA is working on opening the border with Venezuela starting with maritime traffic first, in order to reintroduce the import of goods. The Venezuelan authorities need to provide some clarity regarding a seal of approval for the items they export, to mitigate any smuggling allegations. Once maritime traffic is reestablished, GOA will evaluate and consider opening the border for air traffic. But first, a clear plan must be hatched, to avoid an increase of illegal workers infiltrating the Aruban community)
