What the shop floor reveals about your business – and where to take it next
There’s nothing like spending a bit of time on the shop floor to get a firmer grip on the finer details of running a business. I could argue that I’m ‘out on the floor’ in the widest possible sense most days of the year but manning our 10 sq m shop and café in St Moritz on Christmas Eve with my colleague Aude is another thing entirely.
First, it’s huge fun being the business owner ringing up orders for hot chocolates and boiled wool vests. It’s better still when there’s a line out the door, only Aude running the La Marzocco and I doing my best tap dance routine to keep everyone happy while they wait for perfectly poured flat whites and matchas. It’s during these moments when people are browsing and scrolling that you can strike up conversations and get the clearest picture of Monocle’s very global community of readers, listeners and heavy coffee consumers.
I met the former CEO of a Turkish bank and we had a long discussion about the current state of Istanbul and London and the finer points about where the world is heading. Yesterday, a Korean mother and son came in looking for nothing in particular but were somehow focused on outerwear. The son was rather taken by our Arpenteur wool and angora coat and its volume but the mum was having none of it. After explaining all of our collaborations and own-brand products to her, I could sense that she was wondering where “Made in Korea” was amid all of the weaving and sewing in Portugal and Japan. I guided her toward some T-shirts and that caps we developed with the brand Kappy from Seoul and before I knew it she had a cap on her head and was ready to pay. Along the way I found out that they were on a European tour and would be heading back to their home in Honolulu.
A bit later on, there was an invasion of handsome gentlemen from Abu Dhabi. First question I asked: “How long have you been in St Moritz?”. The second question I kept to myself. “How on earth do you all manage to keep your beards looking so sharp? Did you fly in with your barber? There is no such grooming service for Gulf men up here in the Engadine, so please tell me how you all look so trimmed and tweaked?” As Aude prepared Americanos and hot chocolates for the nine of them, the lead in the group asked a lot of questions about Monocle and what I thought of Abu Dhabi and if we would ever open there. “Perhaps,” I said. “But where?” Some 20 minutes later we were still weighing up the street versus mall and whether we should go to Dubai first before opening up in Abu Dhabi. “What do you think of a drive-thru Monocle,” I asked, somewhat cheekily. “Of course, do it. Yalla!”
While the Gulf is definitely on the cards, I can reveal that the next two Monocle cafés will be in North America and Asia and in cities beginning with T. Along the way we are likely to do pop-ups here and there but by this time next year we’d like to have added at least another three cafés to the existing lineup.
Should you find yourself up in St Moritz over the coming week, please pop in to say hello and if you happen to be in town on 30 December, please join us from 17.30 for a bit of holiday cheer at our shop and on the terrace of the Hotel Steffani. I’ll be happy to discuss café and retail expansion plans if you’ve got a location or two on offer and my colleagues Aude and Iulien will be around to ensure that you’re fully signed up as a paying subscriber for 2026. If I don’t see you in a few days, then all the best for the New Year and, as ever, thank you for your support.
Enjoying life in ‘The Faster Lane’? Click here to browse all of Tyler’s past columns.
