Skip to content
1981
Volume 12, Issue 3
  • ISSN: 2050-0726
  • E-ISSN: 2050-0734

Abstract

This research analyses the merchandising practices used to create a punk retail environment and shopping experience, distinct from more mainstream forms of consumption available simultaneously, as well as to document the merchandising history of United States punk style development, which is not widely known. Through primary interviews and archival data, this research discerns the practices that set these boutiques apart from their merchandising counterparts, Do It Yourself, or mass market chains. Analysis reviewed how these boutiques reconciled the challenge of appealing to critical consumers who were otherwise poised to potentially not need or want their services as scene members were a niche market segment that leaned anti-capitalist. Owner involvement, employee knowledge and retention, visual display, careful object selection and non-merchandising interaction with regional and national punk scenes are significant considerations. These stores provided community, commerce and educational spaces that projected subcultural authenticity through their business methods and cultural awareness. While not without some criticism of packaging a caricature of a lifestyle, overall the boutiques’ attempts at thoughtful practices led to consumer loyalty and business longevity, gaining market success alongside scene approval.

© 2025 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/fspc_00131_1
2022-05-30
2026-04-15

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Adz, K. and Stone, W. (2018), This Is Not Fashion: Streetwear Past, Present and Future, London: Thames and Hudson.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Albertine, V. (2014), Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys, New York: Thomas Dunne Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Augenstein, N. (2018), ‘Forget the Wonder Woman reboot – locals remember the real Commander Salamander’, WTOP News, 14 June, https://wtop.com/lifestyle/2018/06/forget-the-wonder-woman-reboot-locals-wax-about-the-real-commander-salamander/. Accessed 8 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Bailey, S. and Baker, J. (2014), Visual Merchandising for Fashion, London and New York: Bloomsbury.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Bennett, A. (2006), ‘Punk’s not dead: The continuing significance of punk rock for an older generation of fans’, Sociology, 40:2, pp. 219–35.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Berry, J. (2018), House of Fashion: Haute Couture and the Modern Interior, London: Bloomsbury.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Bourdieu, P. (1984), Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Brake, M. (1985), Comparative Youth Culture: The Sociology of Youth Cultures and Youth Subcultures in America, Britain and Canada, London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Brynjolfsson, E., Hu, Y. J. and Rahman, M. S. (2013), ‘Competing in the age of omnichannel retailing’, MIT Sloan Management Review, 54:4, pp. 23–29.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Charmaz, K. (2006), Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide through Qualitative Analysis, London: Sage.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Císař, O. and Koubek, M. (2012), ‘Include ‘em all?: Culture, politics and a local hardcore/punk scene in the Czech Republic’, Poetics, 40:1, pp. 1–21.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Clifford, A. (2016), Heavy Metal, Gender and Sexuality, London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Cole, S. (2000), Don We Now Our Gay Apparel, London: Bloomsbury.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Crewe, L., Gregson, N. and Brooks, K. (2003), ‘The discursivities of difference: Retro retailers and the ambiguities of “the alternative”’, Journal of Consumer Culture, 3:1, pp. 61–82.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Cummings, R. (1993), ‘The Alley entrepreneur’, Chicago Reader, 7 January, https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/alley-entrepreneur/Content?oid=881142. Accessed 8 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Duffty, K. and Gorman, P. (2009), Rebel Rebel: Anti-Style, London: Adelita.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Fogg, M. (2003), Boutique: A ’60s Cultural Phenomenon, London: Michell Beazley.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Force, W. R. (2009), ‘Consumption styles and the fluid complexity of punk authenticity’, Symbolic Interaction, 32:4, pp. 289–309.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Ford, T. (2015), Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of Soul, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Freeman, R. B., Kleiner, M. M. and Ostroff, C. (2000), ‘The anatomy of employee involvement and its effects on firms and workers’, NBER working paper 8050, Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, http://www.nber.org/papers/w8050. Accessed 8 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Hebdige, D. (1979), Subculture: The Meaning of Style, London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Hodkinson, P. (2002), Goth: Identity, Style and Subculture, Oxford: Berg.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Kamin, D. (2021), ‘Reverse migration: Moving to cities while others flee’, New York Times, 9 April, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/realestate/suburb-to-city.html. Accessed 8 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Kim, A. J. and Ko, E. (2012), ‘Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An empirical study of luxury fashion brand’, Journal of Business Research, 65:10, pp. 1480–86.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. King, A. and Stone, W. (2018), This Is Not Fashion: Streetwear Past, Present and Future, New York: Thames and Hudson.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Kotarba, J. A. (2009), ‘Pop music as a resource for assembling an authentic self: A phenomenological-existential perspective’, in P. Vannini and P. Williams (eds), Authenticity in Culture, Self, & Society, London: Routledge, pp. 1–18.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Larocca, A. (2003), ‘The house of mod’, New York Magazine, 6 February, https://nymag.com/nymetro/shopping/fashion/spring03/n_8337/. Accessed 8 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Legaspi, A. (2020), ‘Jimmy Webb, New York punk-style icon beloved by rock royalty, dead at 62’, Rolling Stone, 14 April, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jimmy-webb-obituary-983999/. Accessed 8 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Le Zotte, J. (2017), From Goodwill to Grunge: A History of Secondhand Styles and Alternative Economies, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Luvaas, B. (2012), DIY Style: Fashion, Music and Global Digital Cultures, London: Bloomsbury.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Martino, A. (2014), ‘The mystique of Melrose Avenue’, Los Angeles Magazine, 27 July, https://www.lamag.com/the80s/the-mystique-of-melrose-avenue/. Accessed 8 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Monaghan, J. (2019), ‘Friends plan tribute Saturday to provocateur and Noir Leather founder Keith Howarth’, Detroit Free Press, 13 June, https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/2019/06/13/noir-leather-royal-oak-keith-howarth-tribute-northern-lights-lounge/1424722001/. Accessed 8 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Muggleton, D. (2000), Inside Subculture: The Postmodern Meaning of Style, Oxford: Berg.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Muggleton, D. and Weinzerl, R. (2006), The Post-Subcultures Reader, Oxford: Berg.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Olubiyi, O., Smiley, G., Luckel, H. and Melaragno, R. (2019), ‘A qualitative case study of employee turnover in retail business’, Heliyon, 5:6, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01796. Accessed 8 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Polhemus, T. (1994), StreetStyle, London: Thames and Hudson.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Portwood-Stacer, L. (2012), ‘Anti-consumption as tactical resistance: Anarchists, subculture, and activist strategy’, Journal of Consumer Culture, 2:1, pp. 87–105.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Quach, S., Jebarajakirthy, C. and Thaichon, P. (2017), ‘Aesthetic labor and visible diversity: The role in retailing service encounters’, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 38, pp. 34–43, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.05.004. Accessed 8 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Rettman, T. (2019), ‘Zed records and the birth of SOCAL punk’, Red Bull Music Academy, https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2017/10/zed-records-the-birth-of-socal-punk. Accessed 4 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Sharpe, E. K. (2008), ‘Festivals and social change: Intersections of pleasure and politics at a community music festival’, Leisure Sciences, 30:3, pp. 217–34.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Sklar, M. (2013), Punk Style, London and New York: Bloomsbury.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Sklar, M., Autry, S. and Klas, L. (2020), ‘Fashion cycles of punks and the mainstream: A U.S. based study of symbols and silhouettes’, Fashion Practice, 13:2, pp. 253–74.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Sklar, M. and Donahue, M. K. (2018), ‘Process over product: The 1990s United States hardcore and emo subcultures and DIY consumerism’, Punk & Post-Punk, 7:2, pp. 155–80.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Sklar, M. and Donahue, M. K. (2021), ‘From punk to poser: T-shirts, authenticity, postmodernism, and the fashion cycle’, in G. McKay and G. Arnold (eds), Oxford Handbook of Punk Rock, Oxford: Oxford University Press, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190859565.013.32. Accessed 8 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Sklar, M., Strubel, J. and Haenfler, R. (2021), ‘Sold out or bought in? Complexities of the X Swatch as a subcultural accessory for the straight edge scene’, Fashion, Style & Popular Culture, 9:1–2, pp. 43–64, https://doi.org/10.1386/fspc_00033_1. Accessed 8 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Stone, E. and Farnan, S. (2017), In Fashion, 2nd ed., London and New York: Fairchild Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. St. Mary, R. (2015), The Orbit Magazine Anthology, Detroit: Painted Turtle.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Strubel, J. and Sklar, M. (2021), ‘Fred Perry: Polos for all’, Symbolic Interaction, 54, pp. 73–90.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Thomas, A. and Lynch, T. (2009), ‘My dad owns The Alley. So what?’, Newcity, 21 April, https://www.newcity.com/2009/04/21/rebel-rebel-my-dad-owns-the-alley-so-what/. Accessed 8 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Thornton, S. (1995), Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital, Cambridge: Polity Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Verdon, J. (2020), ‘Investments in e-commerce yield big gains for small businesses amid pandemic’, US Chamber of Commerce, https://www.uschamber.com/co/good-company/launch-pad/how-local-stores-are-moving-to-selling-online/. Accessed 8 May 2022.
  52. Warren, J. (2020), ‘8 Instagram features perfect for small businesses’, LaterBlog, 10 August, https://later.com/blog/instagram-features-for-small-businesses/. Accessed 8 May 2022.
  53. Whitaker, J. (2011), The World of Department Stores, New York: Vendome Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Wilcox, C. (2004), Vivienne Westwood, London: Victoria & Albert Museum.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Wilkinson, A. (2007), ‘Anything pink rocks: Jimmy Webb’s fashion world’, The New Yorker, 6 March, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/26/anything-pink-rocks. Accessed 8 May 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Zukin, S. (2005), Point of Purchase: How Shopping Changed American Culture, New York: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/fspc_00131_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): authenticity; fashion; identity; merchandising; punk; subculture

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test