Modern Society, a Springfield-based retailer located at 2652 S. Glenstone, recently celebrated its fourth year in business with a major growth in sales.
Bryan and Andrea Pena, the store’s co-owners, recently shared their insights on what it’s like to build a brand from the ground up. Andrea Pena, who is from Springfield, went to college at Missouri State University and majored in fashion merchandising. Bryan is from Kansas City.
How did you get started building your company?
Andrea: “We had the opportunity right at four years ago to move into a space that was downtown on Campbell and Walnut, so we moved into that space and started it. It all happened really fast. There was another business there, and we bought there inventory and took over — and started Modern Society. We’ve really built it as we’ve gone over the last four years.”
What was your inspiration behind building Modern Society?
Andrea: “I don’t know if there was any real inspiration. I’d been in retail for like 10-12 years before that and had worked for BCBG and some higher-end places, so I knew I wanted to do something that was high-end, but not the high-end prices. And then (Bryan) wanted to do a men’s shop, and I don’t know where his inspiration came from other than Kansas City, where he’s from, and that there’s no other place in Springfield like it for men to shop. Being from Kansas City, I think he took a lot of inspiration from where he shopped there and brought it here to Springfield.”
Do you guys have a motto?
Andrea: “Not really, we don’t have a tagline or anything.”
Bryan: “It’s grown so fast; sometimes, it’s hard to even sit down and think about what’s going on. It’s just been a constant ‘go, go, go’ for the last four years. It’s grown on its own even since we’ve made a lot of friends and had other businesses help us out like Grace and Home, we’re really close with those guys. They actually designed everything in our store based off of our personality and what we like, the way our own home is designed — it’s our style. So moving from downtown to here is kind of where we hit the idea of ‘what Modern Society is.’ Starting downtown, we didn’t have a bunch of money; we kind of just got that location and went with whatever they had before us. Trying to transition into what we wanted it to be with not a whole lot of money in our pocket was gradual, but it worked out well enough to be where we are now, and this is what we want it to look like, and this is who we want to be.”
What would you say was the hardest part of starting your business?
Bryan: “I would say getting people to understand your style. I think Springfield gets set in certain ways, and we were bringing a different style to the table with Andrea’s style in her women’s clothing. Our men’s clothing also — all of the brands are exclusive, and you can’t find them anywhere else in Springfield. So opening up people to new styles and trends was probably the biggest concern.”
Andrea: “The hardest part was probably getting people through the door.”
Bryan: “We struggled with it downtown, but here, not so much. Some people are upset that we moved form downtown, but a lot of people actually thank us for the move. In order to be who we wanted to be, we had to make that decision and the move. We didn’t dislike downtown, but an opportunity opened up where it would affect us financially to be in a place like this, and we just had to do it, and now that we have — we’ve doubled our business.”
Is there anything else important to know about Modern Society?
Andrea: “The biggest thing is that we want people to come in and get the experience that they’re shopping at a really high-end store, and we want them to see that it’s really nice and get all that, but at the same time understand that it’s not crazy expensive. For instance, we just got in some things today that are like $30 or $40, and I feel like sometimes you would walk into a place like this and think, ‘Oh, I’m not going to be able to afford anything,’ but that’s not the case here. We want to really give the vibe of upscale without the upscale prices.”
