Store founder Eman Pineda rejects the luxury house tag and insists on the basics?good merchandise, good service
HIS PRESENCE SEEMINGLY intimidating, everything about Adora founder Eman Pineda, smartly dressed as usual, just screamed ?Adora??surprisingly warm and reserved but not in a way that was dull.

The 2,500-sq-m bi-level boutique department store, owned by Republic Retailers Inc. and designed by Anton Mendoza, with its iconic façade and interiors, has an air of mystery and elegance, enough to make the faint-hearted a bit wary to enter.

Of this Pineda says, ?The concept had to be iconic... I mean, going through history it had to be something that will last. So what will last had to be very traditional and classic.

?The store is all stone?which may bring about intimidation.?

But he adds, ?Again it?s the people factor. Once you talk to us, once we greet you, everything changes.?

Adora equals merchandise plus service is the simple equation, as Pineda puts it. ?In fact when we hire it?s always ?are you sure?? because a byword for us is we love to buy and we love to sell. In fact, everyone in the office needs to be trained when it comes to selling.?

He stresses that training their staff is very essential, which is evident in their knowledgeable staff?s ability to assist customers in every department.

A part of their staff?s training is to always be poised and clad in black with their collars high. ?The training is you must be like that but then the warmth and your sincerity also come out,? he says.

Of course, first and foremost, Adora is known for its carefully edited and curated merchandise?an exclusive mix of well-selected brands from prestige (Marni, Lanvin, Jil Sander) to accessible (Tyler, and other brands from China, Cebu and Bangkok). ?To mix them under one roof is something critical for us.?

?With Tyler you can get something every two weeks, every week if you want, then you can mix it with a seasonal bag every six months, so that?s one aspect [accessibility factor],? says Pineda.

?Never once has it been mentioned in our brand book or our brand bible, the word luxury. We are not a luxury company.?

He adds, ?It?s not in our vocabulary to say that word, the L-word.?

Well-edited

Of their well-edited merchandise, he explains, ?When we edit, for example, Givenchy or Chloe, we?ll have 10 styles of bags here and Hong Kong would probably have a hundred, but we are so confident that the 10 we chose are really the best, really for our customers. I mean, ?best? is relative so it?s for our customers and the customers we hope to have.?

Instead of bombarding customers with countless products for the sole purpose of selling, Adora, giving importance to value for money, puts significant weight on the quality of merchandise and also of service. Offering the selection of items that would best suit the customer they have in mind?no dilly-dallying, just straight to the point, and refreshing!

When asked what customer Adora has in mind, Pineda says, ?There are two kinds. One is the customer comes in and just goes to a front liner and says, ?This is what I need, can you help me?? It doesn?t matter to us if she?s buying a gown from Missoni or a Tyler dress because we have both, and the style is an Adora style. It?s edited already to make something Adora.

?So there?s that trust factor.

?The other kind is someone who already knows what he or she needs.

?So it?s really about knowing who your customers are.?

Going through the ?labyrinth,? as Pineda calls it, is similar to browsing through a magazine, which explains why ?the spirit of Adora is that from a magazine sprung from the page?an edited selection of the newest trends.?

?Retail just has to be done a certain way,? Pineda says. ?And so what are the basics? Good customer service, good merchandise.?