Clothing and home decor retailer Lands' End has converted its employee activity center in Iowa County, Wisconsin, into a 91,000-square-foot mass vaccination site for the community.
The site is a partnership between the retailer and the local government to speed up the vaccination process, despite the limited supply of vaccines.
"We spoke with the Iowa County Department of Health and talked about what we could be doing in order to help the communities with vaccinations, and they graciously offered to let us use our recreational center on campus for vaccinating members of the community and people that also work in Iowa County," Jerome Griffith, CEO of Lands' End, told Cheddar.
Starting this week, the site will administer the vaccine to about 160 people per day. Once supply ramps up, the plan is to vaccinate upwards of 1,600 people daily.
"We wanted to make sure we were doing our part, particularly because of the close relationship we have with the community where we're based in Wisconsin," he said. "For the most part, people are really appreciative."
The vaccination site is only the latest effort by the company to adapt during the pandemic.
In general, the retailer has thrived due to a strong e-commerce model and being positioned to take advantage of new consumer demand.
Griffith said that 95 percent of its business comes from e-commerce, including both direct-to-consumer and business-to-business.
"Demand has been very robust since last April, once the initial shock of everybody staying at home has worn off," he said.
Most beneficial to Lands' End has been consumers' shift to casual, comfortable clothes while they spend more time at home. The brand's new marketing tagline "Let's get comfy" says it all.
"People are looking for comfort because they are working from home," Griffith said. "People are looking to upgrade their homes."
At the same time, sales of dressier products such as button-down shirts, blazers, and dresses have fallen significantly.
