Worker B Generates Buzz With Mall Of America Store

Worker B has a new home for its hive of products.

After opening a 600-square-foot store a year ago in the Mall of America, the Minneapolis-based bee-focused brand has settled into a 1,000-square-foot space in the nation’s largest shopping center. The store provides Worker B with an unparalleled stage to present its honey-packed merchandise to 40 million mall visitors yearly.

“The mall has really been trying to embrace smaller brands. It’s fun for us, when people come to our store, to be able to say we are local. The tourists get excited about that. We’re one of the must-sees,” says Amanda Clark, project manager at Worker B. “The Mall of America is one of the top tourist destinations in the U.S. Having the opportunity as a local brand to have a presence like that is amazing. We jumped at the chance to be there.”

Last year, Worker B had three weeks of preparation prior to making its retail debut at the Mall of America. In that short span, it couldn’t adjust the store’s interior design much and made do with existing floor-to-ceiling dark stained wood. The brand had greater control over it current store, and created a bright and inviting environment incorporating bee elements. Among various buzzy touches, a custom hexagon display and large version of its signature bee logo on the wall highlight that Worker B is sweet on bees.

The look of the store was developed with the possibility of future retail locations in mind. “We thought about how a different market would respond to our product, and the feel of the space,” says Clark. The store features an 18-foot-long honey bar showcasing 25 to 30 honey varieties for customers to try and a skincare area with a sink to encourage product testing. The full skincare assortment of about 20 stockkeeping units, including the bestseller Rescue Putty that’s formulated to combat severely dry or damaged skin, is offered at the store.

Although Clark declined to discuss financials, sales per square foot figures released by the Mall of America five years ago reveal stores in the shopping center generated $680 sales per square feet annually. If that figure still holds, Worker B could register $680,000 in annual sales in its outpost. Clark says initially the brand “didn’t go in with a ton of goals. We knew what we had to do to break even, and it’s going well. The response has been really good.”

Worker B has been pleased by the support its received from the Mall of America, which is owned by Triple Five, a Canadian real estate company. Clark mentions the shopping center management promotes its tenants and, over the summer, arranged for Worker B to collaborate with Radisson Blu, a hotel attached to the mall, on honey facials that were available in its spa. “They are conscious of the smaller brands in the mall,” says Clark. Another rising brand out of Minneapolis, Sigma Beauty, has set up shop at the Mall of America, too.

Rather than merely slap together merchandise, Worker B concentrates on cultivating an experience at its store. “There is an interactive element with customers being able to taste all our honeys. Our inventory changes a lot, and much of it is exclusive to the store,” notes Clark. “We are not selling our products on Amazon. You have to physically come in. That’s what is keeping our space alive and driving our business.”

Outside of its own location, Worker B products are available in about 50 stores across the U.S. Sales at those stores have lifted as a result of the brand’s mall presence, according to Clark. “Being in the Mall of America helps,” she says. “If we were to open a store at a different mall location, I don’t know that would help as much. Mall of America draws all kinds of customers, so it definitely brings brand exposure that way. We connect with a very broad audience. Just about everybody – international tourists, families, millennial shoppers and more – comes into our store.”