I wouldn’t say that Kim Kardashian has the Midas Touch, but many of the projects with which she’s involved do end up being successful and profitable. She ushered in a Golden Age of reality programming. She has a somewhat successful makeup line now. Her ventures into gaming, tech, Kimojis and more have all been wildly successful. But it all started for Kim and her sisters with the DASH store in West Hollywood. The Kardashian women started their DASH boutique when they were pretty young, and in the early years of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, there were a lot of storylines involving the DASH boutique. Over time, they expanded and DASH stores were opened in Miami and New York too. But now DASH is closing. Hm.
Kim Kardashian West and her sisters, Kourtney and Khloé Kardashian, are saying goodbye to a chapter in their lives. The KKW beauty mogul, 37, announced on her app and website on Thursday that she and her siblings had decided to close all of their DASH storefronts.
“After nearly 12 years, my sisters and I have decided to close the doors of our DASH stores,” the mother of three began. “We opened our first store as a family in 2006 and since then we have made so many lifelong memories. From opening locations in Los Angeles, Miami and New York, to having our Dash Dolls spin-off show, it’s been such a huge part of our lives.”
“We’ve loved running DASH, but in the last few years we’ve all grown so much individually,” she continued. “We’ve been busy running our own brands, as well as being moms and balancing work with our families. We know in our hearts that it’s time to move on.”
“We love our DASH Dolls and are so grateful for the amazing memories — and we have to give a special thanks to the DASH employees and all of the incredible fans and customers who have supported us throughout the years!” Kardashian West added. “We couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you to everyone!”
I have to think that these kinds of brick-and-mortar boutiques are just struggling in general nowadays. That’s why malls are closing – people are shopping online and people are less likely to go into a DASH store just because it was featured on KUWTK (incidentally, these photos are from February, where Kim visited the West Hollywood DASH store with the KUWTK cameras). I wonder if there was another option though: perhaps simply moving DASH entirely online? Maybe that wasn’t an option because DASH was losing too much money or something. Don’t ask me, I’m not a business accountant. But if Kylie Jenner can create a billion-dollar lip kit company with no advertising overhead, how is it that Kim, Khloe and Kourtney can’t maintain a successful clothing chain, online or otherwise?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I work at a mall for a large jewelry store. Malls are dying, ours especially after the Macy’s closed. Clothes use to be a status sign, now it’s what kind of make up you’re wearing.
I love to go shopping and try on clothes, but going to the mall is kind of unpleasant now that they have all of the shady kiosks along the walkway with hustler type salespeople accosting you as you walk from store to store. No, I don’t want to buy your cheap perfume or your cheap phone cases or your cheap hairpieces.
Yes! For me it’s being attacked to sign up for a card
People actually shopped there?
They were still open? Who knew? LOL
I think in general brick and mortar clothing stores shot themselves in the foot by not carrying sizes that enough people wear.
^^^Thank you!
That’s a possibility, but even if they carried my size I still wouldn’t shop there. I’m anti anything that puts money in the pockets of the kardashians
yeah, THIS. the average woman in the US is a size12-14. there are a LOT of brands that don’t even carry a 14 IN-store anymore; you can only get it online…
…which means you can’t try it on, you have to pay MORE for the product (shipping) if you’re a larger person, and if it doesn’t fit you have to pay to ship it back (if they don’t accept returns in store).
and the lack of mall shopping these days is why you practically get assaulted by the sales people when you DO go in…I swear, a salesperson followed me around the Eddie Bauer store the other day with non-stop chatter about their deals and what’s on sale and can I help you find anything and the jeans on sale are over here and what style do you like and have you ever worn our clothes before and are you a rewards member and do you know BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH…I walked out after about two minutes in there because I couldn’t look at anything because she kept talking to me. I looked at her and literally said “yeah, that’s enough” and walked out.
I work part-time at Victoria Secret, and we finally started carrying XL sizing and size 40 bras in store. It amazes me it took this long to get them given that PINK is really struggling this year.
Interesting, Veronica. I love some of the VS scents & own two t-shirt-type tops from them but would probably buy more “hanging out” stuff if they went up to XL. Nice to hear that’s happening!
I agree. If you ever go through a rack, there’s tons of very small sizes hanging there, and nothing left in the larger sizes.
Probably also hurting them is that they all pretty much dress terribly?
Yep—no clothes that fit larger sizes is arguably the biggest reason our local Sears went belly-up. There are only so many appliances, hardware, jewelry, etc. one needs to get on a regular basis. If clothes are the most frequent reason for consumer traffic, why have so few big sizes and cut out most of your shopper base? Our Sears was a ghost town even before Amazon started eating everyone’s lunch—and once fast fashion came in, well…
Having a storefront is old school. I buy most of my clothes online. Makes sense .
I like having a store to go into. Most of the things I buy online either do not fit right or do not look as expected. I’ve spent so much money on return shipping. I can’t see them going away entirely.
Me, too, Alisha. Especially shoes. I have hard to fit feet and it makes no sense to me to order shoes online. Also, I am a plus sized woman and indeed, I have totally stopped purchasing online unless it’s something I already know/own that I’m replacing. Winners hasn’t brought in a decent plus size dress in over 2 years, and their buyer (in Canada) obviously hates plus sized women cause all the colours are dark…even for spring! Walmart has closed most of their George Plus sections. My local Penningtons closed. There is VERY little to choose from if you are a plus sized woman, whether in a store or online. Sympli the Best by White House Design is still my favourite (symplithebest.com) as is Blue Sky Clothing Co.
I like the shops in the UK that manage free delivery and returns to store from their online shop as well as physical stuff in the shop, H&M, Zara, Gap, Marks & Spencers, Topshop etc
Plantpal: Same boat being Plus size but I do my shopping online! Old Navy is great because they have plus sized options with free shipping and returns. So a lot is purchased from them. I generally get two sizes at a time and return one or the other.
Otherwise, both Penningtons and AE both offer free shipping (though for a more expensive purchase) and free returns. I had some luck at Winners\Marshalls last summer but nothing since. I haven’t bought any clothes from Walmart in years. I did like the Danskin stuff but that has disappeared.
Most of my objections are that everything now is “lay flat to dry”. I don’t have the space or the time to mess around with that.
I wish stores could be a more. Intimate experience
I could never buy clothes online. Colors and fabrics often look different, you have no idea how they look on you. And I don’t want to spend my time preparing parcels with returns.
Meghan so true about color. I’ve looked at stuff on line and loved the color only to go to the store and find the color completely different.
I visited a dash store once out of curiosity. They mostly just resell designer stuff from other brands that you can find elsewhere and the clothes were thin and cheap looking and way overpriced. There was no one else in there when I went. I alway have thought their stores only existed as a vehicle for the show.
I often wonder what it’s like to see her face and makeup in person. In the pictures she looks like she’s wearing a mask and it’s kind of jarring.
I know this isn’t the point of this piece but man, back away from the fillers. And troweling on that much make-up every day, well, it’s absorbed by your skin and your liver has to filter all those toxins in your body. And this family seems to wear four times the normal amount of make-up every day. Then it all goes down the drain every day too when it’s washed off. The Kardashians are not good for our environment in more ways than one. Frizzy and frazzled, the constant surgery and procedures just about give her a new face every month or so, lol. Also, up close without makeup apparently she has very bad skin.
1. She needs to match her face to her neck.
2. They should have been more honest and called it KASH.
3. What others said–storefronts are a dying breed. I was surprised to learn these were still around.
Seriously, who did that blending? It’s just orange ring around highlighted areas.
That is…so much makeup, like half a bottle of foundation in a color that does not match her neck. That is…wow. Everything said above plus, who wants to dress like a kardash? If part of selling the store is selling them she is wearing bike shorts made of sweatpants material over spanx. Who would want to follow her aesthetic and buy from her store?
I know Kourtney sais she really want to keep it wasn’t making money..why didnt they sell to a huge department store?
I remember that storyline, too. I imagine the stores weren’t making as much money as their other ventures for as much time as they were taking up. Selling the DASH name to a department store would have been a smart move though.
I remember an episode of their show where they said “someone” was interested in buying all the DASH stores but Kourtney didn’t’ want to sell. Now I’m wondering if that was “fake” just to make it seem like their DASH stores were in high demand when really the stores were struggling. I doesn’t make sense to close them all if “others” were really interested in buying them out.
I love going into clothing stores and trying things on. I have only bought clothing online once and that was because after looking in many stores for a particular kind of white shirt, I finally caved and went on line. Sizes always vary so I need to try things on. Especially since I’m small on top and much larger below.
I agree. I never buy clothes or shoes on-line. I need to try things on. Also, think about the older generation that may not even use the internet, my mom being one of them. They need stores to go to. Plus some people go to the mall just to get out of the house…something to do.
I live in a rural area and almost always buy online. Returning is sometimes a hassle, but most often not at my expense. Shoes too , I can’t find wide widths in any kind of style, even if I drive 100 miles. But online, there is a lot of variety and I can find something attractive (or at least not hideous) to accommodate arthritis , a neuroma, wide width and high instep.
I believe it was a vehicle for their show, and the stores are no longer needed; the stores had become an unnessecary nuisance. The company could have salvaged if need be, sold, or converted online, but I think they just didn’t care to do it anymore. More trouble than it’s worth when they have other projects that are far more lucrative.
I thought she was finally wearing a normal outfit. Then I saw the bike shorts. And the makeup job. Oh, dear.
They could’ve gone online but who can actually buy their clothes online? I can’t even find things that fit within the same brand because sizes aren’t consistent from one style to the next. I have pants in 3 different sizes and they all fit. Shirts are difficult because I have broad shoulders. Forget buying shoes without trying them on first.
Her makeup. I’m by no means skilled at doing makeup and still stick with what I know works for me (my eyebrows won’t wash off in the shower) but jeebus. Even I don’t look like an overused blending bud.
It’s hard to even concentrate on anything she says when she has her Pierrot clown face back on.
The last time I visited a mall, I ended up with a migraine to end all migraines. I lost my balance, had no peripheral vision. It was horrendous.
Kourtney started the first dash store in calabasas, normal store. West Hollywood was way later….Maybe a tax write off (loss) or to launder cash.
they didn’t sell anything but very fridge magnets or expensive logo water.
I think they pooled some inheritance money from their dad, whose nickname was Dash, to open the very first store. Kourtney was serious about the business, Khloe was there but kind of clueless, and they always complained about Kim not bothering to pull her weight.
The first store was probably for real. The newer ones were more likely just for the show. Their clothing lines in other stores never seemed to do well, but they never really looked good and were cheaply made not-in-America. And as others have said – they dress so weirdly themselves that even going online would be unlikely to bring in much business. Fans could do much better at a Goodwill store.
I don’t think this is as big a deal as the media is making it to be. The stores could be failing but more than likely they weren’t worth keeping. It’s just a few boutiques so it’s not as if they bring in millions of dollars. The family probably make more doing less by partnering with other brands.
Clothes are a tough business. The money is really in accessories, makeup, and fragrances.