As a retailer, Grant Elliott never expected to be recognised in public.

The first time it happened, he was at the bank.

“It was the bank teller,” says Elliott, who owns Drop Out Store, a Newmarket clothing shop specialising in streetwear.

“He was just like ‘oh you’re from the Drop Out Store… I saw you online.’ And I was like ‘Cool, I’m just here to deposit some money.’”

But it’s not just at the bank – after becoming the face of his brand on social media, Elliott is now something of a mini celebrity.

Instore customers aside, he can’t even walk down High Street in Auckland CBD without being greeted by name and asked, ‘how’s business?’

It’s been an interesting experience for Elliott, who, along with the Drop Out Store team, won Best Use of Social Media at the Newmarket Business Awards in November.

Last year they were finalists in the same category, and Elliott took out the Young Business Person of the Year Award (after being a finalist in 2022).

Mark Knoff-Thomas, CEO of the Newmarket Business Association, explains the Newmarket Business Awards were created 12 years ago to give recognition to the amazing businesses in the precinct. 

“The past couple of years have been tough for many businesses so these awards provide an opportunity for us all to come together and celebrate each other’s success.

“Winners of Best Use of Social Media, Drop Out Store, have been in Newmarket for three years. They’ve found their secret sauce and what works for them, and that seems to resonate with their customers and overseas tourists.”

“It’s pretty cool to get recognition for the work you put in, especially in such a competitive retail precinct as Newmarket,” says Elliott.

For him and his team, personal touch and storytelling have been key components to building a successful social media strategy.

Changing the narrative

But the catalyst that saw Elliott getting in front of the camera was actually his partner.

“A lot of people were starting to think that my partner actually owned the busness and not me,” laughs Elliott.

“She does a lot of our photography and a lot of our content creation… through her own Instagram she would share stories for her friends, but she was starting to get messages about the business, ‘do you have this in stock?’

“So we made an effort to change that narrative and put my face in front of the camera.”

It was a challenge for Elliott, but having his face online and then him physically instore basically every day has had a big impact. 

“It’s all down to that real touch – people see me even if it’s through photos or videos… and then come into store to purchase and see that same person and instantly feel a personal connection.”

Powerful positioning

While he never truly anticipated the fame it would generate, it’s all great brand building.

“The more conversations you have about the store and yourself, the more people are likely to actually want to continue to relate with you,” says Elliott.

Continuity of his clientele is hugely important to him – “we’re not in the business of one and done,” he adds. And as a result they have quite a big base of repeat customers.

Being an independent, individual store that exists outside the mainstream fashion stores helps. Drop Out Store’s power is in its positioning: Elliott wants people to come in and create their own unique style.

He deals with labels and brands that are mostly unknown to Kiwis, so in order to build trust and confidence, the store itself, and every item of clothing or shoe needs to be able to tell a story.

“Saying, hey, this is an overseas brand, but we’re putting our Kiwi touch on it, meaning that you can do the same thing,” says Elliott.

“We now do 25 labels; of [those], we introduced probably 15 of them to New Zealand, so we’ve essentially had to go through that 15 times and put in the work to introduce the brand to the market but do it in a way that the locals actually have a connection towards it.”

Read more: The 2024 Newmarket Business Award Winners

Have fun with it

Being a born and bred Aucklander means he has some insight into the local market, but most of the time his brand and clothing choices are based on strategy and instinct.

“Do we like it? If we don’t like it, then we can’t think that other people are going to like it,” says Elliott.

If they like it, the second question is whether they’re going to have fun creating its story – if yes, then everyone else is going to enjoy it, too.

The next steps is taking the clothing out of studio and creating content with it out in the real world, says Elliott.

“When we shoot, we always try to match somewhat the brand and the vibe with location. So one of our more popular ones which is quite an outdoorsy type, we’re always going to shoot that outdoors.”

They choose different locations that have significance to the team – like Ambury Park, a place for family picnics when Elliott was growing up.

He’s proud to say that since he started the business three years ago, Drop Out Store has never done a studio shoot.

Fashion cycles

Keeping up with fashion’s cyclical nature means the need for constant evolution – but again always staying true to what they like and not just jumping on the latest trend.

Besides, this is tricky anyway because most of their brand partners operate seasonally, releasing new items twice a year, says Elliott.

“So if a trend is happening now, and [the brand] wants to capitalise on that, we have to wait six to eight months until we receive it. And there’s no telling that in six to eight months that trend is still relevant, but we’ve already committed and bought sizes.”

Destination shopping

Drop Out Store has also become a bit of a destination for shoppers and Elliott says they’re lucky to have great brand and showroom partners who will direct customers to the Drop Out Store, either online or physically if they’re heading to Auckland.

Social media again has helped here – because it doesn’t limit you to a certain kilometre radius, he adds.

“We get customers and orders from all over. We send stuff to France and the US on a pretty consistent basis.”

They even had customers come in at the start of December from Denver, who had heard about the store and wanted to get some varsity jackets, a popular fashion item in the US, says Elliott.

With most brands ones Drop Out Store has introduced to the market, and because it is typically the only stockist of it across the Tasman, this has increased accessibility for fans within Aotearoa and Australia.

“So a couple of brands we have from Canada, they’ve obviously got fans on this side of the world, but they don’t want to pay for the shipping to get it from Canada… and so it’s sweet, we actually have a stockist for you in your region.”

Why not me?

Besides, this was the genesis behind Drop Out Store – Elliott was online window shopping and lamenting how difficult it was to get the clothes he liked in Aotearoa.

“And there’s only 5 million people in New Zealand, but if there’s 10,000, 20,000 people that share the same likeness as me… then I can be the person to actually bring those in and cater to that market.”

When it comes to the new year, 2025 is expected to be a big one. In terms of stock, Elliott wants to grow the store’s footwear range.

With a new content creator and videographer on board there’s aims to create more high production content, while continuing to build on the personal touch factor.

And, back-to-back social media awards would be a nice bonus, he adds with a laugh.