Psycho Bunny, the menswear brand that features a skull-and-crossbones-with-bunny-ears logo, appears to be taking the space of the closed Lacoste in St. Johns Town Center.
Simon Property Group plans a $699,089 tenant build-out of the almost 1,500-square-foot space at 4813 River City Drive, Suite 113.
FDC Oxen Inc. of Austin, Texas, is the contractor.
Lacoste’s customer service confirmed the store closed but it had no information about a move or reopening.
Lacoste sells men’s, women’s and children’s polo shirts, clothing, watches, bags, fragrances and sportswear.
Psycho Bunny is based in New York City but with contact information is in Quebec.
Psychobunny.com’s store map shows retail stores in nine states, including two in Florida in Orlando and Tampa. The brand also is sold other retail stores, such as Nordstrom.
Forbes.com reported May 23 that Psycho Bunny is leaning heavily into brick-and-mortar after seeing that its physical stores not only are profitable, but that they boost online sales in the markets where they are located.
The Psycho Bunny website shows T-shirts and polos generally from $50 to $125. Adult caps and hats start at $35.
The Forbes business news site reported that after opening 20 U.S. stores last year, the company has 29 new U.S locations in the works to open this year.
Forbes also said Psycho Bunny is ramping up its global expansion.
It said Psycho Bunny opened physical stores soon before the pandemic and found they drew lots of in-person visitors and more online sales.
Justin Cohen, chief commercial officer of Psycho Bunny, told Forbes the metro areas that have stores have outpaced by more than 200% cities that don’t have stores.
Psycho Bunny does not disclose sales, but a spokesperson told Forbes it has tripled its total business since last year and doubled its e-commerce sales.
The company’s real estate strategy has been to “open in the best places and make sure you have the best location in those places,” Cohen said.
The news site said Robert Godley and Robert Goldman, who initially sold ties and scarves and then branched into polo shirts and golf apparel, created Psycho Bunny in 2005.
Forbes said the logo was intended to appeal to men who want a mascot that is edgier than the Ralph Lauren horse or the Lacoste crocodile on their polo shirt.
The news site said apparel industry veteran Alan Brandman of Thread Collective Inc. bought the operating rights for Psycho Bunny and 50% of the intellectual property rights in 2017.
It said that last year he acquired full ownership of Psycho Bunny and with investment firm BBRC established Psycho Bunny as a privately-held company with headquarters in Montreal and offices in New York.
Forbes said the brand originally operated as a wholesaler, and sought distribution in department stores.
When Brandman took over, the company added its own direct retail sales.
While Psycho Bunny is a menswear brand, it also has female fans who wear the tees, sweatpants and sweatshirts, and the company creates occasional limited editions for women, Forbes said.
Overall the brand tries to be as gender-neutral as possible, Cohen said.
