By Lee Xin En

They got 10 blogshops to step out of virtual space and into physical space in the prime Orchard area.

The two 19-year-olds, convinced that unity is strength, persuaded the popular online blogshops to actually take up brick-and-mortar space at their shop, Best of Blogshops, located in Far East Plaza.

One of the young entrepreneurs, Mr Ang Chuang Yang, said he set up the physical store earlier this year because he kept seeing his friend and collaborator, Miss Hanice Tsai, 'shop addictively on online blogshops'.

The owners of the 10 blogshops - 16 in all - in Best of Blogshops used to just peddle their different wares, from accessories to clothes, online.

Now, they get to also display their wares at the store for a flat monthly fee of about $500, depending on the size of the rack and the location of the display. They pay an additional 20 per cent fee at month's end, based on sales revenues.

Mr Ang said the choice of a low fixed fee and a variable fee gave the blogshops a stake in the business.

The former Raffles Institution student touts the huge variety that Best of Blogshops offers as one of the selling points. He claims to see a sizeable number of older women buying clothes there, although online blogshops are more popular with youth.

He ensures that 80 per cent of the stocks displayed are exclusive to the store. Also, he chose blogshops for his concept because they were adding at least 10 to 20 designs online every week.

He said: 'We wanted to ensure that our shop has sufficient supplies and range.'

He noted that while traditional stores may have a large variety of clothes too, 'they are usually sourced by one or two owners, who buy clothes according to their taste'.

The 10 blogshops at the store are: Tracyeinny, Runway Bandits, Robot Ninjas, Dopestreet, Ladies Concept, Loving Trends, A Girls Label, Gege Covet Fashion, Dressabelle and Trooops.

During the few times that The Sunday Times visited, the shop was packed with shoppers.

Mr Ang said the shop sees a four-figure sum of sales daily and he gets blogshops approaching him every day to ask if they can join the store.

He said 'blogshops aspire to own a physical shop space but they cannot afford overheads like rent on their own'.

Another similar trendsetter is Miss Tammy Tay, 17, the owner of online blogshop Ohsofickle, who now owns two boutique stores - in Far East Plaza and Haji Lane. She decided to open them to cater to shoppers who 'don't have the time to camp in front of the computer waiting for my launch'.

She launches 10 to 30 designs weekly, with about 20 to 50 pieces for each design. Her products online usually sell out within four to six hours.

Miss Tay started Ohsofickle three years ago. The two physical stores opened early this year.

Although customers can try on clothes at the two stores, clothes at the online store sell out much faster and bring in about 50 per cent of her monthly profits of between $7,000 and $13,000.

Another online blogshop-turned-shopfront is The Scarlette, which specialises in sophisticated cocktail party wear. It is run by recent graduate Amanda Eng, 24, and two other partners who did not want to be named.

The trio started manufacturing their own line only last year but have already collaborated with Japanese beauty brand Ettusais. They were also approached by Isetan to launch their collection in its Scotts store last August.

Miss Eng said they jumped at the opportunity despite having to pay rental and staff costs because 'our dream has always been to have a shop space'.

Although their clothing line at Isetan can be found in their online blogshop, they will likely launch new collections at the Isetan outlet in the future.

Mr Joe Chew, 41, owner of Toss, a shop in Far East Plaza, manufactures most of his apparel and makes only three to five pieces of each design. He does not sell any apparel to blogshops.

He is also unimpressed with the fashion designs of many blogshops. He asked: 'What designs? I think about 90 per cent of blogshops import their supplies from Thailand or City Plaza, which is why they can sell so cheaply.'

Mr Chew felt that the main challenge online blogshops pose to retail shops is lower pricing, but this advantage is lost once they start their own shop fronts and have overhead costs.

Ms Johanna Kuan, 25, owner of Far East Plaza store thesecretgarden, also manufactures and designs her own apparel with fabric imported from Japan.

She said: 'The blogshops are not a challenge to us because they mainly import their goods and customers cannot always expect quality.'

However, she praised Best of Blogshops, saying that it was a 'good business model' for blogshops.

Fashion editor of VIP magazine, Ms Fazillah Abdul Gaffa, said she does not shop at blogshops. She added: 'Most, if not all blogshops cater to fit girls from sizes 6 to 8, and as a 1.74m-tall, size-12 woman, nothing would fit me.'

Meanwhile, blogshops have big plans. Miss Amanda Ong, 25, owner of The Scarlet Room, which does not have a physical space here, plans to have a shopfront overseas.

The owners of The Scarlette say that they are exploring the possibility of having their own standalone shop.

Miss Tay has plans for a fashion show at the end of the year, and hopes to eventually go international.

Not to be outdone, the owners of Best of Blogshops will be opening another outlet, targeted at the youth market, in Cathay Cineleisure next month.

Mr Ang said: 'I am optimistic about the new outlet because youngsters are not hit by the recession. For now, I want to concentrate on the business and we just want to establish our brand.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.