Emo Fashionz

Emo Fashionz is a small-scale, Gothic-ish niche market boutique catering to the darker interests of Emoguins and Gothguins, be they authentic or just posers.

There are four Emo Fashionz stores, all in South Pole City. The company fears further branching out or establishing stores beyond the city because really going corporate would not be Sticking It To the Man.

In line with its anti-commercialization creed and roots, Emo Fashionz portrays themselves as a non-profit organization. This means that all money is reinvested into the company and its mission, as opposed to be split to the owners or shareholders. By reinvesting their capital, the small store has remained in business through focusing on its customers and viewing them as people, not numbers. Additionally, the company makes generous monthly donations to local non-profits. Many of these are in support of what Emoguins and Gothguins favor, such as music education and mental health awareness.

Agent Meltie is a frequent customer, and the store is popular amongst the gothic subculture. It is most famous for its accountant, though, a notably prim-and-proper penguin that, by most any account should hate his employers. He doesn't, however, and instead values their input and ideas.

Background
Emo Fashionz was founded in 2008 by four ethnic Gothguins, two adhering Emoguins, and one poser prep, all of whom were disappointed in the fact that they had trouble finding clothes and accessories that suited their tastes. The depressed bunch pooled their resources and creativity to found a company that would cater specially to their alternative lifestyle.

There was one problem, though. The mainstream stance on things, the corporate world, and anything that really involved money or business was frowned upon under classical Goth DIY teachings. (It was also pretty complicated for a group of first-time business owners). It was because of this, then, that the group decided to hire an accountant to perform all of the "mess" that "the establishment" thrusted upon them. They did not want the establishment controlling them, not even under the table, because they feared it would take away from the integrity of what the business stood for.

They turned to an aged, ethnic Prepguin- of all things -to assist them, a man named Johnathan Welf. The group was extraordinarily lucky because this Prepguin was impressively tolerant of what is usually one of the main mortal enemies of their race. (These enemies being the nerds, the greaseballs, and the Gothics.) He was made their accountant, though he prefers the term "CFO", or chief financial officer. The gothics rolled with it (or, as they said, "whatever").

Though they often clash because of their very nature, Jonathan and his employers are actually friends, though other Prepguins are appalled and other Gothics and what-not tend to treat him rudely when he's assisting in a store, fearing he doesn't belong.

Products available
Typical Emoguin and Gothguin clothing is available, as well as makeup, comic books, stuffed black puffles, Waddle-Verse sneakers, Coo-Coo-Ka-Shoe charms, socks, skinny jeans, and more. The business adheres to trends within subcultures as well as introducing new items and monitoring sales to ensure that items with low sales are not restocked again. When Snowtendo created Veranda's Tables and reluctantly published Blobs of Fail, this was the first location it could be purchased from.

In 2009, it was rumored that they were selling Vam shirts due to his cute and extraterrestrial nature. Xet went undercover as a teenage Gothguin and found it was true. Vam shirts with the quote, "French Toast Likes Me!" were selling like nuts. Xet bought them all and destroyed them. After that, they never received any more shipments.

Around 2010, the "Emoguin" phase took over and penguins as young as ten, dragging their parents in by the flipper, were storming the shop. Almost all the fresh shipments they set out in the morning were gone by noon. The workers decided to embrace the Emoguin life with sales, promotions, and even sweepstakes to meet notable Emoguin musicians and actors. They requested shipments of new things like different comic books, CDS, different shoes, and more. Pretty soon, the demand faltered, as it was just a passing trend for some.

After the Emoguin phase began to die down, it was business as usual. They tried to sell the Vam shirts again with a different slogan, but Xet came and yelled at them, so that wasn't an option again.

Recently, the market has shifted and focused less on subcultures, in an attempt to maintain a level of relevance and keep up with the trends, which changed too fast for Jonathan to keep up. This marketing decision was not taken well by Jonathan's employees, and the business briefly lost funds as a result. Thankfully, that decision was short-lived.

Corporate governance
Emo Fashionz is unique in the fact that it is a non-profit organization. Funds are reinvested into the company and its mission, as opposed to being split to the owners or shareholders. The business also supports charities and non-profits. By reinvesting their capital, the small store has remained in business through focusing on its customers above its bottom line, as well as violating their own belief system.

To overcome this, they arranged their boards of directors in a method normally reserved to tiny little community banks, and created the voting system from stores that utilize similar systems or niches. Each member in Emo Fashionz was also an "owner" of the store for legal purposes, and possessed one vote that could make or break the directors. So far, the members have voted for the same creatures time and time again (the initial founders). Johnathan was hired with a contract stating that he can not be fired.

In the sense of membership, the business offers a rewards and credit card system called the Membership for frequent customers, as well as a secret VIP line for long-term customers. Patrons can acquire a Membership card at the cashier's counter at the very front of the store for free. The Gothic owners of this store only use Membership cards for the voting system. Denying anyone the right to shop would be "conforming to other businesses", so the cards are simply handed out.

Corporate image
Trick question. Emo Fashionz does not have a corporate image. Conforming, even to non-conformists, would violate their moral code. Therefore, the store does not require its employees to dress in any particular way, only in what makes them feel comfortable and confident. Emo Fashionz does not maintain a code for how each store should appear, either, as long as they sell the same items and run similar or identical promotions as their sister stores. An elected owner of an Emo Fashionz branch could color it pink and green, for all they care, and the only way to change it would be having the members vote that owner out and hope the new one has more Gothic tastes.

However, because of its nature, no Emo Fashionz currently has this problem. Gothics tend to elect Gothics as directors, so the stores are as black and misunderstood as ever.

Trivia

 * Agent Meltie is a big fan of the store (and obviously a member) and recommends it to all her friends.


 * Thinking that he would please his brother in doing so, TurtleShroom (penguin) has offered several times to purchase Emo Fashionz under either Holyberden or GoodyMart, promising stores all across the continent and to make Emo Fashionz a household name. ProxyShroom himself has criticized TurtleShroom for this, and still can't explain the tenants of Gothicism to the stubborn bird. Anti-commercialization and countering "The Man" never really resonated with any of the Jones Family.


 * Although not all of them are active or have even shopped more than once, there are over 50,000 members of Emo Fashionz. However, since most Emo Fashionz members received a card to purchase one item or were tourists, and since they never came back, they don't usually respond to the biannual voting sheets. Eliminating one-timers and rare patrons, there are an estimated 7,000 active members- in other words, shoppers that visit at least twice a month -in the company, and of these, between 2,000 and 5,000 vote.


 * Membership cards are for life, free, and do not need renewing.


 * Their T-shirts are unfortunately known to be low quality, with very specific washing instructions most penguins disregard, and tend to get holes or fading images.