Inside Hip to Be Round at at 3124 W. Cary St. (Photo by Michael Thompson)
A Carytown retailer is welcoming a new addition to the family.
Hip to Be Round, a local maternity clothes retailer, is expanding to Northern Virginia for its second location. The new shop is an 1,800-square-foot spot inside Mosaic District, a retail and real estate development in Fairfax.
The northern expansion was prompted in part by Washington-based customers dropping by the Carytown store.
“If you need something a little more high quality, there really aren’t a lot of options,” Donohue said. “That’s true in Richmond and the D.C. metro area.”
Hip to Be Round sells designer and non-designer tops and bottoms for pregnant women. It also offers classes and events related to pregnancy.
Designer jeans at Hip to Be Round range from $170 to $200. Non-designer jeans typically cost less than $100.
One of the company’s three Richmond employees is helping launch the new location.
Although Donohue wouldn’t say how much it’s costing to open a retail spot just outside Washington, it’s likely that the rent will be higher than what she pays in Carytown.
“Northern Virginia is extremely high. You’re looking at three times as much as Carytown on average,” said Donovan Phillips, co-owner of e-cigarette retailer Avail Vapor, which opened in 2013 in Carytown and has plans for a store in downtown Washington next month.
Since launching in 2005, Hip to Be Round has changed ownership over the years and moved through a few locations around Carytown. Today it can be found at 3124 W. Cary St.
Donohue and her husband, Brian Roome, bought the business in 2011 after hearing it was closing. The couple ran a glass remanufacturing business in Wisconsin before selling the venture in 2009. They reopened Hip to Be Round in May 2011 inside 2,400 square feet in Cary Court.
This isn’t the first time Roome and Donohue expanded their holdings. Last year, they acquired Richmondmom.com, an online magazine and resource for local parents.
And this isn’t the first time Hip to Be Round has attempted to grow outside the nest of Carytown.
One of the shop’s previous owners opened a location in Short Pump in 2009, only to close it nine months later.
Four years later, the owners have changed, but the desire to grow the brand has not.
“Every entrepreneur always dreams of expanding their business,” Donohue said. “It’s just an underlying current of how we think.”
Inside Hip to Be Round at at 3124 W. Cary St. (Photo by Michael Thompson)
A Carytown retailer is welcoming a new addition to the family.
Hip to Be Round, a local maternity clothes retailer, is expanding to Northern Virginia for its second location. The new shop is an 1,800-square-foot spot inside Mosaic District, a retail and real estate development in Fairfax.
The northern expansion was prompted in part by Washington-based customers dropping by the Carytown store.
“If you need something a little more high quality, there really aren’t a lot of options,” Donohue said. “That’s true in Richmond and the D.C. metro area.”
Hip to Be Round sells designer and non-designer tops and bottoms for pregnant women. It also offers classes and events related to pregnancy.
Designer jeans at Hip to Be Round range from $170 to $200. Non-designer jeans typically cost less than $100.
One of the company’s three Richmond employees is helping launch the new location.
Although Donohue wouldn’t say how much it’s costing to open a retail spot just outside Washington, it’s likely that the rent will be higher than what she pays in Carytown.
“Northern Virginia is extremely high. You’re looking at three times as much as Carytown on average,” said Donovan Phillips, co-owner of e-cigarette retailer Avail Vapor, which opened in 2013 in Carytown and has plans for a store in downtown Washington next month.
Since launching in 2005, Hip to Be Round has changed ownership over the years and moved through a few locations around Carytown. Today it can be found at 3124 W. Cary St.
Donohue and her husband, Brian Roome, bought the business in 2011 after hearing it was closing. The couple ran a glass remanufacturing business in Wisconsin before selling the venture in 2009. They reopened Hip to Be Round in May 2011 inside 2,400 square feet in Cary Court.
This isn’t the first time Roome and Donohue expanded their holdings. Last year, they acquired Richmondmom.com, an online magazine and resource for local parents.
And this isn’t the first time Hip to Be Round has attempted to grow outside the nest of Carytown.
One of the shop’s previous owners opened a location in Short Pump in 2009, only to close it nine months later.
Four years later, the owners have changed, but the desire to grow the brand has not.
“Every entrepreneur always dreams of expanding their business,” Donohue said. “It’s just an underlying current of how we think.”
I wish Christa and Brian the best of luck with their NoVa expansion! I knew selling my “baby” to them in 2010 was the right move, and this just seals it. Way to go, guys!
Congratulations, Christa and Brian!