Sara Campbell and Pete Wheeler, pictured at their Alexandria location, are bringing their women’s retail brand to Richmond. Courtesy of Sara Campbell.
The expansion of a New England-based women’s clothing company is bringing a new storefront to the ever-changing Libbie-Grove retail scene. And further east near VCU, an entrepreneur is trying to add some style to Grace Street.
Sara Campbell, an 11-store chain founded in Boston in 2004, is set to open in October at 306 Libbie Ave. It will be the brand’s first Richmond store and its second in Virginia.
“We knew we had customers (in Richmond) from our wholesale accounts,” said Pete Wheeler, who co-owns the company with its namesake Sara Campbell. “We also know from similar stores that the product we have is something the gals in Richmond will use.”
Sara Campbell’s new location will be at 306 Libbie Ave.
Wheeler said he and Campbell got their start designing clothes for big-name companies like Talbots.
“We started sort of being a manufacturer, and we had a wholesale line,” Wheeler said. “What’s changed now is that we’re manufacturing and designing for ourselves.”
Their 2,100-square-foot Libbie space is next door to Gearhart’s Chocolates. It has previously been home to a psychic, a lingerie store, and a women’s fashion retailer that carried Sara Campbell products.
Sara Campbell’s pending arrival is the latest shift in the cycle of retail around Libbie, Patterson, and Grove avenues. Kelley’s Gift Shop closed in April, and Fleet Feet Sports opened across the street in July.
In Ram country, Vanita Baugh has a new shop that’s going after the VCU market.
Her retail and consignment shop, Cute Unique Trendy Essentials, or C.U.T.E., opened last month at 518A W. Grace St.
Baugh sells women’s apparel out of the 900-square-foot store. Consigners get 40 percent of whatever their items sell for at the shop.
C.U.T.E. is Baugh’s second Richmond retail venture. Photo by Michael Thompson.
“The target market over here is pretty much college students,” Baugh said.
Baugh, 43, said she has a five-year lease on the former hair salon space. She said it cost $15,000 of her personal savings to open C.U.T.E.
The shop is one of the few non-convenience store Grace Street retailers on the eastern side of Belvidere near VCU. Its next door neighbor is a convenience store, there’s a Commonwealth Catholic Charities branch across the street and a gas station on the other side of Belvidere.
Baugh said foot traffic has been good with college students back in town. She said she plans to hold events for guest retailers to set up shop in C.U.T.E. Baugh has four VCU fashion majors interning at her store and more than 20 years of retail experience.
In addition to working at Nordstrom, Baugh owned My Closet-Your Treasures at 525 Lakeside Ave. before closing the consignment shop after four years.
With C.U.T.E. open in Richmond, Baugh said she’ll look to open her next location in her hometown.
“My next stop will probably be New York,” she said.
Sara Campbell and Pete Wheeler, pictured at their Alexandria location, are bringing their women’s retail brand to Richmond. Courtesy of Sara Campbell.
The expansion of a New England-based women’s clothing company is bringing a new storefront to the ever-changing Libbie-Grove retail scene. And further east near VCU, an entrepreneur is trying to add some style to Grace Street.
Sara Campbell, an 11-store chain founded in Boston in 2004, is set to open in October at 306 Libbie Ave. It will be the brand’s first Richmond store and its second in Virginia.
“We knew we had customers (in Richmond) from our wholesale accounts,” said Pete Wheeler, who co-owns the company with its namesake Sara Campbell. “We also know from similar stores that the product we have is something the gals in Richmond will use.”
Sara Campbell’s new location will be at 306 Libbie Ave.
Wheeler said he and Campbell got their start designing clothes for big-name companies like Talbots.
“We started sort of being a manufacturer, and we had a wholesale line,” Wheeler said. “What’s changed now is that we’re manufacturing and designing for ourselves.”
Their 2,100-square-foot Libbie space is next door to Gearhart’s Chocolates. It has previously been home to a psychic, a lingerie store, and a women’s fashion retailer that carried Sara Campbell products.
Sara Campbell’s pending arrival is the latest shift in the cycle of retail around Libbie, Patterson, and Grove avenues. Kelley’s Gift Shop closed in April, and Fleet Feet Sports opened across the street in July.
In Ram country, Vanita Baugh has a new shop that’s going after the VCU market.
Her retail and consignment shop, Cute Unique Trendy Essentials, or C.U.T.E., opened last month at 518A W. Grace St.
Baugh sells women’s apparel out of the 900-square-foot store. Consigners get 40 percent of whatever their items sell for at the shop.
C.U.T.E. is Baugh’s second Richmond retail venture. Photo by Michael Thompson.
“The target market over here is pretty much college students,” Baugh said.
Baugh, 43, said she has a five-year lease on the former hair salon space. She said it cost $15,000 of her personal savings to open C.U.T.E.
The shop is one of the few non-convenience store Grace Street retailers on the eastern side of Belvidere near VCU. Its next door neighbor is a convenience store, there’s a Commonwealth Catholic Charities branch across the street and a gas station on the other side of Belvidere.
Baugh said foot traffic has been good with college students back in town. She said she plans to hold events for guest retailers to set up shop in C.U.T.E. Baugh has four VCU fashion majors interning at her store and more than 20 years of retail experience.
In addition to working at Nordstrom, Baugh owned My Closet-Your Treasures at 525 Lakeside Ave. before closing the consignment shop after four years.
With C.U.T.E. open in Richmond, Baugh said she’ll look to open her next location in her hometown.
“My next stop will probably be New York,” she said.