Blue Sage Bridal owner Noelle Parent. (Photos by Ianne Salvosa)
After maxing out on space in its current location, a downtown bridal shop has found a new home nearby.
Blue Sage Bridal, which opened four years ago at 20 E. Main St. selling bridal gowns on consignment, will relocate to 424 E. Grace St. in September.
Owner Noelle Parent said the new space will allow for a larger number of dressing rooms, plans for more staff and other customer accommodations.
“We really loved our old location. It’s a historic building,” Parent said. “I thought we’d be there for a lot longer than we were, but we’ve just outgrown that space.”
The shop’s current building on Main was built in 1910 and formerly housed the Richmond Lamp Co. Parent started out in 800 square feet and later expanded into two apartment units on the property, but she says there isn’t anywhere else in the building for her growing business to go.
Blue Sage’s current space on Main Street.
When Blue Sage opened in 2020, Parent said she saw a gap in the market for second-hand bridal items, and five years later, Blue Sage still holds the title of the city’s only consignment shop dedicated to wedding gowns.
The new location will include around 3,500 square feet for retail purposes and an additional 3,500 square feet in the basement level for offices and storage. Parent is renting the first floor and basement, but the building, including its second floor, is still listed for sale.
Parent said another upgrade from the move is the ADA compliance of her new space. Blue Sage’s current building is not ADA compliant due to its age and Parent said her current landlord was able to bypass accessibility laws due to the historic status of the building.
The new location’s dressing rooms will also allow for two brides to try on dresses together in the same room.
“We’re really excited to be able to be more inclusive for our people who need ADA accessibility and then be more inclusive for people who are in the LGBTQ community who are trying on dresses at the same time,” she said.
The shop’s new space was previously home to a bank and most recently an office for Avail Vapor.
Blue Sage’s current setup has “one and a half” dressing rooms, and due to the smaller size of the second dressing room, she and her staff cannot do full-service appointments in both areas. The new location will allow Blue Sage staff to hold four full-service appointments at a time and have a fifth, smaller dressing room for brides to try on accessories.
Parent will look to add at least one new employee to her team of six as part of the move, with potentially more to come.
Parent said she hopes to increase her inventory with the larger space and widen the price range. She currently has about 350 to 400 dresses at a time and hopes to expand to 450 to 500 dresses in the new space. She also hopes to offer more dresses costing less than $1,000 and expand inventory of dresses that cost up to $5,000.
“This will give us a chance to expand our sales section to be able to help brides that are on a lower budget, but will also be able to take more inventory for high-end consignment as well,” Parent said.
Parent is planning some renovations to the space, which was most recently used as an office for e-cigarette retailer Avail Vapor and was a SunTrust Bank branch prior to that.
Blue Sage’s current location will remain open until the third week of August and will hold a moving sale for the first three weeks of the month. Blue Sage will close for the last week of August and begin operating in the new location the first week of September.
So happy for you and your team, Noelle!
Thank you for being such a great mentor Sarah!