Connect Style Spotlight – Blossom Boutique
by Cathriona Murphy
This month, in our Style Focus, we popped into Blossom Boutique to chat with proprietor, Nuala Keane. Blossom Boutique will soon be celebration its 6th anniversary, nestled in the heart of Listowel it has become a magnet for all fashionista’s. I met with Nuala to chat about how her dreams of opening a boutique, blossomed into reality.
Nuala, can you tell our readers here in Connect a bit about Blossom Boutique?
Blossom Boutique is an affordable, casual and occasion wear boutique in Market Street, Listowel. We are open Mondays from 12pm-5pm and Tuesday to Saturday 10pm-6pm. There are two of us here, myself and Helena who is just a fantastic worker, amazing with fashion retail and has a good eye for clothes. I had always dreamed of opening a boutique but raising young kids it just wasn’t feasible then. Eventually the time came in my life when I decided to take the plunge and open up Blossom Boutique. A good friend of mine, Donna Kavanagh, had opened up a clothing store in Drogheda and she was a huge help to me. She really just inspired me to follow my dreams and I am delighted to be celebrating the 6th anniversary of blossom boutique this coming August.
What kind of customer experience do you provide and what can new customers expect?
One of the major things of my business is that we have an extremely friendly atmosphere, we try to make each customer feel as welcome and as comfortable as possible. Sometimes customers come in and they feel shy or embarrassed due to their size not being what they want it to be, they can be very conscious of trying on clothes so we try to make them comfortable, help them and do it in a private way. We can pick clothes for them and bring into the dressing room so they won’t feel like other customers are watching them. But we do love the aspect of having fun with our customers too! We have regular customers over the last 5/6 years who have become really good friends of ours. As for being a mother and trying to shop in the summer holidays! I have been there, I remember trying to shop for a wedding outfit with 3 kids so I understand the difficulty. For that reason, we have a sofa in the changing area where the kids can relax, so that should buy mom’s a certain amount of peace and quiet!
Do you offer a styling or personal shopping service?
Yes very much so! I think that is a huge aspect of my boutique, I have customers that will ring me and tell me they have a wedding coming up so I will pick out a few outfits and have them ready for them to try. I am very honest about what does and doesn’t suit someone, I won’t make a sale just for the sake of it, I want my customer to feel confident and look their best in my clothing. When they try on something that I have picked that they ordinarily wouldn’t and end up loving it, it’s that trust between us and the customer that I just love. I personally used to hate going into shops years ago and they would tell me everything I tried looked good on me, everything does not look good on everyone so I would rather be honest.
What size and age demographic do you cater too?
We go from size 6-16 with some items fitting a size 18. I have customers from their 20’s right up to their 80’s. My mother is in her 70’s and she is the most glamorous woman I know! Just because you are getting older it doesn’t mean that you don’t want to dress up? It’s all about keeping it age appropriate and suiting the person who is wearing the item, young or old.
What brands are you currently stocking?
So I have an Irish label called “Rant and Rave” which
is hugely popular along with “Sugarhill Brighton”, they would both be my best sellers. Sugarhill is a very quirky brand, they have pretty light knits and shirts. They are both labels that are exclusive to my boutique here in Listowel. I have also brought in a new brand “Garcia”, it’s a higher end casual brand that has become very popular but still not reaching high prices. We have started to gradually introduce footwear by Rant and Rave. In addition to this, we have started to stock earrings by a brand call Ethan & Co.
Finally Nuala, what can we expect coming down the line in terms of trends?
To finish up, I will say that the dresses are really lasting through the seasons so they are good investments to make as they are so versatile in the way you can wear them. Culottes are making a huge comeback so watch out for that! Blazers are a fashion item that never go out of style so they are a great investment to make. So what I would say is, pop into us here in Market Street, Listowel. We will make you feel very welcome and do our utmost to have you leaving happy about the shopping experience you have had with us, regardless if you purchased or not. Myself and Helena are looking forward to seeing customers both new and old!
You can find blossom Boutique on Instagram @blossom_listowel or phone 087 315 4699
