Don't get me wrong I LOVE clothes, from the moment I could buy my own clothes I went a little crazy, but if I didn't love clothes so much there's no way I would have started a clothing boutique and I definitely wouldn't still be in business.
My love for clothes was just the starting point of why I wanted to start a store. I wanted to go into business because of my appreciation and passion for customer service. I love making people feel good.
When I was young I would offer food and drinks to the kids in our neighborhood and my mom would always tell me to "stop feeding the neighborhood" (and since she worked two jobs I now get why she didn't want me going around handing out food to every random friend of mine), but I couldn't help myself. I loved making people feel happy. Even back then.
Those two words,"customer service" sound so unremarkable, but it's the idea behind them that really resonated with me.
Here's the "official" definition if you're interested. I've actually never looked it up so I was curious.
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the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services.
Even the definition sounds stuffy, right?
I've always had a different view on customer service. I've always thought of it as a way to connect with customers. To create relationships, to make someone feel happy and to give them a place to come when they need a mood boost.
When I was in high school I worked at Banana Republic and that's when i was bit by the retail bug. I saw the way people felt when they tried something on that made them feel good. Their mood instantly changed and I loved knowing that I had something to do with that.
Owning a clothing store was always a dream of mine (even though coming from Russian parents no one asked me what I wanted to do in my life because my options in their eyes were limited to a doctor or lawyer. I'm sure some of you can relate)!
I always knew that it would be about so much more than just the clothes. It would be about the experience. The clothes would just be the icing on the cake of all the different layers of experience that we would offer within our four walls.
Back to there's more to life than clothes. People always ask me "how much clothes do you have" or "how do you not take everything home"? Trust me, i have a lot of clothes probably too much, but I don't buy for myself at the store. I buy for my you, our customers and that means I don't see myself wearing everything I purchase for the store.
Of coarse there are the pieces that I can totally envision myself standing in front of the mirror thinking, "wow, i look awesome in this".
I want YOU to stand in front of that mirror and think "wow, i look awesome in this"!
I buy for you, our customers that we love seeing. (I say we because I am far from a one man show. What we do here would not be possible without the girls that work here and make it their daily mission to make you feel happy).
So, you're probably wondering where is this blog going? That's a great question because there's no agenda for it! I've always believed that if you don't force things, everything will work out just the way it should.
I'll be writing about a little bit of everything. Stay tuned for more to come and I'm so happy you're on this journey with me (I mean us)!
XO
Isabel