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Stephanie on the left and Natalie on the right! Owners of Regina and Nicole Boutique
Interview with Natalie Newman
Co-owner of Regina Nicole Boutique in Sylva NC
Regina Nicole boutique is a clothing store located in Sylva NC that has a variety of clothes, shoes, candles, and jewelry. Regina Nicole boutique has something for everyone, they really market their store as a store for all sizes. Which in today’s society that is great marketing skills. Natalie was once at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino where she was a Senior Executive host, she left that job to pursue her dream of having a clothing store.
What made you leave your glamour job to open a boutique in Sylva NC?
I had finished my undergraduate degrees in Marketing and Hospitality Tourism Management and I was in the middle of my Masters in Entrepreneurship program and I had the realization that I wanted to do something different. I had been at the casino for almost five years and was tired and needed more. My business partner had left the casino and took an accounting job at a manufacturing company. She was looking for more as well. I made the call to my business partner on what became my final day of work, she said, “Why don’t we open a clothing store?” We had been selling for a direct sale company for about a year, so I said, “If you are serious, then I need to know for sure because if I leave my job and we don’t go through with it, I have to find another job.” That was on a Monday, I put my notice in on that Thursday, because of my job title, and I knew this, I was walked out that day. We signed the lease for our store on Friday. We had our grand opening about a month or so later on April 27, 2018.
What is a typical day at Regina Nicole?
When I am not working on the sales floor with customers… Well, a boutique is so much more than buying or selling clothes. As owners we do everything. My business partner does accounting and financing. I do the marketing and advertising. We both do photos/content creation, the buying, the cleaning, networking, merchandising, website, packing/shipping, talk to vendors, go to market, travel to events, EVERYTHING. We do have one employee which relieves some of our duties but honestly, it is not all glam, we even did and have worked with tools and paint for our remodel.
How will you compete in today’s market?
We try to break the mold of the traditional boutique. First and foremost, customer service. We make sure our customers, especially repeat customers feel special and VIP. We do special events and I am not against going to wine with our customers on an evening out. We also try to be affordable, you won’t find a $65 shirt in our store, you likely never will. Our biggest focus has also been accessibility, we carry sizes XS-3XL in nearly everything and we try to stay open later than most local businesses and boutiques and we are open 7 days a week.
What type of innovative techniques are you using to keep the consumers coming in?
Marketing! Marketing is so important in this business, social media is the biggest thing and we try to stay with those trends. We also have implemented text message marketing which is a highly underrated and untapped market.
We also try to put on events and collaborate with other local business. For instance, we put on fashion shows at a local lounge. We invite customers. They get a fun experience and also get to shop afterwards. We are always trying to think of new innovative events.
What type of experiences have you had that influence the way you run your business?
Customer service and my own shopping experiences. I want people to be able to come in feel comfortable, find things in their size, and be able to afford trendy and quality clothing. I don’t want customers to have the experiences that I have had shopping for clothes in the past. I have literally cried in stores before!
What type of challenges have you faced when starting your company? And what other challenges do you face on a daily basis?
We have the growing pains, I think that is pretty typical in any new company. Retail is hard…cash flow, inventory turnover, the buying process, these things are hard. Finding that buying sweet spot is a great feeling but hard to hit every time. That sweet spot where you buy a piece and bring it in, customers buy it up and ask for more! It feels great but we miss sometimes. We also have to try not to overbuy but also keep clothes on the floor, you cannot make sales if you don’t have inventory and you definitely need new inventory. We are small so we don’t like to keep a lot of back stock. That’s hard when you have an unexpectedly busy weekend. We have learned so much though, April 2019 will be a year for us and I can honestly say, because of what we have learned, our second year will be amazing. On a daily basis, well this winter season has been hard, foot traffic in this small town has been SLOW. For me personally, motivation on a daily basis has been hard. We also work long hours in the busy season. Neither of us have worked in retail before, so that was a huge learning curve for us.
How is your business doing now? Are you hiring? Staying the same?
It’s slow for us right now in the winter season and on rainy days, but that was to be expected with any business dependent on foot traffic. Any day that the sun comes out, people come out, so we are very optimistic for warmer weather. Fall ended well for us and we anticipate great traffic come spring now that we are more established and have return customers. We have one employee but we hope to grow in the future. We hope that this year is amazing for us.
What do you see in the future for Regina Nicole?
Dreaming big. I want to see more of our stores in other places. Immediate future. I want to see us expand in our current space and I want to see the online side grow for us. I want to grow and bring on more employees and even management, provide those employees with benefits and great pay, and I want to see Regina Nicole give back to the community. I want to eventually be able to step back and not necessarily be a retail associate AND business owner, but actually be able to focus on growing the business, networking, marketing, branding, and especially buying and curating styles. It’s hard work but it is so worth it. It pays off because the hard work we put in, we get to see the product of that. I know that we have a ton of growing to do but I have faith that we have the knowledge and dedication to grow and reach our goals…really live the entrepreneurial dream.
Natalie is an inspiration for anyone that is trying to open a small business in a small town. Sylva is small town nestled in WNC and we dont have many options for shopping, dining, or much of anything, so having this affordable boutique here is absolutely perfect. I will say that their clothing is affordable and great quality. Their background story makes me believe that if they can do this then I could too if thats what I choose. I feel it is hard to have small businesses now days due to the overwhelming big corporations moving in everywhere, but even those corporations started small. I hope you enjoyed reading my interview with Natalie and maybe this information can help you in your road to entrepreneurship.
By: Angelina Murray
ENT 601 03/03/2019
