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Tag Archives: independent retailers
Downtown York Boutique Owners Look To Offer A Unique Shopping Experience
Map of Pennsylvania highlighting York County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
When Alex Chiaruttini was looking for the perfect little black dress to take with her on an overseas trip, she found it at Indigo Bleu, a recently opened boutique on York’s West Philadelphia Street.
The 43-year-old environmental attorney and Springettsbury Township resident said she doesn’t shop at malls and prefers shopping at downtown York boutiques because their owners know Chiaruttini’s style and what she might like.
“It’s more fun than shopping online,” Chiaruttini said Wednesday evening while shopping with a friend at Elizabeth & West Fashion House, another downtown York boutique.
Wednesday was the second day of York’s annual Boutique Week. Downtown Inc. and a committee of downtown merchants launched the event in 2012 to give shopkeepers a chance to show off their merchandise and attract new customers. The week includes a fashion show Friday evening at Central Market. Boutique owners like Zarah Brooks, owner of Indigo Bleu, say they offer their customers a more personal experience and different merchandise than can be found at a mall.
Changing Skyline: Is ‘Over-Success’ In Development Hurting Philadelphia?
English: 1616 Walnut Street Building in Philadelphia. On NRHP since October 17, 1983 1616 Walnut Street in Rittenhouse Square East neighborhood of Center City. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It wasn’t long ago that Philadelphia’s movers and shakers were lamenting that the city was being ignored by international retailers. Those chains finally discovered the city, and now they’re colonizing the shopping districts around Rittenhouse Square and the West Philadelphia universities at a stunning pace. Sometimes, the only way to be sure you’re not at the King of Prussia Mall is to look up at the sky.
Having gotten what it wished for, the city is starting to feel the first side effects of what New York urbanist Kent Barwick, former head of the Municipal Arts Society, identified as “the over-successful city.”
This may sound like an odd worry in a town that looks over its shoulder and still sees Detroit. It’s certainly great that the chains help draw throngs to Walnut and Chestnut Streets again. They’ve brought their stylish displays and uncovered the dormant charms of many old commercial buildings. Yet, there is a numbing sameness to much of the retail. You’ve seen identical mannequins in identical outfits perched in windows on New York’s Fifth Avenue, Boston’s Newbury Street, and Chicago’s Michigan Avenue.
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