Located in Snider Plaza, ShopSeptember offers customers a new way to navigate boutique shopping – by offering clients two distinct styles and price points within the same shop.
“It’s really convenient and it’s a lot more helpful than people just saying ‘oh there’s stuff here,’” Abigail Deweese, a ShopSeptember customer, said.
Owner Laura Petter began the store as an online clothing boutique called shopseptember.com (the name is a reference to fashion month) in May 2012 and opened a brick and mortar location in August 2013 as a way to interact with the customer base she had already built online.
ShopSeptember.com
The store sets itself apart by dividing itself into two parts. The Showroom, located at the front of the store, features pieces at the $80-$400 price range and The Street, located in the back half of the store, includes prices from $30-$100. In The Showroom shoppers can find lesser-known high-end brands, while the funkier Street section offers cheeky fast-fashion clothing like a popular pair of “OMG” shorts and an “Excuse my French” sweatshirt.
“Our store I would say kind of stands out amongst most around here because we do try to cater to designs and brands and labels that no other boutique in Dallas carries,” said the store manager, Savanah Fletcher. “So, our aesthetic is a little bit different.”
Fletcher models the “Excuse My French” sweatshirt. Via Facebook.
Some of the brands that are popular with customers include labels like Ronny Kobo from the Showroom section and other more obscure brands like New York based Corey Lynn Calter.
“We try to deliver stuff that’s a little bit more ahead of the season,” Fletcher said.
In the plaza, Fletcher says, the store’s biggest competition may be Bevello, a women’s boutique that features similar contemporary designs around the same price point.
“But our stuff does have a little bit of a different look to it,” Fletcher said.
Typical ShopSeptember customers include SMU students, Highland Park moms and teenagers and young professionals, with ages ranging from 14 and up. Most people come in looking for cocktail and party dresses, work clothes, blouses and rompers.
While repeat customers typically stick to The Showroom, the store also has a sale rack that includes pieces from both sections.
“So you can get like a steal from the street wear that’s on sale, but you also can get a steal from what’s in the showroom,” said, Islee Williams, a ShopSeptember sales stylist.
ShopSeptember store-front in Snider Plaza. Via Facebook.
Sixteen-year-old Deweese likes the store for its jewelry, particularly necklaces. She typically shops for tops and other items so that she can stand out at her high school.
“[At] HP they kind of just wear the leggings and the t-shirt,” Deweese said. “I’m not really about that.”
Online, the store invites its customers to message and share with it the styles they are looking for.
“We like to know that, you know, because when we go to market and start searching for new labels we can look for certain designers that kind of mimic that aesthetic,” Fletcher said.
The store also partners with popular Dallas-based blogs like “The Cake by Hannah” and “A Double Dose” so they can share the clothes through their own social media platforms. Bloggers borrow clothes from the store to shoot for new posts and tell the readers about each item.
“It can be helping on both ends,” Williams said.