Always in Style with Greater Burlington's Fashion Divas

By Margaret Michniewicz

They've seen fashions come and go through the last three decades - from Frye Boots to linebacker-sized shoulder pads; palazzo pants to leggings; chartreuse tunic sweaters to Calder-esque earrings so big they tangle in your seatbelt. They've waited on celebrities from Ginger Rogers to Rose Kennedy to a former Vermont governor shopping for her wedding day. They've had to adapt to fluctuations in their local market and cope with clothing manufacturers' belt-tightening measures.

They are the "Fashion Divas" of the greater Burlington, Vermont area.

Sportstyle's Peggy Eastman, Marilyn Gaul of Marilyn's, and Expressions' Lorre Tucker have each owned successful women's apparel stores for 20-plus years, no small accomplishment when 80 percent of clothing retail stores will fail within their first five years, according to industry analysts. Looming over them is the Goliath of national corporate chains with seemingly endless resources, but each of these veteran entrepreneurs has established her niche and, to paraphrase Woolf, fabricated a "dressing room of her own" - enabling the rest of us to go in style.

Early Burlington Retail Scene

Lorre Tucker arrived in Burlington fresh from New York's Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), with nearly a year in a high-end Manhattan boutique under her belt. Ready for a change from the Big Apple, she didn't count on the dearth of job opportunities here for women at the time. "You'd open the newspaper and it'd be Dunkin' Donuts or you could be a maid or a babysitter," Tucker recalls. But just as surprising to Tucker was the "fabulous retail scene" she found, impressive especially given Burlington's relatively small size, and led then by two stores in particular, The Mayfair and Magrams Department Store.

"Magrams at that time was by far one of the most beautiful stores I have ever seen - it was just fabulous," Tucker recalls. They had a few really good buyers, Tucker learned, and found that the owner and his two sons had the turf covered at Mayfair. She describes being "crushed" when the only offer from her job search was a sales position on the floor, a position she grudgingly accepted at J.C. Penney, where Peggy Eastman was also working, as a manager. While Eastman is effusive about her tenure at Penney's, Tucker decidedly didn't like the hierarchy of corporate department stores (having experienced it earlier at Lord & Taylor) and preferred being more involved in multiple aspects of a store, experience she had garnered while working at a shop as a teenager in Shaker Heights, Ohio where she grew up.

Tucker smiles, "I was young, and just thought I was terrific" recalling her bewilderment at not being offered a more glamorous role befitting an FIT grad. She soon moved to a new venture on lower Church Street called The Company Store, one of the first boutiques in the area. "The early 70s was really [the advent] of boutiques here. There were department stores, national chains, and then a few mom & pops. Boutiques were a much more eclectic view of merchandising," she explains.

Dressing in her Manhattan finest to meet the store's owner, she found him selling items such as Frye Boots and leather goods, and the first in town carrying Levi jeans. "He kind of looked at me because I was dressed well and asked, 'what are you doing here?'"

It was now that the fun began, as Tucker describes it. Over the next few years she worked between the half a dozen stores that he subsequently opened in Rutland, Stowe, and Saratoga and New Rochelle, New York. "What an education! That was my cup of tea, learning by doing," Tucker recalls. He moved too fast, however, and soon went out of business, opening a new store before the previous one was on its feet. So again, Tucker found herself unmoored for nearly a year until it occurred to her to open her own store.

Tucker opened Expressions in 1979, in the Hotel Vermont building at Main and St. Paul. Among the other businesses in the 'hood at the time were the Bagel Bakery and a little further up St. Paul Street, a couple of fellows named Jerry and Ben scooping ice cream. "We were all these 20- and 30-somethings opening our [new and different] businesses," Tucker says, comparing their upstart energy to the more staid, established character of the Burlington Business Association, for example. "We were all kind of new entrepreneurs - that was really a fun time - 'We don't know what we're doing! But okay, we're just going to do this!' Kind of the baby boomers bucking the system," she smiles in recollection.

Unfortunately for Tucker, however, it wasn't long after Expressions opened that she heard the Hotel Vermont building would be taken over by the bank. Tucker credits prominent Burlington businessman John Dwight, who had an office in the same building, for giving her clarity. "He asked me, 'Lorre, where do you want to be? Where do you think your business will do best?' Such a logical thing to say! In all my turmoil I didn't think [clearly]." She knew she wanted to be on Church Street, but, as she bemoaned to Dwight, there were hardly ever any vacancies. His reply? "Well, go find one!"

So Tucker scoured Church Street, and zeroed in on a "wonderful but archaic" music store that sold sheet music, and the Hager Hardware Store. Hager had an adjacent storefront space in which they sold small appliances. Judging from the dust on them, Tucker decided they hadn't moved an appliance in over eight months.

She called the owners of both stores: "I said, 'If you ever think of moving please call me' - and within three or four days I got a call from Hager, who said they didn't really need that extra space. He called his landlord, Antonio Pomerleau, and within a really short amount of time I had the space and was moved in. It was 1983. The business really took off once we moved here."

Business Expansion

Meanwhile, Tucker's former colleague at J.C. Penney, Peggy Eastman, had taken a sojourn from her retail career to her raise two children. Originally from the Syracuse, New York area, Eastman and her husband had settled here in 1971 following her graduation from Syracuse University with a degree in fashion merchandising. She was hired as manager of JC Penney's women's department, and worked there for several years.

"When I had my first child I took the three-month leave that they gave you then - with no pay of course. It was a big deal that they were holding open a manager's job for me at the time - they hadn't done that before," Eastman says. "Actually, I was their first person who worked through the whole pregnancy. It was that different in 1975 than it is now, where you see pregnant people [working] everywhere; back in 1974 and '75 you didn't."

Eastman returned to work but much to her surprise found herself pregnant again within three months. "I worked up until [my second child] was born," she says, and then left Penney's for good, staying at home to raise her two children until the youngest was in first grade.

"I started looking around for a job but there wasn't really anything available that interested me at the time - and really I wanted to have my own store," Eastman recalls. It was 1983 and a commercial property was being developed called the Jelly Mill Common (what is now the Teddy Bear Common in Shelburne).

"A close friend of mine at the time and I decided that we'd open a store together. And so when the Jelly Mill first opened in 1984, I was there," Eastman recalls - as was Marilyn Gaul who, Eastman notes, opened her store, Marilyn's, on the very same day as Eastman's Sportstyle.

"It was a beautiful project physically - I loved the concept architecturally," Gaul remarks. "It had great diversity - a lot of open space. It wasn't a strip [mall], it was a horseshoe and it was lovely."

Within the first ten months, Eastman bought out her partner. Initially, the pair couldn't agree on the store's name. "Right there was an indication that, um, maybe that partnership wouldn't work out so well," Eastman laughs ruefully. "When people come to me about opening their own business or store… I always say 'Don't do it with a friend. Do it yourself, or do it with a stranger who has totally different skills than you do.'" "It was much better on my own," Eastman continues. "I'm more dug in and stubborn so I'm much better off alone not having a partner. I think partners aren't good - for me."

Over the next five years Eastman's store flourished - as did Marilyn's - but the rest of the Jelly Mill Common was floundering, and in 1989 Eastman was drawn to another business development project - the Lakewood Commons complex in South Burlington. Together with her husband, Eastman had the building built which has housed Sportstyle since. She now had nearly 9,000 square feet of space available to her, a massive expansion from her 2,400 square feet at Jelly Mill Common. Along with an increase in physical space, Eastman expanded her merchandise offerings to include more upscale women's daytime and evening wear, not just sportswear.

As owner of the building with her husband, Eastman has experimented through the years with the upper level of the store. For approximately two years, she rented out half of the upstairs to a woman who had a dress shop; the other half was Eastman's men's clothing store, the Upper Deck. "It didn't even last a year," Eastman says in typically cheerful tone, explaining that men seemed daunted at the idea of having to go through the "ladies" store. Eventually, Eastman devoted the entire second floor to Sportstyle only, with a major component being her vast bathing suit selection, an offering that has contributed significantly to the store's success ever since.

Common Experience

Gaul, like Eastman, chose to leave the Jelly Mill Common upon expiration of her five-year lease, and found the space she's in today, at 115 College Street in Burlington. "I had thought about Church Street," she explains, "but I opted to be a little bit off the beaten path, which seems to be my life - a little bit diagonal," she laughs.

Indeed, Gaul started her career path in 1969 working as a medical assistant - unlike Tucker and Eastman, she had never intended to go into fashion. She settled in the Middlebury area in the late '70s with the intention of being a childbirth educator teaching Lamaze classes to supplement her work as a medical assistant. With no current openings close by as a medical assistant, however, she took a job in a little jewelry shop, the Rainbow Room - which she eventually bought.

"It didn't feel like work because I loved what I was doing," says Gaul who started running the store when the owner went back to school and bought the business in 1978 when he moved out west. "He took me to New York City and introduced me to a lot of the vendors in the jewelry district, and to the major jewelry and gift trade shows," Gaul recalls. "It was a time of major growth in the economy, so I couldn't buy and sell stuff fast enough. I could barely keep up with the business: it was growing and growing."

Learning of her through mutual sales reps, Manchester's Clint Lewis proposed that Gaul open a women's clothing and jewelry boutique in his new Jelly Mill Common project. "I was at a point in my life where, at the [Rainbow Room], I was ready to go to the next level," Gaul explains. "Personally, I had reached a good point, I had seen it, done it - people loved it - now, where else can I go? Let's expand!" For approximately 15 years she owned both the Rainbow Room and Marilyn's (in 1999 she sold the Middlebury shop to the woman who had been manager, it continues today).

Despite her successful niche in Shelburne, Gaul relocated Marilyn's in 1989. It took a couple of months to renovate the space, which formerly housed a restaurant bar. "The ceiling tiles were all dark green, it smelled of stale beer, it had been [abandoned for some time]," she recalls. But she immediately loved the space, and speaks with pride about the historic block she has settled in. "I love the old brick walls - I like that feeling of somebody's hands having been here," she says, running her own hand along the surface.

Industry Challenges

When Tucker opened Expressions, she says, "there was nothing else other than Church Street really - but by the time two years had passed, the University Mall, the Champlain Mill, and the Underground Mall had all opened [in the Burlington area], and Church Street had been closed off to traffic."

But a more formidable change Tucker and other local store owners had to contend with was the arrival of the national women's clothing retailer The Limited.

"I remember walking in - I was like 'What?!' They were selling items that I had in my store for less than what I had bought them for. And I looked at my husband and I remember asking how can I compete with this?! It was quite an eye-opener. It gave us little guys a run for our money," Tucker recalls.

Similarly, Eastman describes another major industry change: "in the old days - ten years ago," a store owner could call up a manufacturer and reorder an item if, for example, the six sets of a periwinkle sweater she originally bought had sold out. You didn't have to buy so deep, as Eastman calls it, because you could in essence go back for it. "Now nobody can afford to have backup stock - it's a whole different way of doing business for the manufacturers 'cause they're all on a tight budget also. And so, whereas 10 or 15 years ago if they were making that pant in brown, blue, and gray and if somebody called and said they wanted it in green and turquoise too, they could do it - whereas now they have to buy the fabric a year ahead of time." And because Eastman "likes to get what she wants," she says she doesn't take chances that an item will become unavailable - so she buys "way out" - typically six months in advance. She could take the chance on getting better deals later but, she says, the lines she carries have to be snatched up immediately or you won't get them.

Another consideration always in play for Eastman is her commitment to offer a wide array of sizes. "Sometimes only size 8 and 10 customers may come in, and then for other lines, only size 14 and 16. You never know. Some years everybody [who comes in] is a 6, the next they're all 10s! You just [can't predict]," Eastman explains. And while it would perhaps be more financially secure for her to carry a targeted median size, she feels a sense of responsibility to offer items in sizes up to 16. "In the U.S. the average woman is a [size] 14, so you really have to cover that. So many stores just have little sizes and it's like what are you thinking?!" Eastman exclaims indignantly.

Tucker believes that her success has stemmed from how she's met adversity: "When you get stuck, you need to get some clarity, make the changes, [and] don't be afraid. You need to deal with what is real. As an independent owner, it'd be wonderful to have a big team of six buyers and ten merchandise managers and all those things that department stores and national chains have. I don't have that - but through the years I have had a few people who've given me really good advice to get clear and move forward."

For example, she describes a period when she felt downtown business, and her store, were in a slump. She recalls her fellow entrepreneur from the early days, Ben Cohen, giving her this advice: "'Give them what they want. If they're not buying what you're selling, give them what they want.' And it was another one of those arrows that just hit me - I couldn't even tell you what it was that I shifted, but whatever it was - that comment was enough to [help me fix it].

"If you're going to stay relevant you have to reflect what's going on in the culture - or, you have to have a very [small, specialized] niche - and, I probably have that niche for that woman over 35 who wants something of current fashions but doesn't want to be so trendy that her clothes reflect only this year. Though I like to attract different kinds of people, I can't be for everyone, I've come to learn. I tend to attract women who are pretty diverse in the many things they do. As a small store, you have to really be focused."

Gaul concurs on the importance of finding your niche - but also being prepared to constantly refine it. For example, she used to sell a lot of silver jewelry imported from Indonesia, but when other shops in town started specializing in that and were able to offer it at a lower cost, she says she was happy enough to drop it and move on to something else "a little more unique." The jewelry selection at Marilyn's is among the most extensive in the area, and Gaul has found that it draws a younger clientele than those who shop for clothes at Marilyn's. "I can't imagine just [offering] clothing - because for one thing, you don't always want to get naked in the dressing room!" she laughs. "Jewelry is easy and fun and it fits everyone, and there's so much diversity it gives us a wide opportunity to bejewel someone no matter who they are!"

"I'm still evolving," remarks Eastman. "When I first opened I was very sporty - hence the name Sportstyle - I did a ton of tennis, aerobic wear - that was all new then. Over the years I've definitely gotten better goods - I've upped the ante more or less. But you always have to try and keep moderate things too because you don't want to out-price everyone - that's the hardest part. And to find good value. Good value but stylish!

"As I've aged, the store has aged. Your interests change," explains Eastman, adding, "I think Marilyn and Lorre [would] agree that's happened to their stores, too."

Tucker laughs softly describing the changes in the clientele she serves. "Through the years it has changed because really, when I started in '79, my clientele was more my age [at the time]!" She continues, "I have a manager who's been with me [almost] nine years and is very involved in the business. She's 28, and she keeps [us] fresh. I had been struggling with that a lot because the fashion market is very youth-oriented. When you go to the shows in New York, the energy is clearly focused on the 20-year old [demographic]. The challenge for someone like myself is how to interpret that creative energy into what I buy - to get products that aren't dowdy and tired-looking but at the same time, women over 40 don't want to look like their daughters."

In the more than two decades that each of these shop owners has been in business, they've had to respond to the ebbs and flows of the economy at large and their own sales [figures] in particular. As Gaul noted, the economy was booming at the time she opened the Rainbow Room.

"I've watched the economy fluctuate - it's all cyclical - it's about seven to ten year cycles - you could put a graph to it and [see it]," she explains. "I always refer to it as 'breathing in and breathing out.' The Earth, or America at least, breathes in and we let it go - we tighten up - we get a little stressed. With the presidential election there'll be a big shift - so now people are holding their breath a little. We get fat, and then we get a little lean. So when times get a little tougher, the purse strings are tighter, then I have to make the appropriate action steps, to adjust my inventory and whatever expenses are within my control."

Gaul and Tucker have both observed the positive trickle-down effect of Burlington's continuing growth as a year-round tourist destination. Tucker, who was a Church Street Marketplace commissioner from 1990-96, remarks that the Commission used to worry because no one would come downtown during the summer. Clearly that has changed. "I love seeing how Burlington has evolved, all the work and dedication that's gone into the colleges and the waterfront, Church Street and the renovation of buildings - I love it," says Tucker. Gaul refers to the large numbers of Canadians who moor in the summer at the Burlington Boathouse, and the increase in foot traffic along the College Street corridor that she's benefited from.

Enjoying a prime Church Street location, Tucker has seen a complete reversal in her customer base, though it's a change she isn't wholeheartedly enthusiastic about.

"It has changed, a lot," she says with a rueful laugh. "There was a time when most of my business was local - not just Burlington, but Chittenden County in general. Now, the people who keep us in business are visitors. People come in and say 'you have such a diverse, eclectic selection - we love it, we don't see this kind of stuff [at home].' I remember when [Governor Howard Dean] brought the Governor's Convention here. There were tons of people from different places like Missouri and they'd say 'In my town, we have nothing like this, nothing - we have strip malls and department stores and no local businesses. You guys don't realize how lucky you are.'"

Fashion Sense

In addition to the sage advice each of the "fashion divas" can offer their customers, would-be apparel shop owners could learn a thing or two from them about going into the business.

"Be well-financed," Eastman urges. "That will get you every time." In addition, Eastman recommends getting skills in management, and above all, get retail experience first. "You need to work in a store and I recommend working in different stores - high-end and low-end."

Gaul advises, "You've got to have good financial footing nowadays - I came into this business with very little money and grew it - I think that's harder to do today. You're going to need financial backing up front, and you've got to have a sound business plan. You've got to have a clear vision of what you want to be and you've got to know your market that you're going to enter into. Is the need of the market what you want to give them?"

What's more, will you have the financial resources to do so as a small business? Tucker explains that with some big clothing lines, manufacturers will specify that an opening order is $15,000 and that the store will be expected to buy $10,000 every month. Some will require a prospective store owner to supply a photo of their store before they will be given the go-ahead to carry a line.

Tucker cautions that you've got to be prepared for a lot of hard work. "It's not all glamour," she says. "[Granted], it's like theater and putting on a show - but, as in theater, there's a lot of hard work."

Nothing encapsulates that more than their regular jaunts to New York City on buying expeditions for their stores. They go almost monthly - Eastman admits for her it's now every couple months. "It's exhausting and it's expensive. Everybody thinks it looks like fun because you go to New York! Well you work your butt off in New York," she says, though her eyes sparkle as she describes it further. "It's stimulating and it's good for me because it gets me excited about things." After this many years she knows many of her customers well, such as the one, for example, who really likes blue. "I buy with people in mind, always. When I'm at market I'll think 'ooh, that looks just like so-and-so' or 'she'll really like that!' That's what's nice about a store like [mine], you can get the personal service to help you look your optimum best."

Sometimes, however, the New York trade show trips do hold moments of glamour. Gaul recollects about one in particular. "[The designer] Eileen Fisher started the same year I did. In fact, I went to a show and Eileen was in a tiny little closet of a booth - standing there by herself! And I just said, boy I like her, I like what she's doing, I like her colors. So I started buying her and have been ever since, with the only change being that now we're exclusively carrying her petite size collection."

Are there some years that the Divas just hate the emerging fashions of the season? "They come more often than I'd like!" Eastman chuckles dryly.

"Yeh, there's definitely off cycles," Tucker agrees. She gestures as if going through a clothes rack: "I hate this, I hate this, I hate this…! And so there's a ton of editing that goes on. But there's always a few things that I like; then interpreting my taste to what you're going to like is the next challenge. I can get lost because I'm constantly thinking 'will this person like this, will this person like that?'"

"We see some amazing transformations that go on with women in that fitting room," Gaul adds. "We help give [customers] the courage to perhaps go with the unexpected. We say 'you can do this. You look phenomenal - you are phenomenal, and we just add a little enhancement. Without these [clothes and jewelry] we're still a great woman. And what does this [accessorizing] say about us? It says: 'I'm interested in life, and color and what makes up the earth, and decorating myself' - and it's happened since woman walked the earth."

Margaret Michniewicz is editor of Vermont Woman and can be contacted at editor@vermontwoman.com