C'ville Entremom

I first stumbled upon novel. about two years ago when they were in their downtown location.  I had received a set of monogrammed Tervis Tumblers as a Holiday gift from my sister.  When my in-law’s birthdays came around half a year later, I knew they would love a set too!  I set out to find them.. gulp…  on-line, but found the shipping to be quite outrageous!  My big box brain (Yes, I used to be a department store buyer) made me believe that I’d never find a good price locally.  So, how cool is it that I stumbled upon novel. and found their prices to be less expensive that what I found online?  Score!!!

novel. is a gift boutique located in the North Wing of Barracks Road Shopping Center.  novel. mixes elements of classic preppiness with luxe bohemian.  At novel., you will find something for every stylish woman on your gift list…  jewels, bags, bath, candles, frames, books, wearables and paper along with a special order personalized gift department and a baby section (aptly named “short story”).  novel. also prints custom invitations and stationary because “if every gift should have a story, then every invitation should be a masterpiece.”

novel. is the brainchild of Kate Bloxsom, a retailer at heart.  Kate always knew that she wanted to own a store and even wrote her first business plan in college.  After a brief stint on Capitol Hill, Kate worked for Anthropologie in Washington, DC.  She later moved to Atlanta where she worked for a family-owned store.  When she moved to Charlottesville, she found the void she was looking for and filled it!  Charlottesville was the perfect place to open a shop with everything that Kate and her friends always seemed to need for shower, birthday, wedding, baby or “just because” gifts…  a selection of things you can’t find anywhere else around town.  Kate utilizes both the large store operational concepts and small town boutique principles to run her business.

So how does Kate provide us with fabulous gifts and raise her 1 year old, Beau (plus baby #2 due in December)??  Kate says, “It was a lot easier before my little one was mobile.”  (Amen to that!!)  Kate states that she can do a lot of things (buying, accounting, marketing, etc.) from her home during naps and after bedtime.  She tries to be in the store at least 2 mornings a week.  She has great babysitters that help her make this happen, but there is a lot of coming and going with baby in tow as well.  She also has a great team of women that work at novel. and keep everything running smoothly.

Kate believes that marketing is key to the success of her boutique.  She has used TV, print and email marketing campaigns at some point, but finds word of mouth to be her best form of advertising.  Her best advertisement is a customer who LOVES the store and goes out to tell all of her friends about it.  Sometimes the perfect shower gift evokes “ooohhs and aaahhs” and the best questions that can get asked is, “WHERE did you get that?”

If you would like to learn more about novel., visit the store at Barracks Road North Wing or visit novel. online (www.novelboutique.com).

PS.  Keep an eye out… Kate hopes to write her own novel. someday!

A Side Note From Entremom:  C’Ville Entremom is Marijean Jaggers’ (www.stlworkingmom.com) Blog of the Week!  Look for our feature tonight on WCAV CBS-19 News around 6:40!  We were also featured on Suzy Said this week in the Mom to Mom Section!  I’m so excited for all the press!  Thank you all for making the blog so successful!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 5:21 am and is filed under Local Boutiques, Retail. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.