adjusts a clothing display.
Company: clementine
Owner: Annie Atherton
Type of store: Retail
clothing and
accessories store
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Year founded: 2002
Annual revenues: NA
Think Blondie’s Debbie Harry meets Audrey Hepburn. Eighties rock meets sixties mod. Vintage classics meet latest high fashion.
Providence resident and New Jersey native Annie Atherton has turned her infatuation with pop culture and fashion, and her habit of spending $100 each month on the latest American and British haute couture magazines, into clementine, a clothing and accessories store for – as she says – “ladies who rock!”
“It’s classic with a twist; new with vintage,” said Atherton. “You might not always want to wear the same look head to toe.” And that’s where clementine has found its niche.
Atherton, a former photo editor and marketing consultant, decided to open her store as an extension of her love for art, music and fashion after becoming acquainted with the business world while working as a marketing consultant for the George P. Johnson firm, on IBM’s international marketing account.
“I wanted to expand on my business experience,” she said. The combination of her business experience and selling what she knows best seemed like the natural entrepreneurial venture.
“I got really excited about creating a brand,” she said, using designer Kate Spade as an example. “When you think of Kate Spade, you immediately associate that with a brand” of handbags and other accessories. “That’s what I want to do with clementine.”
The store is a forum for Atherton’s creativity, she said. After the New Year, the 35-year-old will introduce her own clothing line, starting with a collection of “retro, crew neck” sweaters she’s designed exclusively for clementine.
The following spring, she said she hopes to introduce her limited spring line, which will include skirts, shift dresses and monogrammed T-shirts. The self-made designer is also working on three handbag prototypes. Atherton has enlisted a Fall River mill to create her fashions, making her clothing line a local original.
Nestled between Victorian homes and business offices and other small Providence stores at 211 Broadway, clementine and its owner seem to have found a gem on the West side of the city. And according to Atherton, the neighborhood has gladly welcomed the colorful store.
“This side of Providence is undergoing lots of changes. There are lots of kids, artists and musicians moving here and new stores are coming in,” she said. “There’s no reason for Broadway not to become another Wickenden (Street, Providence). People in the neighborhood are very excited.”
In clementine, with its hammered tin-covered walls and ceilings, original hardwood floors and open floor plan, customers can easily find what they’re looking for, whether it’s the new line of argyle or leather skirts, or a vintage coat or 1970s shirt. Atherton said she has designed the layout of the store with space in mind.
“I wanted to keep things uncluttered; that way you can really look at what we have here,” she said. “I tried to create an environment where the customers feel comfortable.”
Atherton spends many of her mornings sifting through clothing at flea markets and bargain stores in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut in order to find her one-of-a-kind vintage items. Some of them include a rabbit fur bomber jacket from the 1980s, button down shirts reminiscent of the days of disco, cardigans from the 1960s and even a fur trench coat, complete with the original label and monogram from a previous owner.
“It’s not that easy to find something in good condition,” she said. “It’s a labor of love. You have to have a vision of an item, and say it might look great with this pair of shoes” or other accessory.
clementine, whose name she identifies with Winston Churchill’s wife and Atherton’s favorite French cartoon does accept consignment items, but they must be in great condition and of a style that complements the store’s fashions. A number of the older ladies in the neighborhood have already contributed some of their coats and clothing to the store, Atherton said.
“I want the community to feel like a part of clementine,” she said.
In addition to the vintage items Atherton gathers, clementine has a number of different designers, including o1o, Liquid, Maurice Malone, min.imal and Suva. Atherton has also enlisted two local designers, Ernestine Emphatica by Marcella Kroll and a line of embellished T-shirts by Nina Cinelli.
Atherton said she has chosen lesser-known designers for her collection, which makes finding them anywhere else in Rhode Island an oddity. And that also applies to her accessory and body products collection, which includes Demeter fragrances in scents like ‘thunderstorm,’ ‘grass’ and ‘birthday cake,’ Mason Pearson hairbrushes ordered directly from the United Kingdom, soy wax candles by er-go, and a line of Weleda hair care and skin care products.
“I’m a shopper so I know what I look for in a store,” Atherton said.
Through the process of opening her store and being a first-time business owner, Atherton said she has enjoyed working with the press and brainstorming on ideas to market clementine to the area.
“The idea of starting a business and working on the business plan and competitive analysis taught me to think like an entrepreneur,” she said. Since the store’s opening in October, Atherton said she’s found that the most frustrating thing about owning a business is dealing with the vendors and coming to terms with the ultimate lack of control she sometimes has over when and how things arrive.
“Styles are discontinued, colors don’t come in, and you have to be flexible,” she said. “I tend to think of myself as a kind of control freak, but sometimes you just have to let go of some of the control.”
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