Company name: Dorothy Williams
Principals: Bob and Claudia Mills
Number of employees: 10
Type of business: Women’s clothing, dresses outerwear
Location: 200 Wayland Ave., Wayland Square in Providence
Year founded : 1942
Annual revenues : WND
In this, the summer of Providence Place, Bob and Claudia Mills are digging in deep at nearby Wayland Square.
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Affectionately known as Bob and Claudia Williams to their customers (Bob explains that his folks, Dorothy and William started the store), the husband and wife team are breaking new ground at an old and very successful Providence retailer.
Dorothy Williams is getting a modern look – with a completely new, windowed storefront and further renovations to the 3,400-square-foot space inside. And it will be completed, said Bob, before the construction crews clear out of Providence Place. But Providence Place, Bob insists, has very little to do with the changes at Dorothy Williams. ”It was time for us to do this,” Bob said. “The exterior had not been touched in years.”
Changing with the times has been the key ingredient to the success of Dorothy Williams.
“When you are in the fashion business for more than 50 years, you learn to change with the times or you do not survive,” Bob said.
In the early days, back in the 1940s and ’50s, Dorothy Williams catered to a customer base dominated by older women who did not work. It was not necessarily a formula for long-term success.
“We realized that to continue to grow, we had to bring in a young age group,” Bob said.
Enter the sweaters.
“Back in the 1980s we were all dresses, suits and coats,” Bob said. “We took a flyer on sweaters”
“and it just kept growing,” adds Claudia.
They do that a lot: finish each other’s sentences. Claudia is a former elementary school teacher. Bob practiced law in the mid 1970s. They have been married 26 years and have two daughters. Claudia is a risk-taker, more daring. She reads the popular magazines, studies trends. Bob is much more conservative.
Those differences were never so apparent as several years ago, when Bob surveyed the latest offerings from Nicole Miller, a popular clothing manufacturer. The garments were shapely, sexy even. Bob was unimpressed.
“I figured there was no way they would sell at our store,” he said.
Claudia was intrigued. The sweaters had worked. First a few in stock. Then more. Why not give this line a try?
Now Nicole Miller is a big seller.
“It has changed so much in just the past five years,” said Claudia. “We have pulled in the prom girls and the 30-year-olds.”
What has chang-ed has been the approach to customer service. As Bob likes to say, even new customers are “only new for a short period of time.”
Bob and Claudia know their customers. They know when there has been a birth – or a wedding in the family. They know where customers live and work. And most of all, they know what they like to wear.
“We don’t waste time showing them merchandise they don’t want,” Bob said.
Bob’s favorite anecdote is of the customer who came in recently and said she had been in New York, and then Boston, but never found the dress she was looking for – until she came down the street to Dorothy Williams.
“I’m very proud of our inventory,” said Bob.
Claudia sees her customers as friends, and just last week enjoyed a day of golf with two of them.
“That’s where I know them from – the store,” she said.
Outside on the sidewalk on a warm Friday morning, Bob chats with a construction worker preparing to pour concrete. It’s been hot, but the renovations remain on schedule. Dorothy Williams has long had an odd shape inside, and the renovations will change that. From the outside, passers-by will get a better look inside.
“We’re unifying the look of the store,” said Bob. “The trend is to have more open windows.”
A mile or so away, the finishing touches are being put on Providence Place. Bob and Claudia are excited about the new restaurants and the IMAX theater. As for competition, they seem genuinely unconcerned.
“From what I am hearing and reading, I’m not sure it’s going to be all that upscale,” Bob said. “Other than Nordstrom”
“what else is different,” Claudia finishes.
At quaint Wayland Square, a new Starbucks is going up and there are plans to improve parking and traffic flow. Other business owners, if not renovating, are sprucing up. There is no sense of intimidation, in the shadow of Providence Place. Not at Dorothy Williams.
“Every day our customer base just keeps growing,” said Claudia.
