Story by Molly Weybright
Photos and video by Alexandra Hehlen
Timeline by Alma Washington
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Stepping through paned glass doors into Capitol Boutique is like stepping into a shop in Paris—an apex of fashion. The boutique has a small courtyard in the center from which natural light pours into the store, enhancing the vibrant colors of the clothes hanging on racks running along the walls. You can imagine Audrey Hepburn running a manicured hand through the delicate fabrics, searching for the perfect dress.
None of that is accidental.
Owner Laura Vinroot Poole has gone to every length to create her unique boutique. She even decorated the store with furniture from her home so that it would feel comfortable and inviting to her customers.
Poole uses every tool at her disposal to make sure that Capitol is the antithesis of sterile, stark and daunting luxury stores, one of the many ways she is able to bring in business at a time when brick-and-mortar stores are struggling to stay open.
Steve Dennis, an expert consultant on innovation and growth strategy for retail, said that physical retail may not be going away, but digital retail platforms are forcing many brick-and-mortar stores to adapt or go extinct.
Earlier this year, CNN Money cited a Credit Suisse report that predicted 8,600 brick-and-mortar stores to close in 2017. The report stated that last year 2,056 stores closed. During the recession of 2008, the worst year on record, 6,163 stores closed.
“[Brick-and-mortar stores] should emphasize what makes them remarkable rather than focus on the lowest common denominator,” Dennis said. “You can’t out Amazon Amazon.”
Poole agreed.
“The people that are not doing well are the people that are not changing and that are not thinking every day ‘how can we do this better, how can we stay relevant and stay exciting for our clients?’,” she said.
Kaiti St. George, Capitol’s social media and marketing director, said that one of the most remarkable elements of Capitol is the in-store experience offered to customers.
She described it as a “customized personal experience that is tailored to each individual customer.”
Long-time customer Natalie Homesley has been shopping at Capitol since 2004 and said that it’s Capitol’s unique merchandise, and the customer-salesperson relationship that keeps her coming back.
“There’s no one [in Charlotte] at that level,” she said. “There’s no one here that has all those lines and pays attention to detail and customers like they do.”
Poole said that she strives to make Capitol’s inventory, which they call their “edit,” one of a kind by purchasing clothing that you may not find in a typical luxury boutique.
“What occurred to me was you can really buy anything anywhere, and you still can,” she said. “But the value is in the experience, it’s in the customer service, it’s in the space where you can buy it and the escape. But more than that it’s in the edit, and department stores can’t edit the way that we can.”
Poole knows her clientele and understands their city. A native of Charlotte, she appreciates that it is a bustling metropolis nestled in North Carolina. Growing up, she said, Charlotte women traveled to shop for luxury brands because there was nowhere to shop in their city. When Poole returned to Charlotte she decided to create a New York caliber store for the sophisticated Charlottean.
“We don’t try to be New Yorkers, we don’t try to be Texans,” she said. “We try to do things that are completely relevant to Charlotteans.”
Whitley Adkins Hamlin, wardrobe stylist, personal shopper and author of the Queen City Style blog, has been coming to Capitol since its inception—almost 20 years.
She has seen the evolution of Capitol first-hand, noting that in the digital age Poole and her employees have taken steps to stay relevant, and they’re working.
By increasing its presence on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, Capitol has been able to stay relevant in the Charlotte fashion scene, Hamlin said. By posting on social media, Capitol updates its customers in real time about new merchandise.
“I think it’s smart for them,” Hamlin said, “this high-end retail company, to respond by doing what consumers are buying into right now.”
Hamlin’s relationship with Capitol is as a personal shopper for clients. This gives her a different perspective than the average shopper, a perspective that helps her see some minor limitations of the in-store experience.
“I do have friends and clients who have expressed intimidation in shopping at Capitol,” she said. But, like attending a party alone versus with a friend, she said, when she goes to the store with her clients, the store feels more inviting.
“You get in there and you realize that we are all the same,” she said.
St. George said that while they hope it doesn’t occur often, intimidation is natural with stores that carry high-end products.
“We make sure our sales associates warmly greet each customer as if they were entering his or her own home,” she said. “Capitol’s genuineness, kindness and simple Southern hospitality offsets any intimidation quite quickly.”
And that Southern hospitality is reflected in every element of Poole and her business, including the ideal that Southerners are friendly and want to help each other. So when Poole found success with her business, she decided to help other brick-and-mortar boutiques flourish in the way that Capitol has, and House Account was born.
Sarah Walker, the director of partnerships at House Account, describes it as a web-based team that provides online sales and marketing techniques to start-up brick-and-mortar boutiques.
Walker describes the House Account experience as focused and hands on. It helps start-up businesses discover what makes them remarkable in a time when only the most remarkable brick-and-mortars are successful.
“It’s a volatile time for the retail industry,” Walker said. “But at the same time it’s a very exciting time because it’s making people become more innovative.”
Poole echoed that statement, adding that her advice for aspiring boutique owners is to keep an open mind and stay creative.
“If you’re innovative and you’re smart and you’re willing to try anything and learn and be curious, you’re going to be fine,” she said.
And when you walk into Capitol Boutique and are greeted by a friendly salesperson and clothing so beautiful it looks like art, you understand that Poole knows what she’s talking about.
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