The Vintage Boutique is a project of hope and of a simpler time in life. I get great comfort in
knowing that my customers realize that the boutique is not only a retail store but a piece of
history and a place to honor and give respect to our ancestors. We also honor the people who
made it possible for two young, country-black females of modest means to be able to give back to
the community and provide a service for which they can be proud. The Old Town shopping
experience holds a special place in my heart and mind.
The downtown shopping experience was our version of a girl’s day out. Each Saturday,
my mom would go to the beauty salon on Union Street. While my mother was in the beauty salon
my sister, cousins, and I would peruse the streets in downtown Danville.
We would shop in the stores that were on Main Street mostly, but
there were restaurants on Union and Spring Street that catered to black customers. To this day I
can still see the stores that aligned the area of downtown Danville, during the 60s and 70s. The
boutique has some artifacts from this time. We have shoes, purses, hats, and hat boxes from stores
that have long been closed, but the memories are still alive in The Vintage Boutique, LLC.
With the Caesar casino and other economic endeavors coming to the Danville area, we can only
hope that The Vintage Boutique, LLC will benefit. This is an exciting time This creative process
of writing and describing my passion for shopping that I turned into a business has afforded me
the opportunity to meet other business owners in the community. I appreciate and value the
knowledge that I have gained from them. I participated in a business boot camp with the River
District Association which gave me multiple tools and networking opportunities to promote the
boutique. As I write this paper, we are celebrating our ten-year anniversary. Sustaining a
business in the 21st century is exciting and scary at the same time. The boutique has had its share
of challenges as well as successes. We have been able to continue to do business even though
many businesses were not able to continue after the pandemic. We were blessed to move to a
larger space and to be funded with a grant. As stated in the beginning quoting Coco Chanel”
Dream Big”. This has been my motto and mantra for the boutique. I would like to leave a legacy
for the generations that follow. The boutique is a way to preserve local and national history in
fashion and to help save the planet simultaneously.
Through global media and technology, women are beginning to see more of the world and how
women around the world celebrate beauty. The American style of beauty is rooted in racism and
sexism. The magazine covers have promoted a white supermodel standard for the past forty
years and just recently started to notice women of color and their contributions to the beauty and
fashion world. Black women and women of color have been instrumental in forming fashion
trends from the very beginning. Women of all colors have unique ways of wearing fabrics and
adorning themselves with accessories to complement their clothing. Women of all nationalities
enjoy fashion and beauty. My study of cultures and servicing the customers of the boutique have
allowed me to see fashion through the eyes of various communities. The vision for the boutique
is to inspire all women and men who love fashion and vintage clothing.
In conclusion, this paper was a way to honor my ancestors by keeping their dreams and
accomplishments alive. The resale business is a lucrative business and at the same time a
sustainable one. My vision is to continue to provide the citizens of Danville and surrounding
areas a place of comfort where they can find good, quality, vintage clothing at reasonable,
market prices.