Dear Lily: A five-year retail plan cut to six months
In a clothing world more and more dominated by national and international chain stores, Invercargill woman Ashlee Whipps has taken a bold leap to pave her own path.
Invercargill’s inner-city retail scene is continuing to undergo its biggest transformation in decades.
Nestled in the middle of all of that is a story with a whole heap of determination attached to it.
In a clothing world that’s more and more dominated by national and international chain stores, there’s an Invercargill woman who has taken a bold leap and is paving her own path.
Invercargill’s Ashlee Whipps has always had a love of fashion.
Whipps was a self-employed make-up artist with a five-year plan to one day open her own clothing store in Invercargill.
That changed last year when she got word that Glassons was moving out of its space in Esk St and would instead head into the new Invercargill Central development.
In Whipps’ mind, that former Glassons site was the perfect fit for her retail dream.
The five-year plan was quickly ripped up and replaced by a six-month plan.
In October last year - despite never previously working in retail - Whipps took over the building lease in preparation to open her new upmarket women’s and children’s clothing store called Dear Lily.
The Dear Lily name was inspired by her two-year-old daughter, Lily, and that just might have been one of the easier tasks she had while getting the new store open.
From taking on the lease to opening to the public in November, Whipps had a month. That’s where that determined tag comes into play.
“[It was] two weeks’ spent painting. I did it all myself,” she said.
“Before we opened, I had a month, I spent a solid two weeks painting the ceilings, painting the walls, scrubbing the floors. And the other two weeks I spent setting up.
“Whilst having a baby, and I’ve got a seven-year-old as well, it was hectic. And my partner also broke his leg as soon as I took the lease over.”
Whipps says it’s been a learning curve since throwing herself into the store-owning deep end, but it’s been worth it.
She is thrilled with how the store has come up.
“It’s a big space to fill but I really wanted an experience and an atmosphere. I didn’t want a store that was crowded and cluttered and that you couldn’t push a pram in.
“This space is perfect. And everyone knows it as the Glassons store.
“We often get people in and then they realise it’s the Glassons building and it’s very nostalgic for them.”
Whipps isn’t naive to the challenges attached to starting an independent store at a time when online shopping was prevalent, and New Zealanders were feeling the financial pinch.
The planned closure of the historic H&J Smith department store was “a massive wake-up call” and hammered home those challenges for Whipps.
Although she is confident there is a gap in Invercargill’s market that Dear Lily can help to fill.
Dear Lily is an upmarket women’s and children’s clothing store.
“The stuff we sell is quality over quantity and people are slowly starting to edge towards that.
“You can have a piece for four years as opposed to something that is half the price but half the quality.
“That was the other factor in opening this as well. When I was younger, I definitely shopped fast fashion.
“But when I got older, I realised it was better to put my money towards pieces I could actually have for years.”
“There was a gap in the market, each brand that we’ve got stocked, none of it was stocked in Invercargill, especially for that age bracket from maybe mid-20s to mid-40s, so I just wanted to try to fill that.
“I knew that Invercargill needed something different, but I knew it was going to be a big job.”
Six months in Whipps feels she has finally “got there” with the new store and that had been helped through plenty of support from the people around her.
“I think I was so busy leading up to it I didn’t have a lot of time to think about it. And after Christmas, once things slowed down a bit, it was; ‘holy crap, I’m doing it’.”
Whipps wants to see Invercargill’s transformed inner-city retail area thriving. She wants to see more people enjoying it.
Although she acknowledged there had been the odd week where online sales have been better than in-store sales.
The hope is that won’t be the norm as more people start to realise what’s on offer in the heart of Invercargill.
“It will be nice to see some other new stores and some locally owned stores, to fill up those other spaces [in Esk St].”
The opening of Dear Lily ha been one of many changes in and around Esk St of late.
Surf, skate, and streetwear chain Backdoor has moved to the former Hallensteins building on the corner of Dee St and Esk St.
Giftware chain Acquisitions was setting up in the former Pagani store building. Retailer Cozy Nook, which operates in Leven St, has decided to open a second store in the old Cotton On store on Esk St.