A new boutique featuring stylish women’s retail clothing and accessories at non-boutique prices has just opened in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Mainstream Boutique, a franchise boutique founded 25 years ago in Minnesota with store locations that now span the Midwest and Eastern states, markets themselves as a multi-generational fashion boutique that sells on-trend apparel.
“This has just been a dream of mine to own a clothing boutique,” said Ponte Vedra store owner Carla Miles. “I’ve been chasing my husband’s career all these years. We knew once we got to Florida, he would not be transferred anymore, so I could finally fulfill my dream of opening a store,” she said.
Miles and her husband, Kurt Miles, moved to the area in January 2015. The couple resides in St. Johns.
This is the second Mainstream Boutique location to open in Florida. The other store is located in Tampa. Mainstream Boutique has been ranked in the “Inc. 5000” and “Franchise 500” as one of the fastest growing companies in 2015.
Miles was already a fan of Mainstream Boutique prior to researching franchises and deciding on this particular company. Some of her favorite clothing lines include Papillon, Parsley and Sage, Clara Sun Woo, and the boutique’s exclusive line, Mac and Me.
The store’s inventory includes everything from that little black dress to flowing tops, jeans, ankle pants and harder-to-find items such as tank dresses, extenders and leggings. Nothing in the store is dry clean only, Miles points out, and all of the clothing is machine or hand washable and easy to manage.
“I’ve had a couple of ladies that were going on vacation and what they particularly liked was that everything was packable,” Miles said. “You could just roll it and they wouldn’t have to iron it when they got there.”
Another facet of the franchise gives store owners the freedom to create fun and personalized shopping experiences for their customers. Groups of eight or more can also enjoy a private shopping experience: Whether it’s a group of women from a local business or a group of family and friends, Miles will close the store for the shoppers from noon to 1 p.m. and provide lunch for the exclusive shopping experience.
In addition, Miles is looking to partner with local businesses such as yoga, beauty or health-minded businesses for Thursday evening special shopping experiences, where customers can learn about a particular product or company or even take a yoga class right in the store. Thursday night events will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. and will be promoted on the boutique’s Facebook page.
Mainstream Boutique is located at 880 A1A N., Suite 4, next to the Beach Diner. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call (904) 834-7708.
