Laurie Roe and Lori Peffer
From the home state of one of Hollywood's favorite petite women, Reese Witherspoon, is the new petite shop,
Petite Boutique. This store, located in Franklin, a suburb of Nashville, was started by 5'3" Laurie Roe and her business partner, Lori Peffer last year. Brands they carry include
Skirtin’ Around, bentley a., as well as Canadian brands such as
Taylor Brooke, Ingenuity, French Dressing Jeans and
Lana Lee.
Paige Premium Denim has recently arrived. According to Laurie, the majority of Petite Boutique’s clothes are cut for petite sized women and the rest are “cut narrow” which work well with women who are not super-petite (i.e. 5’2” and up). According to Laurie, approximately 50 independent petite stores shopped the Atlanta apparel market in the 80s and early 90s. “Today we know of only about 5 petite stores shopping our market, and even fewer beyond the southeast region of the US,” Laurie said. The ladies want to make a difference, to put petites back on the map. Laurie believes that “when enough people get the attention of the right people, a difference can be made. In other words, it does very little good to tell the woman behind the counter at the petite department in your local department store that there aren't enough petites. A buyer or a store owner needs to talk with manufacturing presidents and other decision makers to get their attention about the statistics of petites.” Of course, when petite clothes are brought into stores, petite women need to buy them! Otherwise, one loses the right to complain about the lack of sizes. Laurie also told me that she and Lori are “beyond picky” about their buying because not all sales reps truly understand the meaning of “petite.”
Front of store, inside
Petite Boutique’s clientele range from age 11 to 93 and the store carries a “regular” range of sizes, from 0 to 18. Of course, different age groups have a tendency to buy different products. “The true sweet spot is 40-45 year old executive women and executive wives, though we have many 30-somethings that shop with us and younger, as well as many 50-somethings.We have done exceptionally well with dresses and our younger market, whereas our suiting and certain pants are better sellers with slightly older.” Laurie told me in an e-mail. When asked about petite celebrities, Laurie told me that she doesn’t think that petite celebs aren’t vocal. “Kristin Chenoweth is very vocal about her size and I believe Rachel Ray is too.” Of course, celebrities often have their clothes made to fit them, so they don’t have the need to complain!
Some of the pretty dresses sold at Petite BoutiqueLocal media have been quite good to Petite Boutique. Laurie and Lori’s store have appeared in the
Tenneseean and the
Nashville Business Journal. Many clients have appeared as models for them. The ladies have also been featured on local television, Talk of the Town and Midday at Noon. Who knows, maybe national media would come calling. Maybe we’ll see Laurie and Lori on Oprah or The View some day!
I’d really like to see more people open up stores like Petite Boutique. Petites, especially petite sizes catering to all ages, are truly an under-represented market.
To read more about Laurie and her business, check out her
blog!!!
Laurie Roe and Lori Peffer
Some of the pretty dresses sold at Petite Boutique
