A new ladies boutique is set to open its doors in a coastal town.
After being successfully launched online over the past couple of months, Chari Boutique will now open a new shop on Bevan Street East in Lowestoft on Friday, September 25.
While it is a completely new venture for close friends Nicky Frosdick and Hollie Elliston, they admitted that dreams have become reality as they prepare to unveil the new store.
With both having “a passion for fashion”, the friends said: “We have always talked about owning our own clothing shop, so we followed our dream to open Chari Boutique.”
And the name of the new shop is particularly poignant – as Chari is a collaboration of Chay and Richard.
Mrs Frosdick said: “Hollie’s son Chay Elliston was just five-weeks-old in 2016 when he passed away unexpectedly to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
“My dad Richard Tottie passed away in 2019, aged 64, after suffering with a brain tumour since 2009.
“They still hold an incredibly special place in our hearts.”
The new shop will open at 10am on September 25, and Mrs Elliston said: “We’ve had so many people message us saying they can’t wait to come along and look around.”
Mrs Frosdick added: “During lockdown, I was furloughed and then made redundant, while Hollie had been working from home.
“But with everything on hold, we wanted to do something so we started selling some clothes online, via Facebook and Instagram, at the end of July.”
Mrs Elliston added: “We thought we’d see how it goes, but we had soon sold out of all stock.
“Initially we started looking for somewhere to store the stock, and then we saw this unit for rent and it escalated from there.
“We’d been doing it a month when we got the keys for here – it has all gone so well.”
Admitting that they had been “overwhelmed” with all the support that the public had shown over recent weeks, they added: “Come along and see us and enjoy a complimentary glass of fizz while you browse.
“We hope you will all continue to support us and come and visit the boutique so you can see all the lovely stock.
“We cannot wait to bring another small business to the town.”
The new shop offers a wide range of clothes and coats – including new knitwear, autumn dresses, winter cardigans, leopard print, animal print, polka dot and more – as well as shoes, bags and belts.
It will be closed on Sunday’s and Monday’s, but will be open from 10am to 3pm on Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s and from 10am to 4.30pm on Friday’s and Saturday’s.
The owners will be offering a special 10pc discount to new customers who shop in store this weekend, if they can quote how the collaboration of the new store name came about.
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