Just five short months after a longtime friend and former colleague floated the idea of opening the state’s very first fab’rik boutique in the Birmingham area, Melissa Mistrot said she is ready to make that idea a reality.
Mistrot, of Homewood, and her Atlanta partners, Carmen Herndon and Stacy Falls, will host the grand opening of Alabama’s flagship fab’rik store Aug. 7 at 1817-B 29th Ave. South in Homewood.
The grand opening party will be from 5-7 p.m. and will include “bubbles, bites and beer–and a few fun giveaways,” event organizers said.
The event will also introduce Over the Mountain residents to the offerings and philosophy behind the Atlanta-based affordable luxury boutique chain, Mistrot said.
“Our mission is to deliver high style with heart, no attitude and no sticker shock,” she said.
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That means that the wide variety of women’s clothing and accessories offered at fab’rik are all priced at $100 or less, except for the store’s extensive designer denim collection, Herndon said.
“It’s a high-end boutique without the high-end price,” she said.
Herndon, who has lived in Atlanta for almost 20 years, said she first learned about the opportunity to bring the store to Alabama from a friend who owns a fab’rik boutique in Athens, Ga.
“I have a full-time job as a buyer with a home furnishings catalog and my friend in Athens also has another full-time job outside of running the fab’rik shop in Athens, so I thought it was something I could probably do–with help–so I instantly thought of Melissa and Stacy,” she said.
Herndon, who has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Georgia, and Mistrot, who has a bachelor’s degree in fashion merchandising and marketing from the University of Alabama, met in the mid-1990s when both were assistant buyers for Parisian.
“It’s kind of ironic because we both worked in the junior department, and it’s kind of the same thing we’re doing here with fab’rik–we’re offering what’s hot, what’s trendy, what’s of-the-moment,” Herndon said. “It’s fun to work together again.”
Falls, an Alabama native who now lives in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood and has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Auburn University, met Herndon through a friend several years ago.
“I have a background in design, sales and marketing and extensive experience in retail. I ran an online retail store for about 10 years, so when Carmen called with the idea about opening fab’rik and asked me if I wanted to partner up, I jumped at the chance,” Falls said.
Falls said she wanted to be a part of the business for the same reasons Herndon and Mistrot said they were attracted to the boutique chain.
“One thing that we all love about the company is its philosophy on giving back to the community,” Falls said. “It’s something that Dana Spinola, the founder and CEO of fab’rik, is really dedicated to and something that is important to all three of us.”
Spinola left corporate America 13 years ago to pursue her dream of owning a clothing boutique. Now, the company has 30 locations throughout the Southeast.
From the beginning, Spinola made giving back a priority for fab’rik, Herndon said.
“She founded a nonprofit called Free fab’rik that gave free shopping sprees to people in need, and she teamed up with local charities in Atlanta to offer a true boutique shopping experience for women who were going through tough transitions in their lives,” Herndon said. “That’s the philosophy we’re bringing to Homewood with our store.”
With the mission of offering “high style with heart,” Mistrot said the store has already partnered with the Junior League of Birmingham to support its programs through events held at fab’rik.
“We’re also talking to the Service Guild about hosting a fundraising event for them in December,” Mistrot said. “We want to be true partners in the community.”
And while fab’rik is building partnerships in the community, Falls said the store also wants to form real relationships with its customers.
“That’s another thing that sets fab’rik apart–the really personal service you are going to get here,” she said. “It’s not just about knowing what your customers are looking for and giving it to them at a great price, it’s about building a real relationship with them.”
To that end, Mistrot said fab’rik’s stylists are challenged with “wowing” customers every day.
“Whether that’s running a couple of dresses over to a customer who has a last-minute event or bringing flowers to a customer you know is having a bad day, our goal is to respond to the needs of our customers,” she said.
The boutique is also taking a holistic approach to keeping its employees happy and productive, Mistrot said.
“Our employees are awesome and we know that retail is hard and it means working a lot of long hours, so we want to give back to our employees, too,” she said.
The store has a wellness program for employees that will include yoga sessions during meetings and tips on maintaining a healthy work-life balance, Mistrot said.
“Also, after they are employed with us for a certain amount of time, we will pay for our employees to go out and volunteer in the community,” she said.
The Homewood store will also carry fab’rik’s exclusive clothing line, Asher, which is tailored to the feedback of customers and the most coveted trends.
“We also have a great selection of what I call ‘spirit clothes’–cute clothes in Alabama and Auburn colors, just in time for game day events,” Falls said. “And these are items that you’re not going to see on everyone.”
That’s because the store carries a limited quantity of each item, Mistrot said.
“We’ll have, let’s say, six of the same blouse, but once those are sold, that’s it,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about showing up at a party dressed like 10 other people when you shop at fab’rik,” she said.
Mistrot said the trio had to work quickly to get the boutique ready to open in time for the busy back-to-school shopping season.
“We really had to hit the ground running, and I think we have all just been so excited about this that we couldn’t wait any longer to open,” she said. “We decided to partner up in late March, signed the lease on this space on June 19 and started the build-out the next day.”
The space was home to an antiques store before fab’rik moved in, Mistrot said, and that called for a big re-design.
“The windows were tinted, and so we had to get rid of that and have the interior painted white,” she said. “It really opened the space up, and with the white walls and natural light, the space really allows us to show off the clothes.”
The store also has plenty of space to host the Rock Star parties the trio has planned in the coming months, Mistrot said.
“These will be private parties where you and 20 of your friends can come in, shop, enjoy food and music and get 20 percent off the whole store,” she said. “It will be a great option for a girls’ night out, and we’re even thinking about hosting parties for the guys during the holidays so they can shop for the ladies in their lives.”
Mistrot is running the day-to-day operations at the boutique while Falls and Herndon support her as semi-absent owners.
“With technology the way it is, we can have a conference call any time we need to, and this is such an easy collaboration because we all know each other and have the same goals,” Mistrot said. “It’s a very exciting time.”