- November 23, 2024
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Dona Bross’ Uptown Fashion Co. recently celebrated its second year of business on Third Street, Flagler Beach.
An employee, an interior designer, gets laid off. Her position is downsized and eliminated. She bounces around from job to job for a year or so. And then one day she stops, changes focus.
She decides to go into business for herself, opening Uptown Fashion Co., at 220 S. Third St., in Flagler Beach.
And she becomes her own boss.
Recently celebrating her shop’s second-year anniversary, owner Dona Bross says that her decision to open a consignment shop in 2009 was born from necessity.
“I found myself out of work, so I had to make my own,” she said. “And really, it was an awakening. It’s called the original entrepreneurship. It’s what this country is coming to.”
Uptown Fashion is a consignment shop, not a thrift shop, which means it specializes in upscale and designer clothing, junior to plus sizes.
People can bring in as many as 15 formal/business articles at a time, as well as casual and beachwear — but everything has to be immaculate, Bross says, nothing less than “primo condition.”
Clothes cannot be older than two years; they can’t be missing buttons or have worn cuffs. Then Bross steams every item and displays them for sale, or for a maximum of three months, collecting a percentage of what they sell for.
“Our inventory is constantly changing,” she said. It’s a sales model she believes residents respond to: the “treasure hunt” experience. You never know what you’re going to find.
“Everything is one-of-a-kind,” she points out, motioning to a red top hanging nearby. “You can’t have that shirt in an extra large, because I only have it in a small.”
She also sells purses, shoes, handmade accessories and mirrors.
A lifetime Flagler Beach resident, Bross was proactive when first opening her 1,000-square-foot shop two years ago. She joined the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce & Affiliates, immediately began advertising and even went door-to-door around town, introducing herself and her company.
And that’s where she feels Flagler Beach’s business community is on the right track, that personal touch, the heart behind recent merchant-to-merchant promotions around town. The forming of Flagler Beach First! about six months ago, and the reorganization of local First Fridays, she feels, have had a direct impact on Uptown Fashion’s success to this point.
It’s a simple concept: local companies supporting each other through referrals and word of mouth. But organizing and putting a name to it truly raised awareness, she says. Flagler Beach is a city of nook-and-cranny companies, and initiatives like Flagler Beach First! and First Fridays celebrate that fact.
“It’s a community effort,” Bross said. “One hand washes the other. And that’s the way it should be.”
For more, 693-4945.
