Friday, June 22, 2012

Aphrodite's Closet Opens



I never thought I'd own my own brick and mortar, and here I am, owning my lifelong dream of being my own boss. Spending the last 20 years of my adult life working corporate and switching gears at 46 can be scary. It was scary. Terrifying at times, even. But here I am, owning my own little slice of the American Dream and I have to admit, the pie tastes pretty good.





Why a lingerie boutique, you ask? There's Frederick's of Hollywood. There's Victoria's Secret. But there are SO MANY other lingerie suppliers that most of us have never heard of or cannot find in regular bog box stores. There's Dream Girls, Elegant Moments, Leg Avenue, Shirley of Hollywood, Just Sexy, Marilyn Monroe, Delta Burke, the list goes on. There's even a line based right in my home town, called Escante', and most San Antonian's don't even know that. I had no idea until I started my search for suppliers just how many lingerie manufacturers and companies there were. I thought it was Fred's or VS and that was it. Boy was I ever wrong.

In smaller and independent boutiques around the nation is where you find these relatively unknown brands. You will even find boutiques who sell lingerie made by independent designers. I mean BEAUTIFUL stuff, made with top of the line farics- silk. Real silk. Now, these couture pieces are not for the faint of wallet- but it's HANDMADE, you won't find a boutique carrying 300 pairs of the same silk panties. (You know how we women don't like knowing any woman who owns the same dress we have much less the same pair of panties!) It's not a mass produced kind of thing. It's a specialized target audience. And if you can snag a pair of luxury panties, please drop me a note and brag all you want. I promise I won't be mad at you. Just let me have my "haters gonna hate" moment and I'll get over it - eventually.

As for Aphrodite's Closet, I've decided I'm keeping my price points at this location at around $50, and will probably not carry anything over $75. I'm doing this because A) I want to make sure women who have limited income can still come in and purchase something nice for themselves without breaking the bank, and B) I want to be able to afford my own stuff when I want to buy something! (Kind of like Henry Ford's philosophy when he started) Hey, I don't pull things to take home and just write it off. I BUY it, with funds separate from the boutique. Besides, I HAVE to represent, even if the only people seeing me in my pretty lace teddy is my husband and myself.

We currently carry many of the brands mentioned above - Dream Girls, Elegant Moments, Leg Avenue Hosiery, Just Sexy, Marilyn Monroe (one of my faves) as well as Gina Intimates, Affinitas, Paris Pink, Rene Rofe', Ornella, and of course Escante. I love Escante's 2012 line. Their Tessa Classics Corset Line is fabulous. Just fabulous. I most likely will not be carrying anything in the boutique that's over $50 as regular inventory, but will be more than happy to order any item over that dollar amount as a special order item. I'm really sticking to my guns on this $50-$75 price point. Prices are more than fair and competitively priced, and I'm proud that no customer has ever said "your prices are too high!" I've basically gotten "THAT'S ALL FOR THIS?!" Affordable lingerie doesn't have to be cheap or skimp on quality, and just because I don't have an authentic (or fake, for that matter) Prada bag full of cash doesn't mean I don't deserve a few silky, sexy, satiny treats for myself. A poor girl's gotta get her groove on too!



Half of our boutitue is dedicated to the Plus Size Goddess- and I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a Plus Sized Goddess myself. The best reward I've gotten since opening is the literal SQUEAL of delight when a PSG realizes she doesn't have to turn around and walk out the door because I have nothing to fit her. I have a great selection of Plus Sized Pretties, currently going to 4X. Panties, Bras, Thongs, Baby Dolls, and more. I'm also in the process of carrying another line from Shirley of Hollywood. Their plus size selections are nothing short of glorious, and they use real Plus Sized models for their photo shoots, not blown up and photo shopped photos of the skinny models. I love how they are keeping it real and celebrating the full figured woman.

Now if you are wondering where in San Antonio we are located, you can find us on the North East side of town, down where Walzem Road meets Montgomery Drive. Our address is 6060 Montgomery Drive, Suite 116, San Antonio, TX Our hours of operation are Monday 12-5, Tues-Sat, 10am-8pm, and as for Sunday, if Mr. Chick-Fil-A can run a successful business without being open on Sunday, so can I. Our business number is 210-590-7796, so if you have any questions, would like to book an appointment or an in-house lingerie party, ring me!