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Women's Fashion
A Style is Born -- And Turns 1
 Suzanne Whalen's shop specializes in new and hard-to-find designers. |
Suzanne Whalen is celebrating her first anniversary as an entrepreneur and fashion maven. A year ago, she opened her specialty boutique, A Style is Born, in an up-and-coming neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale near trendy Las Olas Boulevard. "My store brings to Fort Lauderdale the type of fashion that it needed," says Whalen. She carries new and hard-to-find designers like Nieves Lavi out of New York or Orangia from Miami Beach. Prices tend to be on the high end.
Whalen, who decided to open her own store after losing a job as a buyer for another company, says there have been a few bumps along the way -- namely startup capital. She sold everything she owned, getting nice returns, she says, on investments she made while in her 20s, including a pottery collection and her home. More bumps: Hurricane Wilma flooded her store, and, separately, burglars made off with half of her inventory. Still, she says, she's had a great first year and good momentum moving forward.
She has a database of more than 3,500 customers, and she's working on getting her online store up and running soon so her seasonal customers can shop with her year-round.
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