Common fashion sense dictates that no outfit is complete without the perfect pair of cute, stylish shoes to bring it all together. High quality designer shoes is what the “Embellish” boutique located in Warehouse Row specializes in, shoes in mind specifically to accompany the Carlisle and Per Se clothing lines that consultant and owner Terri Holley truly believes in.
Holley grew up in south Alabama and attended the University of Alabama, where she received a business degree and started out in banking and sales related to the banking industry. From there, she took a few years off to stay home and have two daughters before she began representing the Carlisle Collection, which has now developed into Carlisle and Per Se clothing lines. Holley opened her own consultant business out of her home and sold the line for a few years. What she found was that it was increasingly difficult to find the right shoes to go with the clothes, and so she solved this in 2005 by opening Embellish.
“My main focus was to de-velop a niche business primarily offering shoes with some additional accessories to coordinate in the clothing line – Carlisle and Per Se – which I so strongly believed in,” she says.Embellish initially opened on Frazier Avenue on the Northshore, a location Holley says she loved with its eclectic atmosphere and network of local merchants. Embellish stayed in this location for four years, but Holley says she was bothered, as someone for whom the community is important, that Warehouse Row was sitting empty. Through conversations with other local business owners, Embellish and a group of other local businesses decided to come en masse to Warehouse Row.
“We just felt like it was great for our community that this building be renovated, and we felt like it would be great for our businesses to be a part of that,” she says.
After thriving in this new location for more than a year, Embellish is ready to hold another trunk show (of which they have six a year) to allow women a personalized shopping experience with Carlisle and Per Se’s clothing lines. The private showroom at Embellish will be the locale for the July 14 show, and will feature fall and holiday collections (by appointment) viewing. At this event, women will also have a chance to experience the other side of Holley’s business with the many shoes and handbags Embellish offers to coordinate with the clothing lines.
Holley says the most difficult part of owning her own business is that she never really gets away from it. “I’m working all the time, even if I’m not in the store, I’m trying to represent my business out in the community through other community involvement. I call it my third child,” she says.
Yet, the staff Holley employs allows her to walk away when she needs to fulfill her community work that she says is very important to her. She says owning her own business is also a daily rewarding experience. “I’m not the type of person who can sit at a desk and do the same thing day in and day out. I really like the change of pace that having a retail business gives me. There’s something different every day, and I have the pleasure of meeting so many wonderful women and men.”
Holley’s community work includes her involvement in her church, First Centenary United Methodist. She has been on the Friends of the Festival board of directors for a number of years. She recently joined the River City Company board, which is active in promoting and developing downtown. Furthermore, her involvement with the Chattanooga Women’s Leadership Institute gives her an opportunity to be involved by working with other women who are giving back to their community as well as hopefully further developing opportunities for women in our community, she says.
Holley still has one daughter at home, and has committed to herself not to grow her business outside of this market until her daughter goes to college. Yet, at the same time, she says, she may consider opening another store in another market in the future.
“Right now, I’m really happy with having the store the size it is in the town where I raise my children.” Holley says she feels like one of the challenges of owning a business is that so many people don’t really appreciate what it is to shop local.
“We are so fortunate that so many people, in addition to myself, have opened businesses in Chattanooga ... I think it’s important that the community understand that we have to support those businesses, or they won’t stay here,” she says. “I do feel very fortunate that the community has supported my business. We are still in a somewhat depressed economic environment, so it’s so important that people support our local businesses so that they continue to flourish and be successful in this market.”
To find out more about Embellish, the Carlisle and Per Se clothing lines, or contact Holley visit www.embellishshoes.com.