Last year Showroom moved from 30 Miller Ave. into a larger, more visible space on 108 Throckmorton. This year, they’re moving to an even more prominent space – in San Francisco
Owners Denise Carletta and Janet Ryvin opened a new clothing boutique at Two Embarcadero Center last week, and they plan to close the Mill Valley shop at the end of the April. The Throckmorton store has been closed yesterday and today to prepare for a sale, and will open back up on Wednesday with major markdowns on all merchandise.
“We just had this opportunity and didn’t want to pass up on it,” Carletta said. She and Ryvin had talked about eventually opening up in the city. They didn’t think it would be this soon, but when a friend told them about the available space in San Francisco they jumped on it, Carletta said.
“While we are sad to leave our beautiful community we are very excited about our new incarnation,” they wrote in an email to customers. “We thank you all for investing in us over the years, for the amazing friendships and for giving us the opportunity to be a part of this incredibly special community. We know that we will continue to see many of you all on a daily basis in our wonderful little town.”
Carletta and Ryvin are both Mill Valley moms with kids in the Mill Valley School District, and they plan on staying involved in the community. They hope to hold shopping parties at people’s homes about once a month, and will continue to interact with many loyal customers in town. For instance, Carletta just texted a picture of a skirt to one customer she knows well.
“The personal shopper thing will be a good way to go,” she said.
The 1,200 square feet of retail space in the city is comparable to that of the Throckmorton location, Carletta said, but they will miss their large office and backyard – which was ideal for hosting parties and private events. However, they plan to host events in San Francisco “in a different way.”
Surrounded by businesses and high-end shops in the Embarcadero, and as the only boutique in the area, Carletta said she and Ryvin are excited about their new location.
“There’s a lot of foot traffic,” she said.
That also spurred their move from Miller into the former Maison Reve space in January 2012.
“We just felt that shoppers rarely make it down here to this end of Miller because they think it’s all restaurants once you get past Margaret O’Leary,” Ryvin said at the time.
At Throckmorton, they expanded their women’s clothing collection, added a shoe shop and a selection of vintage furnishings, and scrapped their men’s collection.
While it was "definitely a better location than it was before," Carletta said, downtown Mill Valley seems saturated with clothing stores, and they're looking forward to a different kind of competition in the city.
“For the long term," she said, "this is more the direction we want to go in.”
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