‘Ballsy’ move for Frock
Trevor Nichols - Apr 27, 2017 - Biz Profiles

Chantel Couture.
Photo: Trevor Nichols

If there’s one thing Chantal Couture has learned after 15 years as a business owner, it’s that timing rarely works to your advantage.

So, when a large retail space opened up on Bernard Avenue earlier this year, she decided to snap it up as soon as she could and figure out the rest later.

That’s how her newly branded business, Frock and Fellow, found its way to Kelowna’s main retail drag three weeks ago.

The store is an expansion of her former consignment shop Frock. Occupying 372 square metres in the heart of Bernard Avenue, the shop resells pre-worn clothes in what feels like a high-end retail environment.

It’s an attractive space, with good product, but couture says the whole thing came together “quite quickly.”

She said when she saw in December that American Apparel was going out of business, she immediately got on the phone and expressed interest to the landlord.

Even though it was her busiest time of year at her other business, Funktional, and even though she was going to be out of the country for most of January, she still worked to snag the space.

She got the keys the day after she returned from her vacation. At the time she didn’t  have a name picked out for the new business, and didn’t even know exactly what she was going to do in the new space.

“Because there’s really only four viable blocks on Bernard, space doesn’t come up that frequently,” Couture explained. “So when that space becomes available you don’t have a lot of opportunity to plan.”

“The space presented itself, then the idea [for Frock and Fellow] presented itself,” she said. “The timing wasn’t even that good, but I learned that you make the timing work for you, because when you’re ready you usually can’t get the space.”

But Couture says once things got moving it became pretty clear what she should do.

Photo: Trevor Nichols

Before the move Frock was just Frock, without the Fellow. It was about a quarter of the size it is now, and only sold women’s clothes. But when she moved locations Couture expanded the brand, moving into men’s clothing as well.

“I think it was a ballsy move, no pun intended,” she said with a chuckle.

Not only was expanding into an untested product line a risk, but moving up in size as well. Frock and Fellow occupies the space that American Apparel used to, and taking over a space meant for a big-box store is a tall order for a local, small business.

“I’m trying to fill the shoes of a big-box store on a small business budget,” Couture said. “And that’s never been done [in Kelowna] on this scale.

There were a few hiccups getting things going – dealing with utilities and getting enough stock – but so far, she says, things have been going well.

Already she’s picked up hundreds of new consigners, and the store is “busier than we ever expected,” which is pretty good for a plan forged out of essentially pure opportunity.


All Biz Profiles Stories