Underlines speaks to Julie Blanche who started The Bra Consultancy in 2015 as a home fitting service, moving into retail in October 2017 but opening her doors to her first ‘proper’ retail shop – incredibly on 1st February 2020. Six weeks after opening, she had to close the doors on 23rd March! An admirable example of necessity being the mother of invention…
Life before lingerie
Having worked alongside international breast and plastic surgeons for over 15 years, I recognised that there was a lack of support and advice for women following breast surgery, whether that be elective, cosmetic procedures or as part of their breast cancer journey. With the knowledge and experience I gained during this time, I wanted to focus on delivering first class customer care on the High Street.
On a personal level, I have always struggled to find beautiful underwear that actually fitted, due to my size. Therefore, one of my biggest aspirations and long-term goals was to open a boutique that stressed size inclusivity and encouraged body positivity.
In 2015, the concept of ‘The Bra Consultancy’ was born, however it was a long way from the business that it is today. I started the business out of my spare bedroom, offering customers a home visit service, allowing them to experience all the benefits of a personalised, professional bra fitting service in the comfort of their own home.
I soon realised the need for this service, as my house began to resemble a lingerie warehouse. And so, the search began for our first boutique’s home. We didn’t have the most traditional of starts, as we decided to begin our retail journey in a small shopping village in October 2017. Three years on, we are now an established boutique in Maldon High Street ‘uplifting’ the women of Essex one bra at a time.
When we opened the shop & why
We opened our doors here in Maldon on the 1st of February 2020 (what we now know to be the start of a very turbulent year!). The business had leapt from strength to strength and so it was time to find our new, larger boutique, where we can now offer a larger range of eclectic lingerie to all of our amazing customers.
We stumbled across our new home, purely by a chance scroll through Facebook one evening. After just one viewing, we knew that this was the perfect location for us, especially in that it is located in a bustling market town, with a thriving independent retail community. With a blank canvas to work with, this time around we really were able to create our dream space, not only for us and our lingerie but for all of our clients’ needs too!
This move has allowed us to offer all of our customers a personalised shopping experience in an exclusive and relaxed environment. Our greatest ambition is to help more women find added confidence through the power of perfectly fitted lingerie.
Along came COVID-19…
Just 6 weeks after opening, we had to close our doors on the 23rd of March for the safety of both customers and staff. Although in the weeks running up to this, we knew that closing our boutique could be a very real possibility, it still came as an emotional blow to have close.
Within weeks of closing our bricks & mortar store, we had launched an e-commerce store (something that we had never imagined making a possibility) and looking at alternative ways to diversify the business. Like many independents, during the course of the lockdown period, we switched our fitting appointments to an online service, which allowed us to once again offer our professional fitting experience in the comfort of their own homes.
This was such a roaring success that we have continued to offer this service alongside our standard appointments after reopening. We have found this to be a fantastic solution to offer ladies that are still shielding in these uncertain times, and government measures are changing on a daily/weekly basis.
We also used this period to source our own face masks, as we wanted to offer our customers an eco-friendly alternative to disposable face masks. This became a reality when we found a 100% biodegradable, washable option. These have proved popular with customers and staff alike, particularly now they’re mandatory.
Shortly before the COVID pandemic we welcomed a small addition to our Bra Consultancy team. Teddy our Cavapoo spent most of his life with us during lockdown, and so when we reopened, we couldn’t imagine doing it without him by our side. And so, Teddy is now a full-time member of the team, being greatly missed by customers and delivery driver alike on his day off. He has even been known to complete some deliveries with us, kindly referred to by some of our customers as ‘Ted-Ex’.
And when you opened your doors again?
We reopened our doors on the 24th of June, to an entirely different way of operating. Our first changes were to implement a Perspex screen on our counter, adding hand sanitising stations and ensuring social distancing with posters and floor stickers. Our next challenge was to remove all soft furnishings and find a new way of fitting our clients in a COVID safe environment.
This was achieved by removing the existing curtains from the fitting rooms and replacing with a PVC alternative that could be steam cleaned between each client. Never in our wildest dreams did we think that we would be bra fitting in full PPE and steam cleaning and quarantining stock between customers, but here we are 4 months later with all of our COVID measures still in place.
We have also found that we now have a wider and more versatile customer base than before being able to fit customers, as well as feeling safer in a smaller, more controlled environment. This has particularly been the case with our teenage clientele, as mums have needed somewhere to turn and guidance from experienced fitters.
One of the biggest challenges we have faced since reopening has been obtaining stock, which is becoming more apparent now more than ever, with increasing numbers of lines on back order. This has added to the difficulties that we have faced in finding new and exciting products and colourways for customers, in a time where there is much uncertainty in new lines. Our suppliers have been a saving grace during this time, by assisting us and supporting us in finding new alternatives that have proved to be a real hit with our clients.
How can you future-proof your business?
Our boutique has never been as important to us and our customers as it is now, and professional fittings are still a vital element to our business. Upon reopening, we decided to run our fittings by appointment, our booking system is easily accessible through both our social media channels as well as our website. This has been so successful, that we plan to continue to run our appointment system for the foreseeable future.
We are constantly and consistently looking at ways to further diversify the business by identifying potential new clients and what their needs might be. We are committed to achieving this by increasing our marketing campaigns, particularly the use of social media to increase brand awareness as well as selling products through channels such as Facebook and Instagram.
