HENRICO, Va. — A new retailer that caters to a niche audience is setting up where two West End dessert shops left off.
Clara b. is set to open Aug. 27 at 5716 Patterson Ave. Alletta Tate, a first-time shop owner, is behind the new business. She has a three-year lease on the 1,100-square-foot space that was formerly home to A Peach in a Pear Tree and Shyndigz.
Clara b. will sell clothes that target middle school girls. The shop will have casual and more formal clothes and accessories. Brands carried at Clara b. will include Sally Miller, PPLA, Ella Moss and Splendid.
“It’s casual to cotillion,” Tate said. “We’ll have some denim, some casual school clothes and we’ll have the cotillion dresses.”
Tate, a 46-year-old mother of three, said she got the idea to open a retail store for middle school-aged girls, also referred to as “tweens,” because she doesn’t think there are enough options on the market.
“I hear lots of moms saying the same thing,” she said. “I think the tween girls will be excited to come here.”
The store is named after Tate’s daughter, Clara Belin. In addition to raising her children, Tate has an interior design degree from VCU and has worked in retail.
“I just jumped in – that’s sort of the way I am,” Tate said of her plans for Clara b. “I knew what lines I liked for my daughter.”
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