By Jessica Dillon
Southern Seasons is a clothing boutique in uptown Martinsville that celebrated its one year anniversary. Owner Julie Moore created the store as a place to sell upcycled clothes and create less waste in landfills. The anniversary celebration included a singer, goody bags and remarks from Moore about what the future holds.
“I never thought my dream would flourish into what it did, and with our team, the community effort, um, several people out in other businesses kind of rallied us on,” Moore said. “They just came and held us by the hand and just literally guided me from point A to point B, to where I had a strategy and a plan, and we just executed it.”
Moore said her focus was creating a community-based store where people from all walks of life could come and feel welcome.
“No matter what price point the person needed to have in their pocketbook, that we could find something for that person,” she said. “We try to bring to the community what the community needs based on all the southern seasons — whether it’s spring, summer, fall, winter, rain, sunshine — we have a little something in here, and people just basically come here to get away, forget their troubles at the door, and they come in in a safe haven, and we just hang out.”
Moore said she has made friends who now stop by the store just to talk.
“I’m very in awe at the success and the people that I’ve met along the way and the friends I’ve made that are now family,” she said. “They come in here literally just to tell me how their day is going.”
She said she has worked to push back against the idea that the store caters to only one style.
“It’s not one particular style in the store,” Moore said.
The shop is divided into sections including country wear, cottagecore and alternative fashion, along with accessories such as jewelry.
Moore credited a brand ambassador with helping bring in clothing selections.
“She’s been a big instrument in bringing style to the store,” Moore said. “She’s bringing fashion outside of our community into the store, and it’s just a different vibe that you may normally not get in a local town setting where you may have to go to a bigger city.”
Moore said the store also works with a seamstress who they hope will soon join full time as they continue expanding their inventory.
“We have a direct connection to a vendor who goes out in the inner cities where there are retail clothing stores such as Macy’s, Nordstrom and some other high-end stores, where the items have been on the shelves for X amount of time,” Moore said.
“She actually goes and rescues them and then gives us the opportunity to buy them at a very affordable cost that we can pass them on to the consumer here in our local area.”
Moore said the store has also begun accepting consignment and encourages residents to bring in old clothing.
She thanked her daughter, Lauren Chappell, along with the Martin family. The store’s mascot, Freddie Flamingo, is named in honor of the Martin family.
Southern Seasons is located at 133 E. Main St. in Uptown Martinsville. The store is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Updates are posted on its Facebook page.
