Jane and Betsy Abraham: Building a Boutique Empire with Scout and Molly's Boutique
Jun 05, 2024
Alimond Studio
Discover how a mother-daughter duo turned career uncertainty into a thriving boutique empire. Join us as Jane and Betsy Abraham, the powerhouse team behind Scout and Molly's Boutique, reveal their inspiring journey from navigating post-college job searches to managing three successful franchise locations. We'll explore the challenges they faced, including opening their first store in Reston, Virginia, and their creative pandemic pivot to a permanent pop-up store in Annapolis, Maryland. Learn how the flexibility of the franchise model has allowed them to tailor their collections to their customers, making each shopping experience feel personal and unique.
Celebrate with us as we mark the seventh anniversary of their Reston Town Center store and share the joy of the Annapolis location being named the best women's clothing store by a local magazine. Jane and Betsy highlight the importance of community involvement and strong partnerships, particularly their invaluable bond as family members. Through heartfelt stories and valuable insights, they emphasize the significance of a supportive team and dedicated customers in achieving business success. Don't miss their advice on learning, adapting, and the true value of having a reliable partner in your entrepreneurial endeavors.
Discover how a mother-daughter duo turned career uncertainty into a thriving boutique empire. Join us as Jane and Betsy Abraham, the powerhouse team behind Scout and Molly's Boutique, reveal their inspiring journey from navigating post-college job searches to managing three successful franchise locations. We'll explore the challenges they faced, including opening their first store in Reston, Virginia, and their creative pandemic pivot to a permanent pop-up store in Annapolis, Maryland. Learn how the flexibility of the franchise model has allowed them to tailor their collections to their customers, making each shopping experience feel personal and unique.
Celebrate with us as we mark the seventh anniversary of their Reston Town Center store and share the joy of the Annapolis location being named the best women's clothing store by a local magazine. Jane and Betsy highlight the importance of community involvement and strong partnerships, particularly their invaluable bond as family members. Through heartfelt stories and valuable insights, they emphasize the significance of a supportive team and dedicated customers in achieving business success. Don't miss their advice on learning, adapting, and the true value of having a reliable partner in your entrepreneurial endeavors.
Speaker 1:
My name is Jane Abraham and I'm Betsy Abraham and we're the mother-daughter owners of Scout and Molly's Boutique. We have three stores One is in Reston, virginia, one is in Fairfax, virginia, and one is in Annapolis, virginia and we serve our customers with great customer service. We have a variety of women's clothing, accessories, jewelry a little bit of something for everyone. And what do we like to always tell folks when they come in.
Speaker 2:
We want people to feel like they're shopping in their best friend's closet or in our closet.
Speaker 3:
Yes, I've been in Scout and Molly and that's what I feel like when I'm there. So tell me a little bit about Scout and Motley and how you guys got into this.
Speaker 1:
Well, scout and Motley's is a franchise. There are 23 stores in the country and we own three of them in the area and then another owner has two in the area. So between the two of us we really have five stores. So we've got almost a quarter of the stores in the country. And that's exciting because Scout Molly's is a known commodity here a known brand, so I think that's exciting how we got started. Betsy is probably the best at telling that.
Speaker 2:
So I had just graduated in 2015, trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I had just graduated from Georgetown with a government degree. Didn't want to do that.
Speaker 3:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
And she was kind of ending her career or doing a new start. I should say, because you're still working. New chapter, but new chapter and we both kind of wanted to go into business together. So we actually looked at a couple different franchises that we could be a part of, and when we found this one, we both fell in love. This is something we can be passionate about, and here we are, seven years later.
Speaker 1:
Congratulations. Well, and an exciting. There were a couple of really exciting things about this franchise because it was really brand new. So we got in on the ground floor, which is exciting, although probably, looking back, there were growing pains. You know, with the new franchise they're learning how to really manage things too, really manage things too. But I think that our hope to be really involved at the ground level really happened and so that was, I think, really exciting for us.
Speaker 3:
Because it was a newer franchise.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and so we were able to really make a difference, I think, in how the franchise has grown. The other thing that really appealed to us which is not really the case in most franchises, and that was that this franchise allowed the owners to curate our own collections. So what that means is we get to pick all of our product.
Speaker 2:
So there's.
Speaker 3:
Wow, that's kind of rare in a franchise.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's very flexible to us. So even within our three stores, they each cater to the area they're in. We've been able to kind of fine-tune what works in each area. Yeah, and that way each boutique you go into really is a reflection of the owner, so each one's going to be just slightly different yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 3:
I had no idea that that's something that you can do and I love that you can curate it specifically for the demographic in the area. How quickly did you guys open the stores? How was the growth in seven years?
Speaker 2:
I mean you had to open one.
Speaker 3:
wait a bit, Tell me how that worked, but tell me how that worked, so we opened the first one Reston seven years ago, in 2017.
Speaker 2:
And that was our first baby. We're actually celebrating our anniversary sale this weekend.
Speaker 3:
This weekend. Yeah, yeah, seventh anniversary, yeah, congratulations.
Speaker 2:
And then what a year later? About a year later, we had growing pains too.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, about a year later we opened one in Ballston Quarters in Arlington and unfortunately COVID hit within a year, year and a half, and that of course upended everybody in retail.
Speaker 2:
Right, especially if you're a newbie in it or somewhat of a newbie in it, yeah, and that location was in more of a traditional mall, a little bit different because it had an outdoor aspect to it.
Speaker 3:
That's been redeveloped. That whole area has been redeveloped, right?
Speaker 1:
Yes, and the concept there, where they put boutiques and small businesses, was not there wasn't a traffic pattern that worked there, and they've actually re-envisioned that over the last couple of years. But with COVID that store didn't survive and so it actually gave us a wonderful opportunity because we had a lot of assets there, we had a lot of inventory and we had the furniture, we had the fixtures, and so we decided to open up a little pop-up store in Annapolis up store in Annapolis.
Speaker 1:
We share a little home there for the summer, and so it wasn't as crazy as it sounds that being in Virginia that we went to something in Maryland and I will say our intent had been really just to be there a couple of months, but the response was just tremendous. It was just overwhelming People were so excited that we were in the town center there, so we decided to stay. So we have been there almost three years now.
Speaker 3:
And then In that same pop-up location, like you, were able just to stay.
Speaker 1:
Well, we had to move a couple of doors down, which actually was great because we have now a much larger store. The end of the fall last year, the town center came to us and asked if we would move a couple of doors down, and it has just been really exciting.
Speaker 3:
So literally one door closed, another one opened.
Speaker 1:
It really did. I mean, you know, as a small business person, you know things can be crazy, right? You don't know, you know what's going to happen. Things are difficult, I would say. Unlike corporations and other large entities, you know when something goes wrong. There's not a technology department to call or a marketing department to call you know. I think, betsy, and I don't you feel like we sort of we?
Speaker 3:
are the technology and the HR and the accounting department and, yes, the bookkeeper and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 1:
And then a couple of years ago one of the existing stores in Fairfax approached us and she had been talking to me over two or three years about wanting to retire and move back to the Midwest for a variety of family reasons and of course it wasn't the right time going into COVID and then coming out of COVID to do something like that. But two years ago we decided to go ahead and purchase that store.
Speaker 1:
So, that has been open for eight years. We've had it for a little over two years and that one is really thriving.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, where in Fairfax is it?
Speaker 2:
Mosaic District. It's over in Merrifield yeah.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I'm familiar with it. Yeah, what are you guys doing for advertising and marketing these days? How are you guys competing? How are small boutiques like this competing with fashion? It's tough. How do you kind of yeah, because I know for me lately I want to be in the store Like I'm a touch feel I want to try it on. I'm sick of running my packages back to Amazon.
Speaker 1:
It's, you know, ordering 10 things, one works. Yeah, how do you guys overcome the other thing that I think people are a little frustrated with that now, obviously, convenience you know, is a factor and if you're sitting at home at midnight and you know are scrolling through things, it's easy to order. But I do think people are getting a little. That's getting a little bit old.
Speaker 1:
The other thing that we found because a lot of people will comment when they come into the store, is when they go to big box stores like you know a Macy's or Bloomingdale's or you know some of these larger stores, they don't get the customer service because, you know, things are tight right now.
Speaker 3:
I also find it overwhelming those spaces and the options.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it can be. So what we offer is really a special customer service experience. So the challenge in marketing is how do you communicate that? What vehicles are there that are affordable for a small business to try to get that information out? So we do use social media, certainly Facebook and Instagram. It's a little bit difficult because the algorithms keep changing.
Speaker 1:
All the time. And those platforms, you know, are obviously trying to get you to spend a lot of money on advertising. So that sort of organic reach that we had when we first opened seven years ago isn't nearly like it was back then. So it's a constant sort of a challenge and, I would say, a learning curve to try to figure out what to do in those social, on those social media platforms. And then we do email. You know, we do have a pretty large customer base between the three stores and what we found is that, even with Annapolis being a little bit of a distance away, we have customers that shop at all three stores, because each store is a little unique, as Betsy was explaining, and when we have events, oftentimes we have some customers that will, you know, on a Saturday shop two stores and then on a Sunday go to Annapolis.
Speaker 1:
They're going to hit all the sales See what we have.
Speaker 3:
Betsy, tell me how you go about curating those stores.
Speaker 2:
You said they're all a little bit different. So a lot it's been a little bit of a learning curve because when you open you think you know the area but really it's it's trial and error. We kind of now have been in it for long enough where we kind of know the basics. You know you have to have jeans, you have to have pants. So we've got some good quality brands that we carry that are staples Liverpool and Joseph Ribkoff that carry those basics.
Speaker 3:
Um, claire, some staples, liverpool and joseph ribkoff that carry those basics.
Speaker 2:
Um, clare, some we like these jackets. That's a cute jacket, yeah, will pretty much work everywhere. Um, and then it's as you know, the year progresses as we open, try a little bit of new things. See what works in reston um, the town center we're in has a lot of business buildings, so there we do have a bigger selection of true work wear for women, which, if you go to our mosaic store, really I mean, with the exception of a few cute, young, cute blazers that you could also go out to work, it's a little different because that's more residential and it's a lot more of a nightlife. There's a lot more restaurants there. So it I would say trial and error. You know, seeing what demographic lives there, um, cause a demographic can live there, but it's all about who comes into the store.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, who's shopping and having?
Speaker 2:
enough of a variety in the store to cater to anybody who comes in. So she always likes to say that a goal for us every time is if a mother, a daughter and a grandmother all come in and they all three find something which is not as hard as you'd think, if you cater, if you curate the right collections.
Speaker 3:
Right, but it takes that to figure out. What is this going to be? What's the grandma going to buy?
Speaker 2:
the mom and the daughter Right and trends change every year, so you're constantly trying to figure out and keep up. You know, what did well last year might not do well this year, so, and we buy a portion of our clothes so far in advance, about six months in advance so you're already like stocked up for fall?
Speaker 1:
yes, well, it's in the pipeline. Yeah, we're committed, we're just about there. Yeah, we're committed, it'll. It'll arrive, you know, in season. But you do have to place your orders, because then that's what the vendor uses to be able to produce the product, and so you do have to make some calculated guests or but I will say what has been fun as a mother-daughter team with two generations here.
Speaker 1:
When we go to market, whether it be the New York market or it be the Atlanta market, those are the two we typically go to. We do have different perspectives, right, because we come from different perspectives. But you need that, right? We absolutely need that. And the interesting thing is not always she picks young stuff, I pick older stuff. I mean, we really have different styles and so I think that's been good.
Speaker 2:
She is a little more trendy and fashion forward and I'm a little more conservative, but I do still cater to younger things.
Speaker 3:
And you guys respect each other's style, which is nice too. How is it working together? Do you guys have to kind of set some guidelines and boundaries, or how is the mother-daughter team working together? What advice do you have for somebody?
Speaker 2:
nobody's going to care as much as your family.
Speaker 3:
True.
Speaker 2:
That's, I'd say, the biggest thing.
Speaker 1:
Well, I love working together with her. It doesn't mean that we, you know, see eye to eye on every single thing, because we don't necessarily, but I think we've learned over the years how to work together because you know, when you work together as a family, you don't want to lose what you have as a family and have tension because of work. And so, you know, if we get to that point every once in a while, because you, you know, running a small business is stressful and, yeah, having three small businesses is even more stressful um, I think sometimes we have to just stop and acknowledge, right that, yeah, you know yeah, what it is, and take a break and take a break, tell me a little bit about the events you have coming up.
Speaker 3:
It sounds like you have some exciting things coming up. What are you guys doing?
Speaker 1:
Yes, we do, and sometimes we will do the same event in all three locations, but this weekend we have two different events and we're really excited about it. At our Reston store in Reston Town Center, we are celebrating our seventh anniversary in Reston Town Center we are celebrating our seventh anniversary, so this weekend we will have some sips available.
Speaker 1:
All weekend we will be given 20% off all full price items and we will have a special flash sale on some really cool Houch Shore crossbody bags. On some really cool Houch Shore crossbody bags. They typically run $72 to $78 and our flash sale will be $22 for these. So it's really a fun bag. It's silver, a little bit metallic looking, so it would be a fun gift for all your girlfriends.
Speaker 3:
Graduations, your graduations. That's who we're at, if you're thinking about early holiday shopping.
Speaker 1:
It's just a real special thing and we've got quite a few of them, so I feel pretty confident we can fill any order that we get, and we are going to be giving away an anniversary gift with purchase, so it'll be something special, depending on the size of the purchase, and are you doing it at all three stores. So that's going to be at the Reston Town Center store. Our Annapolis store actually is celebrating something that we're both very, very proud of we were selected as the best women's clothing store in Annapolis. The local magazine.
Speaker 3:
And this is all from when you just started as a little pop-up.
Speaker 1:
Yes, Well, it's because of our customers. I mean, this is where I think customer service really comes into play, because you know how magazines will do, sort of these regional magazines. Will you know, ask their readers to vote for the best restaurant, the best dentist the best whatever. We do that here too. Yes, and we were really excited. And we were really excited. I sent out an email to all of our customers telling them that we were in this magazine and would appreciate their vote. And I'm telling you.
Speaker 3:
They just really came out with drugs Delivered yeah so we're excited about that.
Speaker 1:
So we get that honor on Tuesday at an event. So what we've decided to do in Annapolis this weekend through Tuesday is have a Best of Annapolis Thank you event, and so we are thanking our customers and we'll be giving 20% off everything in the store as a way of thanking folks. So come out and shop, Encouraging them to come shop for sure but also come celebrate with us. Yeah, and then Mosaic always has something going on there.
Speaker 3:
I mean, the Mosaic District is just a thriving community that's been all redeveloped as well, too right it really has.
Speaker 1:
And it's just doing tremendous. It's just doing tremendous, and so that store is going to be focusing on shorts, tanks and T-shirts and they're going to be 20% off for but we can't. So each store has a little bit a little bit something different.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, what do you guys find most rewarding about what you do? What would you say?
Speaker 2:
I think the customer relationship is really nice. Also, our team. We've been able to really create family units at each of our locations with our team and that's something I think we pride ourselves on and it it makes the whole work environment not feel like work.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so yeah, when you have good people to rely on, it changes everything. Yeah, right, absolutely, that you can trust and you know they're going to get the job done, right, yep, yeah.
Speaker 1:
I would echo those. Those are absolutely at the top of the list. If there was a third one, I would say it's rewarding to become so involved in the community that each store is. In Annapolis, for instance, this Friday we're participating in a Fashion for a Cause event and I've got three models that are going to be wearing several of our styles and they're raising money for a hospice children's program. In Reston we do a fashion show that we sponsor every October, raise money for breast cancer research and breast cancer support programs, and all of the models are breast cancer survivors.
Speaker 3:
So each store is involved in a lot of those sorts of activities. I feel like I've seen that event before at Reston Town Center with the breast cancer survivors I think my friend was actually in it. One year.
Speaker 1:
Oh, really yeah.
Speaker 3:
I remember this event well.
Speaker 1:
Well, it's a special. I'm the founder of the organization that does that and it is the most special thing I think I've ever done what is the name of the organization. It's called Rest and Runway to the Cure.
Speaker 3:
Yes.
Speaker 1:
And this year it will be the first Sunday of October and we will have about 30 models that will be participating, and most of them will wear clothes from Scout and Molly's. We're the primary fashion sponsor, but we try to get the other stores in the town center involved too, and so each year we do have a few of the stores that agreed to dress.
Speaker 3:
Loans and outfits. Yeah, that's nice. Yeah, I actually miss those little mall fashion shows they used to have. Yeah, yeah. So that's great you guys are doing that. Are there any last parting words that you'd like to leave us with? Business advice, a mantra maybe that you guys live by?
Speaker 1:
business advice, a mantra maybe that you guys live by. Well, I guess I would say, as a small business owner, you have to be willing to learn and adapt every step of the way, and I feel like in retail that's particularly the case, because so many things affect retail, and if you have a great team if, in my case, a great partner as co-owner great staff and really caring customers who want to see you succeed, it is a recipe for success, and so I feel very blessed that we have those.
Speaker 3:
You've been able to do that, yeah, how about you, betsy?
Speaker 2:
I would say this echo the same thing Having a good partner who's always there for you. Like I said earlier, nobody's going to care more than your family. So if you are going to go into it with a partner, make sure it's somebody who you can rely on, trust and you'll have success.
Speaker 3:
Oh, that's beautiful. You guys. I thank you for coming in today. Thank you for sharing your story with us. We loved hearing it. Well, thank you for having us.
