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Kennett Square – Chris Perron, owner of Fab & Budge Boutique on State Street in Kennett Square, is passionate about trending fashion and helping women of all ages look and feel their best.
“It’s all about building confidence in fashion,” she says.
A former healthcare administrator with deep experience in fashion and retail, Chris enjoys hand-picking the store’s current collections with her daughter Gia, a fashion major at Immaculata College.
“People appreciate that it’s not just a youth store,” she says. “Women of any age can find items that look great and are age appropriate.” Customers ranging from teenagers to their seventies will find a lot of fun in Fab & Buje’s extensive selection of tops, dresses, jewelry, bags and denim, she says.
Chris loves to pamper people, and her personal approach and personal touch make shopping feel like talking to a trusted girlfriend – an old-fashioned dying art for customer service.
“I’m trained to find out what flatters a person’s body shape, size and color and to encourage people to try other options and choices,” she says. “Nine times out of ten, someone falls in love with something they haven’t seen, or something they think looks good on them.”
Her goal is to help people feel comfortable and love what they wear, and she has honed these skills over the years. She worked at Merry-Go-Round, a women’s contemporary fashion company, through high school and college before starting her career as an RN.
From health care to fashion
Chris had earned an MBA and was working as a licensed healthcare administrator when she started working shifts. “I knew I wanted something more fun – to be in a happy business,” she says.
In the year In 2017, she started a pop-up boutique selling mainly accessories on weekends.
As she developed the business, brand and customer base that would become Fab & Budge’s signature, Chris began to develop plans for the boutique.
In September 2018, she left healthcare and opened the first brick-and-mortar location of Fab & Budge Boutique in Hokkien. In response to customer demand, she gradually expanded her line from bags and jewelry to carry-on clothing and some outerwear.
“The location was a bit hidden, so I knew the store had to be a destination and I also did a lot of pop-up events,” she says.
In the year In the spring of 2020, when Chris Ashley Austin saw the space at 106 West State Street in Kennett Square, she knew it would be perfect for Fab & Budge.
“Kenneth was on my radar because it’s a great community and has good foot traffic,” she says.
She also knew the existing boutiques and was sure to bring something different to add more diversity to this award-winning shopping district. The city’s holidays, she says, light up the square’s Christmas decorations and events like Third Thursdays bring efficiency. She remembers the community spirit reflected in the 2020 Kennett High School senior photos she posted in the store window before she opened the co-op, and the original parklet in front of the store.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen – whether moving a business in the middle of Covid was the craziest and worst idea or the best – but it worked out,” she smiles. “People in Hokkien shop in Kennett Square. Since we opened here on September 1, 2020, business has really boomed.
In the new Kennett location, Fab & Buje became a “full-service” boutique, stocking shoes, gifts, candles and more in addition to signature apparel and accessories.
Chris has increased the consciousness of the city by working with KARMA and being part of the community. She has hosted exclusive marketing events and collaborations with merchants including Sophisticated Bling Studio Niyama Mayo. Grain Craft Bar + Kitchen recently created a special Third Thursday signature cocktail called “Fab and Boozy.
For this week’s sidewalk sale, which runs from July 29 to 31, “everything in the store will be on sale at various discounts,” says Chris. Fab & Budge’s popular “Dot” sale returns, with different colored dots corresponding to different percentage discounts.
Bringing accessible fashion to Kenneth Square
Curating the store’s collection for a season requires thinking differently, and Chris enjoys traveling with Gia to shows in Atlanta, New York and elsewhere.
“I have to look at the quality of the fabrics, the size and the color,” says Chris.
She has a keen eye for fashion and follows the big fashion houses and the trends that will trickle down to the general public next season.
Fashion designers scour the world in search of new colors and influences, and while high-end fashion can be marginalized, “designers transform high-end designs into items that everyday people find attractive and want to wear,” Chris says.
While supply chain issues are plaguing the industry, she’s looking forward to traveling to shows this year and ordering great new pieces for clients she knows and loves.
Pantone’s color of the year for 2022 is purple – very pervy.
“People either love it or hate it,” Chris says with a smile.
She also realizes that trending fashion colors will appear in home design next year – for example, in accent pieces. Last year’s tie-dye and more muted hues giving way to brighter hues reflect the cultural trend of embracing new landscapes and new perspectives in these changing times, says Chris.
It’s very Perry symbolic, she says, of coming out of our collective isolation and the desire to explore and create. And like animal prints? “They’re still in, they’re like neutrals,” she said.
The relationship between web and social media presence and sales is complicated, says Chris.
Although relatively little of Fab&Budge’s revenue comes directly from online sales, he says, “You have to. Customers see something online and come to try it.
Chris is grateful to be able to collaborate with Gia, who manages the store’s active social media and Instagram accounts.
“After graduation, Gia wants to gain experience in merchandising and buying before I come back to take over the store – so I can retire,” smiles Kris.
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