MEREDITH — Business partners Ashley Meeken and Casey Gerken are no strangers to commerce: Meeken operates The Studio at Meredith Bay, a dance studio, and Gerken owns both Innisfree Bookshop locations in Meredith and Laconia. But they’re new to the women’s and dance clothing business, and so far, things are going great.
Meeken and Gerken signed their lease this summer, sometime in May or June to the best of their recollection, and opened up a women’s clothing store called Eleve Clothier Contemporaine, specializing in contemporary, trendy clothes and dancewear in September. Located at 30 Main St. in Meredith Village, Meeken and Gerken secured prime real estate with high visibility and they say they’ve been happily surprised by the diversity of their clientele, in terms of age.
“It was a really busy summer,” Meeken said.
Before its inception, Meeken said she’d noticed there weren’t many dance-specific stores in the Lakes Region, noting one in Laconia was expected to close imminently, and thought it would be great to offer more choice to dancers throughout the area.
“Last fall, [Gerken] and I got together,” Meeken said. “I’m really into fashion and clothes.”
Meeken and Gerken combined their interests in fashion, dance and retail, sought and found a suitable space for their burgeoning business, signed a lease and hit the ground running.
“Let’s seize the moment,” Meeken said at the time, excited to find a visible spot and have an opportunity to create something great.
The timing for the pair was impeccable — Meekin’s mother, store manager Candy Landroche, was retiring from the Tilton School where she served as director of admissions, and so was able to assist in the formation of the new business.
“She’s a people-person,” Meeken said of her mother.
“It was a big decision in the moment,” Gerken said.
Their connections to the community have played a significant role in their initial success, both Meeken and Gerken agreed. Gerken owns popular bookstores and Meeken, aside from her role teaching dancing, is an actor at both the Winnipesaukee Playhouse and in productions with Interlakes Summer Theatre.
“We’re both really connected in the community,” Meeken said Thursday morning. “We’re happy to get a wider reach in the Lakes Region.”
So far, the business has done well. Meeken and Gerken both said they’ve been happily surprised to see the variety of customers interested in their inventory. They’ve noticed generational customers — grandmothers shopping for their daughters and granddaughters and mothers shopping for themselves or for their children — which they said they didn’t expect when the shop first opened.
“That’s been such a joy,” Landroche said.
But it hasn’t been without challenges, which Gerken said is normal for a new business.
“It’s always hard when you’re in your first year,” she said.
They hoped to offer unique clothing, things customers wouldn’t necessarily find in most shops, which presented Gerken with a learning curve when compared to the book business. Landroche said she’s been happy to see upper-middle aged women shopping in the store.
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised,” she said.
“At the bookstore, the best books to sell are the best-selling books,” she said, noting that with clothing, it’s not as easy to say which articles will be the most popular ahead of time.
“Thank goodness we’re here on Main Street,” Landroche said.
And Meeken said she sees the clothing store as one part of a broader network of businesses working to help the town thrive.
“We want people to want to come to this area,” Meeken said, calling it a “destination.”
When it comes to stocking the store, Landroche called Meeken the “visionary” behind the scenes. Meeken said she often gets compliments based on her outfit while she is traveling, so she attempts to purchase clothing that appeals to her personally when thinking about which items to sell. She also said she makes a conscious effort to offer clothes in sizes other than her own and in colors she wouldn’t personally wear.
“I’m trusting my own aesthetics,” she said. “That creative piece for me is the most exciting.”
The pair is looking forward to another busy year.
“I’m excited for the holidays and I’m excited for the summer,” Meeken said.
Their next challenge is figuring out creative ways to market the business. Meeken said social media has proven a valuable tool to that effect.
“If you’re going to be relevant, you have to work on posting daily,” she said.
Luckily, the surrounding community has been a shoulder to lean on.
“It might have just been dumb luck,” Gerken said. “The Lakes Region in general is really supportive of small businesses. That makes it more fun and less work.”
Upon entering Eleve, customers would notice a large room to the right that’s still under construction. Meeken said her husband, Chris Meeken of Black Tie Construction, is working on expanding the shop to include a show room for his work, and eventually a space to sell home goods.
For now, the store offers a mixture of athleisure, athletic, dance and other clothing, as well as sizing services for dance clothing on a walk-in basis.
“We carry some of the really cool stuff that you would find in, like, Boston,” Meeken said, including Capezio and Bloch dancewear. “This is probably the slower-moving stuff.”
The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.
“This is for me, sort of like a new season of my own creative expression,” Meeken said. “Most days I get to do something really fun and that makes people happy.”
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