Cece Couture Opens for Women with Fashion in Mind
BOARDMAN, Ohio --– Cece Haren is not living her dream. She is fulfilling the vision, more specifically the business vision, she began to develop three years ago as a student at Youngstown State University.
The difference is not one of semantics, as this article should illustrate. Haren is an entrepreneur who gave considerable thought, conducted extensive research and worked hard to open her business. Dreams are easy to imagine. Vision is the execution, to the smallest detail, of the imagination of what can be.
Haren’s vision, she says with a chuckle, is “Barbie meets Fashion Week.”
This week, on the coldest day in the Valley in 20 years, Haren’s classmates from YSU showed up for the grand opening of Cece Couture at 339 Boardman-Canfield Road between the Rite-Aid and Michael’s in the Boardman Plaza. Also on hand was Miss Ohio, Heather Wells of Warren, from the Miss America pageant.
The store, which occupies 3,600 square feet, has bubblegum pink walls, a faux marble floor, four fitting rooms, a 12-foot runway and huge mirror -- 12 feet long and 8 feet high -- that allows women to see how they look in the gowns and dresses they try on.
The gowns are for high school dances while the dresses are for the mothers of brides, grooms and other members of wedding parties.
She also offers an array of cocktail dresses for “young professionals,” that is, women who need evening wear to attend business socials afterhours.
Unlike for the young businesswomen’s attire, the gowns are intended to be worn but once, Haren says. Moreover, “I’m sick of seeing the mothers of brides and grooms being put in frumpy gowns,” Haren declares. “I don’t do frumpy!”
To that end, Haren says she has two styles that “hide the pounds” and make matrons look 20 pounds lighter.
Prices range from $210 to $1,500, Haren says, and she and her staff of four are ready to suggest shoes, jewelry and other accessories that complement the gowns and dresses offered. Shoes start at $30 and run up to $400. The jewelry begins at $20 and the priciest item is $200. Also offered are cell phone cases and coffee mugs that urge, “Stay calm and party on.”
The Business Journal interviewed Haren Thursday, the third day Cece’s was open, and already high school girls were scoping out their prom gowns for next May.
When shopping for high school social events attire -- homecoming, sweetheart and prom gowns – girls never shop alone, Haren relates. They arrive in groups of three to seven to see what’s available and secure their friends’ blessing. “Girls are very concerned about approval,” Haren relates. After the girl picks her gown, she returns with her mother.
“Today’s shopper will go to several stores and try on several dresses at each store before they bring their mother [to buy the one she picked],” Haren says.
And once the high school girl has picked her gown, she also returns with her date so he can pick his formal wear with the color that matches exactly -- from luminous hot pinks to icy blues and everything in between. A rack of some 40 tuxedo vests, courtesy of Master’s Tuxedo, is at the back of store for the girls to instruct their dates.
Parents almost always pick up the tab for the girls’ gowns and accessories, Haren says. Apparently few earn enough to pay for their own.
The mothers of the brides and grooms likewise bring trusted friends to help them choose.
Regardless, the larger the retinue, the longer to takes a girl or woman to choose the right gown. Sometimes complicating the search is Cece’s assurance of only one gown per school. All girls must register so there are no duplicate gowns -- at least from Cece’s -- worn at the same high school dance.
Labels Cece’s offers are Joviani Fashions (“one of the most popular,” Haren notes), Faviana, Cristine Couture (“We’re one of the first to carry their line”) and Blush (“one of the top designers in 17 Prom magazine”).
All gowns have hems sufficiently long to be worn by a girl 6 feet tall, Haren says, and Stoula, a seamstress from Alterations Plus, performs the alterations needed. Haren allows she can thread a needle and sew a button on a dress -- “I can do basics” -- but learned early on that she didn’t like that aspect of fashion.
She entered YSU intending to major in fashion merchandising but quickly switched to marketing management with a minor in entrepreneurship. Haren also worked in a bridal shop while working toward her degree. She graduated last month.
Haren’s grandfather and his brother started a business in Lowellville that her father continues to own and operated. Haren says she learned much of her enthusiasm for entrepreneurship from them.
In earning her minor in entrepreneurship, Haren recalls, she had to develop and present the business plan that eventually persuaded Farmers National Bank to lend her the funding she needed to open her store.
The lending officer at Farmers, she said, told her that her plan “was one of the best business plans they’d ever seen.” Farmers lent her 90% of the $200,000 needed to open her store. Also participating were the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp. and the Small Business Administration. She came up with the other 10% equity.
Her plan had been thoroughly vetted in her entrepreneurship classes at YSU. Her fellow students held nothing back in their comments, suggestions and criticisms in her capstone class, she remembers.
A cursory overview of the gowns that line the west wall of Cece’s showed that the great majority are strapless and revealing. At the high school proms this spring, Haren said, “Straps will be popular and neutral colors – whites, ivories and golds – will too.” She’s confident she’ll sell “the reds and the blacks” as well but neutrals will dominate.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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