Ah, "Lola and Emily"... when you're looking for Fashion with Passion.  Montreal is well credited to be able to boast about is this hot boutique people in the biz are saying is beginning to get attention-worldwide. Quite simply LnE is, beauty-fashion-that can elevate you.

Marnie Blanshay is a Montrealer and the proprietor of this exquisite boutique. Located in none other than the famously uber-hip district known as "Rue St. Laurent" set in Canada's mega-cosmo fashion city, LnE is no ordinary outfit of a store.  And guess what, LnE has agreed to an exclusive interview with MF so you have the chance to see just how down-to-earth and rad this business is. Not only that, you get the opportunity to get the insight into how a fashion fixture of this high caliber actually weaves 'round!!

What's fabulous about LnE?

The thing that's always been important from the beginning at Lola & Emily is the atmosphere.  Ideally the store makes people feel comfortable...as comfortable as if they were riffling through their friend's closet.  When we opened I specifically wanted the store to be the opposite of what I saw as the typical Montreal clothing boutique-cold, dark, and intimidating. 

What makes you different in terms of what you "do" with clothing?

Lola & Emily is really at the complete other end of the spectrum.  We also try and mix the brands that we carry in the store to reflect a balance of higher end and more accessible fashion-some more basic styling, but also more fashion forward styles. Although you can find many of the lines that we carry in other stores in the city the difference is in the combination of lines that we sell and how we merchandise them.  We prefer to offer a lot of different brands even if we only do a small selection of styles for any one season, as opposed to offering just a couple of brands but in great depth (i.e. we would never want to be too heavily identified with just one or two brands...that also allows us to change the look and feel of the store with every new season). 

What inspired you to open the store at first?

The store opened on August 9th 2001 so it has been 7 years now.  I originally wanted to be on St Laurent because I had been living in the area for about 5 or 6 years and felt that there just weren't any boutiques that I liked.  At that time, there was a lot of concrete floor, minimal lighting, tiny changing rooms with no mirror-and the service sucked, quite frankly. 

And what led you to shape the process in the way you have?

I remember going into a boutique on St Laurent that had been around forever, with a friend, and watching her suck up to the "salesgirl" [aka sales lady or person, duh] who was completely ignoring her-and offering her no help whatsoever...and I just thought- this is wrong.  There is no reason that you should have to suck up to a "salesgirl" so she will get you another size.  I think it was literally then that I decided that I wanted to open a store that was the opposite to that.

Can you say a little about the mystique and the actual layout of the store, itself-which is gorgeous to say the least?

The idea behind the store has definitely changed over the years-when we opened, it was really more of a 'concept'.  Lola & Emily were characters-personalities.  Lola was more fashion oriented, and Emily was more classic.  The store was set up to look more like an apartment (in theory) and had a 'bathroom' area with bath products, some kitchen stuff, home decorating items... but as time went on, it became clear that the clothes and accessories were what was moving faster and at a certain point we were giving up selling space for the idea of what we wanted to sell, as opposed to what was actually moving.  So it has definitely become less 'concept' driven, and more sales driven.  I hate to admit it, but it is true!

Who's involved with you? Tell us-who have you trusted on the road to the LnE success story?

I work with a couple of different people- one of my very old friends, Sally Scott is the Creative Director of the store- she has a big part in doing the windows and coming up with some of the original merchandising ideas that we use.  She also does a lot of the buying with me, and designs our in house line called LnE.  Then there is Amanda Eaman who started working in the store part-time when she was in school, and then became fulltime and then started buying with us and we now actually have a wholesale company that she heads up.  We have an office in the back of the store where all 3 of us work- so I am technically at the store every day- but I don't really work on the floor much anymore. 

Are you on the "floor"?

Selling was never my strong suit- so we have about 4 or 5 part-time girls who work at the store.  We have been so lucky with our staff over the years- I cannot imagine what we would have done without the girls!  A lot of them work at the store an go and do something else and then come back- actually right now we have 3 girls working who have all left and come back... some of them twice!  It helps a lot that I trust them all implicitly.  It's sort of a friendly place to work, I think.  I mean, my Mom stops by a lot.  They all know my family and friends- and Sally and I have been friends for 25 years-so that creates a certain familiarity that I think trickles down to everyone- even if they only work a couple of hours a week.

Has anything changed in your clientele over the time span you've been open?

I don't think our clientele has changed so much over the years- and there isn't a lot of growth in the market- Montreal has a pretty small population- and we certainly cater to a higher/more sophisticated demographic- so there are only so many shoppers who are looking for this price-point.  As the market changes (new stores open and close) we see some small effects- but not too much.  There will always be boutique shoppers- and as long as we can offer them something worth coming back for (selection and service) then I think we have a good chance of keeping our customer base. 

I'm guessing UW students would love to know this store exists if ever they go to Montreal! No doubt you must get new students and up-and-coming customers all the time, yes?

We get new customers every year-especially with McGill students.  People move to Montreal for 3 years and Lola & Emily has certainly become a favorite spot for some of those "girls"...We miss them when they leave!  But there is always a new wave of students, and so [yes] we try and reach out to them as much as we can.

Who likes to buy at LnE, for the most part?

Our customers are anywhere from 20 to 50+-we do get a lot of McGill students who live in the nearby ghetto, but we also have a lot of professional women (actor to doctor) who have been shopping at the store since we opened.  We don't necessarily try and sell a whole 'look' to our customers-it's more about finding a few key pieces that will work back to what any customer might have in their wardrobe already.  We are most definitely item-driven in that way.

What about sizing? This can be challenging for any inventory comptroller.

Because we do carry so many different brands, it's hard to pinpoint sizing- some of the lines we carry are American, French, Belgian, Danish, Swedish, and Canadian so there are no standards really.  Our customers tend to be on the small side- while we try and carry sizes from XS to L (or the equivalent) the reality is that at the end of the season we are left with more large sizes than anything else and as a result we buy more on the smaller size.  I myself am a large, so trust me, if we had the market, I would buy everything in large- but we just don't have the market.

Do you have any set/accent signatures?

There is nothing that I would necessarily say that we consistently stock in terms of signature looks or fabrics or accents-it really depends on what we are feeling for any particular season.  We do try and stay away from anything that is too trendy- anything that is 'the next big thing in LA' will probably never be in the store.  We just don't really buy into that kind of flash-in-the-pan trend stuff- I mean of course we follow trends, but we do try and stay away from the obviously short-lived ones.

Can you tell us a bit about how you "do" your inventory?

We have built up a repertoire of designers and labels over the years that we are loyal to- but we also look for new lines at trade shows, in magazines, online, in other shops, cities...We are always looking for something that is new that not everyone else carries already.  In a given season, we do not necessarily place reorders-unless we have a specific request or a style is clearly going to sell out again, we have found that reordering somehow makes the style less special- if you shop at the store regularly, you will learn that we tend to buy maybe 4 pieces in a style and that's it- if you love it you have to buy it when you see it because the supply is limited.

What sort of "dress" are your styles geared toward?

Our selection of clothing is probably more geared towards casual and party... lots of our pieces can be worked in to a professional look as well, but we don't carry suits or full blown ball gowns.  I would say our average price point is about $150... We rarely have anything over the $400 mark- and if we do, it has to be spectacular. 

Can you talk about your philosophy and perhaps the delicate subject of clothing quality? Might be a biggie question for those who are reading this...I'm just guessing!

Our overall price philosophy is that the price must reflect the quality...We have to be able to stand by our prices so-if someone looks at a sweater that we have and says "why would this plain black turtleneck cost $200?" we can say legitimately that the yarn is from the same factories that Prada and Armani use, the details are such and such and it will last you a good few seasons.  If we feel that something is too expensive for what it is (no matter what label) we won't buy it.  For example, we were looking at a new line from LA a couple of weeks ago, and the styles were really cute- we really liked them. But a beautiful miniskirt was not fully lined- and would have sold for $225 or $250-I think that if someone is paying that price, they deserve a fully-finished garment.  I don't really care how 'hot' the line is and what stars are wearing it... for that price, it should have a lining!

Got it. Ah. So, have to ask-do you sell shoes?

We started selling shoes about 3 years ago and that has been a great addition for us.  It is a tougher type of product to carry as you normally need to carry a minimum of 12 in each style and storage is a bit harder than clothes, but our customers have fully embraced the shoes.  Some of the lines that we carry are Dolce Vita, Sam Edelman, Matiko, Mogil.

What about accessories? Do you specialize in this?

Accessories in general are also a growth area for us- we didn't used to carry as many as we do now but our scarves, bags and jewelry selections are a great accent to our clothes.  Plus frankly it allows people who might not be able to afford some of the clothes to still find something that they love from the store.  This goes for some of the more 'tchotcke' items that we have- things like notecards, candles, gift items... I am a total sucker for those kinds of things but I have to limit myself to stocking this stuff around the holidays only as we just don't have the space for it all.

Do you have any designs for expecting moms, their kids and/or their 'hubbies'?

We don't specifically cater to maternity, however I do find that the clothing shapes in the past few years have actually been very maternity friendly.  Empire waist and oversized styles can basically double as maternity wear for smaller customers and we have definitely seen a bit of that in the store.  We have also recently started to carry a small selection of baby shoes- like TOMS shoes for kids.  It's sort of more of a 'gift' item than anything else- people are buying them when they see them as a gift for a friend- we don't really have parents bringing their kids in to be outfitted for their school shoes or anything like that!  We are bringing in a couple more lines for spring and will see how that goes.  We have a big comfy couch for husbands and we have at least some little trinket-y type stuff around the store that can occupy them- but we don't carry any men's stuff specifically.

What do you make of the whole green thing, say for instance the rhetoric that "black is the new green"?

I am not anti-green however I won't buy something simply because it is eco-friendly.  It has to be comparatively stylish and saleable in the same way that a non-eco garment would be.  We are certainly seeing more of it around, but I am still not convinced that the styling available in eco-friendly fashion is where it could be... or where it will be.  I imagine in the future the options will be much more interesting than they are now.

One hesitates to compare, but if you had to say something on this vein-what would it be?

There are definitely some other boutiques in Montreal that cater to the same clientele as us- but I like to think that we are unique in the way that we do things.  The way the store looks is different than most shops- the way we merchandise our stock is also totally different- we use a lot  of antique furniture that is for sale so when we do sell something we automatically have to re-merchandise the store.  I also hope that our customer service is unique- we really try and make sure that our customers leave the store feeling good- we would prefer that someone leave without buying something if they were unsure then getting home and feeling that they were pressured into buying something- and we are honest.   

Where are you with LnE business-wise in terms of today and the future?

At this point, we have been around for a while, and so I do think that we have developed a good reputation-both with our customers and with our suppliers. I think that at the beginning in this business it is easy to get distracted by all the 'fashion' and 'cool' factor-it's so intimidating. 

What about your lines? What has been the customer response?

You want to get good lines for the store, and in a lot of cases you will get judged by how you look- are you 'cool enough' to carry a line...That plays a big part at the beginning - I am just glad that I made it through long enough to be able to prove that there is so much more to it than that.  This is a business and 'cool' can only get you so far- you have to be able to manage things, pay your bills, stock your store, pay your staff... all the while keeping things interesting for your customers.  The feedback from our customers was immediately positive-from the day we opened I would hear people saying how much they loved the store, and that has continued over the years-we have these cotton shopping bags every once in a while with our logo and an image printed on them and we give them out with purchase.  And we have customers who tell us that they use the bags ... in Toronto, or New York or Burlington...and someone will come up to them and tell them that Lola & Emily is their favorite store.  I am always so amazingly flattered by that. 

You offer something that's clearly "more"...and awesome at that-what is it exactly?

I guess the only other thing that I would add is about our own line, called LnE.  We design it in house (Sally Scott) and we have been selling it in the store for about 5 years now, to one degree or another.  For the past 2 years we have been selling it to some other amazing boutiques across Canada-which is so exciting because these stores are awesome and it is so flattering to have our line there... Having the line also allows us to have something in the store that is unique for Montreal-we don't sell to anyone else here, so it gives us another little unique edge.

www.lolaandemily.com