Apricot Lane Boutique Augusta apricotlaneboutique.com/augusta announces its Grand Opening in the Augusta Mall and will quickly move to the forefront of chic boutiques in the local area. Apricot Lane will feature trend setting fashion apparel, jewelry, shoes, handbags, and accessories to create must have high fashion looks for an affordable price! Featuring the most sought after styles seen on the pages of national magazines and on dozens of celebrities, the boutique will be the leading destination for both mothers and daughters, teens through 50’s looking for cutting edge styles. The store opened its doors in early September and will celebrate an official ribbon cutting ceremony with the Augusta Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 at 11:30 a.m. Guests will enjoy light refreshments, small bites and will meet local owner Lori Canale-Powers throughout the morning.

The stores’ opening comes at the perfect time during the most sought after fashion season of the year. Anyone visiting the boutique can really maximize their style with key must have pieces for the Fall Fashion season. Whether a mom wants to look fashionable in the car pool line or a college student wants to turn heads in the classroom, Apricot Lane has just the items to express anyone’s individual style..

Coming from a long history of family run businesses, Canale-Powers was looking for a way to combine her love of family, fun and fashion all in one and found Apricot Lane to be the perfect flexible franchise to be the perfect fit for to start her new adventure. Her first dreams of being in business for herself started at a very early age working side by side of her biggest mentor, her father Larry Canale, a self employed businessman of over 30 years who started his own franchise as well. “Working in the store the customer service part was always what I enjoyed the most, helping dress people so that they felt good and looked good,” she explained. She then took that particular interest of the business and excelled in her own career at various corporations focusing on core leadership competencies resulting in big success for those retailers she worked for.

Canale-Powers will take her past knowledge, compassion for others, desire to give back and strong connection her family and friends and those supporting her to start her new venture in owning her own business. "It has always been my dream to own my own store and after moving to the Augusta area and seeing there are many places to choose from to shop already but none that focus on bringing fashion-forward looks at affordable prices and in limited quantities unlike the what the larger retail chains do. The females that shop with us will have a sense of uniqueness when making a purchase as there will only be about six of each item in our store with no back stock inventory to refill the floor with the same item,” Canale-Powers explained. “Being in the retail world for so long I know this will be our biggest advantage making us stand out from other stores,” she continued.

In true boutique fashion, Apricot Lane prides itself on featuring a limited number of each item in stock but also seeks out any opportunity to do good in the local community and its surroundings. As a boutique owner, giving back is also very important to this locally owned store and she looks for opportunities to help with local charities and ways to give back. In store, Apricot Lane features brands such as 3Strands which donates 100% of profits to empower, educate and employ young women who have been rescued from sex trafficking, and brands such as Emi Jay, HOME T’s which donate a portion of all sales back to help ALS, Good Works and more that all donate a portion of each sale back to a good cause. Being a local business owner she also sees the importance in carrying brands also MADE in the USA as she hopes to support those other local businesses like hers.

Apricot Lane is unique in that each owner has the ability to buy products that best fit their customers’ needs and styles and geographic areas so guests are guaranteed a unique shopping experience in every Apricot Lane Boutique they enter! “We look forward to reacting instantly to the emerging trends here in the Augusta area and the direct requests we receive from customers, along with the highest level of customer service- that’s what the boutique experience is all about.” said Canale-Powers. In our area we know the importance of the military families that surround us, I look forward to finding ways to give back to them, support them and bring in brands they will like as well. As part of this successful franchise system, stores continue to open throughout the year as they are awarded to franchisees.

Just as Apricot Lane Boutiques are known to keep up with the most stylish trends, they are also on top of one of the newest crazes to hit the fashion scene…. fashion parties. Apricot Lane Boutique offers clients a chance to have their own “Girls Night Out!” at the boutique with the store handling the details from coordinating the invitations to the planning of refreshments and snacks.

Apricot Lane encourages hosts to bring ten to fifteen guests to the fashion parties and groups can be made up of co-workers, mothers and daughters, young mothers looking to escape from the kids for a few hours or even charity groups, schools or sports teams where the store can offer incentives to donate a portion of sales back to the cause of choice.  Apricot Lane offers the hostess 50% off any one item in the boutique, 20% off all remaining items, and gift card incentives for bringing a certain number of guests. All attendees also receive 20% off the store during the party.