Annabelle's Wish Will Stay Unique..,
With A Bit More Style
(As printed in the Nov. 23, 2005 Warren Sheaf)
Posted with permission of the Warren Sheaf
A few weeks ago, Annabelle Narlock stopped in at the Country Casuals clothing and gift shop in downtown Warren, looking for scarves to give her a headstart on her Christmas shopping. As she was finishing her purchase, she mentioned to clerk Dorothy Ranstrom that, by the way, if the store ever needed some fill-in Saturday help, she would be thrilled to come aboard. She loves clothing stores, she said, and has some experience. "Or maybe take ownership," replied Dorothy, almost with a wink. Annabelle thought the reply was a great joke, responding in kind, with something like, "Yeah, in my wildest dreams!" Not until several days later, when she found out Country Casuals was on the market, did she realize maybe Dorothy was trying to give her a heads-up, or plant the seed of an idea. If so, it was a seed that quickly sprouted, took root and bore fruit, because within a few weeks, as of Wednesday, November 16, Country Casuals had become Annabelle¹s Wish, Inc.
Narlock's retail venture is aptly named, as she has dreamed of someday owning a clothing store since she went to work for a trendy California shop for teens and misses when she was just 16. The Country Casuals store, started 8 years ago by Betty and Chuck East and daughter, Jody Larson, is a clothing store for women and misses, with a variety of gift items also offered. Sizes range from small to plus sizes. It is a well-kept secret, Narlock says, that the little store on Warren's East Johnson Avenue carries a lot of smalls and a lot of plus sizes. Popularity of the store is its uniqueness, says Narlock. "A lot of people say they come because of the uniqueness," she says. "There is not 30 of each item." Narlock is going to keep the uniqueness, then go beyond that a little. Part of the uniqueness, she says, is the high-end apparel the store has featured. "I'll keep that," she says, "but some people have asked for some medium-priced clothing, so I probably will offer some mid-priced active wear, or, as they call it, "Resort clothing." She wants to keep the store's customer base, which includes regulars from Grand Forks and Fargo, so she will not change any of the merchandise offered, just add some to the selection, including some clothing with more style. Same thing goes for the gift selection.
She will keep offering the candles, potpourri, cards, decorations
for the home
and baby gifts Country Casuals has offered, but probably add
some wall hangings
and a selection of floral pictures. The presentation will
change somewhat, too,
under Narlock¹s management. Eventually, "when you
come into the store, it will
have a Victorian feel," she says. But, that will come
from the selection and
presentation of the gift and decor items, not from the clothing.
"It will be
basically the same clothing, but I will incorporate more brands
to "kick it up a
notch." She also says the store is going to have more
accessories - things like
jewelry, earrings and anklets.
Her infatuation with the Victorian era is related to the redecorating she and her husband, Dean, have been doing the past few years since purchasing the 1896 Goplin house on Third Street. They have made great strides (but it is still a work in progress) in enhancing the home's basic Victorian character, including furnishing it with some French and Italian antiques. "I want to bring that character into the store," she says. Narlock's swift transition from wish to reality went surprisingly smoothly. When she told her husband what she had in mind, he told her to go ahead and pursue it. He did not want to know many details, but insisted she pencil out the prospects for profitability and prepare a solid business plan. When she had finished and presented it to Dean, he did not spend much time looking through it. "He just wanted me to do it," she says. And, it was a very worthwhile effort, she said.
Working through the numbers and seeing for herself she could succeed in the venture gave her more confidence, she added. The business plan she wrote stresses her 16 years of experience in retail business, with emphasis on customer contact. It mentions that after getting her first clothing store job at age 16 in her native San Diego, she became the top sales person within the first two years. By age 19, she had been named assistant manager, with responsibilities of visual merchandising, maintaining a trendy window and sales floor, and monitoring goals, as well as managing her sales force.
While
Annabelle seemed on her way to a successful career in merchandising
in
California, the whole course of her life changed drastically
when she joined the
Air Force at age 20 and was stationed at Grand Forks Air Force
Base. After
serving three years, she switched to the North Dakota Air
National Guard and was
stationed at Fargo. It was there she met Dean, a student at
NDSU, moving with
him to Warren after they married in 1995. While Dean, the
son of Sylvester and
LaVonne Narlock of Warren, settled into farming with his brother,
Donald,
Annabelle started taking classes at the University of North
Dakota, earning a
degree in business communications a couple years ago. Meanwhile,
for several
years, she worked at Eco-Lab in Grand Forks in sales and customer
service. She
later joined Bremer Bank of Warren as a personal banker, a
position she will
keep on a part-time basis, allowing her time to open and close
Annabelle¹s Wish
each day. Dean and Annabelle's little boy, Connor, was
born three years ago.
With all her seemingly endless energy poured into raising a child, attending college, refurbishing a vintage house and pursuing a career, it is rather shocking to learn she is a cancer survivor, being first diagnosed in 1997, overcoming that and soldiering on and then dealing with a recurrence of the cancer in 2004. "I'm doing fine, now," she says and points out her business plan identifies her greatest resources as her positive attitude and a personality that attracts people. Narlock has high hopes and determination to make Annabellešs Wish succeed. She is already planning her first trips "to market" for ordering merchandise. In January, she says, she will be buying stock for the approaching spring season, as well as goods for the store's grand opening, which she is planning for February. As she looks to the future, she already sees the day when the store will have a website and she will be doing e-marketing. She is keeping on the three sales clerks that have worked at Country Casuals for several years: Silvia Sena of Alvarado, Dorothy Ranstrom and part-timer Gail Knutson, both of Warren. The store will continue its hours of 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday-Saturday. For information, call Annabelle Narlock at 218-745-4200.