Conshohocken Obvious Spot for Obvi

For Antoinette Poluch, owner of Obvi, a women’s clothing boutique that recently opened at 515 Fayette Street, opening a second store in Conshohocken was always part of the plan… even before she knew about Conshohocken.

Poluch, a 29-year-old Downingtown native who has owned and operated the original Obvi in Wester Chester since 2006, says it was always her goal to have multiple stores. She’d been looking for two years for the perfect place to launch a second location, which, as it turns out, was right on Fayette Street.

“I knew I always wanted more than one store,” she says. “I’d been looking for a while, and was trying to find the right spot, somewhere that had both the clientele and a need for a boutique with affordable prices.

“With all the 20-somethings and 30-somethings in the area, Conshohocken has this growing need for something like Main Street [in Manayunk], a place where people can go to stroll, shop, eat, and hang out. I see the makings of that here, with the great restaurants and bars along the strip. All we need is a few more businesses.”

With that big picture outlook and two stores on her hands, it’s easy to believe Poluch is a seasoned lifer in the retail business, but she’s actually only worked in the industry for six years. She got her first taste at 23, just one year before opening her first store.

If it sounds incredibly ambitious and risky to open your own store at 24, maybe that’s because it is. But, listening to Poluch talk about her experiences and her plans, it becomes obvious that’s how she perates. It’s worth noting that this is a person who, when unsure of what major to pick at Gettysburg College, forged her own path by creating one of her own – Artistic Communication in Society.

“I never take the easy way out,” she says. “I guess that can be good and bad. On the plus side, it means if I want something I go for it. I try to do my own thing, and make it my own way.”

Upon graduating from Gettysburg, Poluch dabbled in marketing for a while before setting her sights on starting a boutique. At the suggestion of her parents, she decided she would work in retail for a year to get experience, so she got a job managing a Hollister, and also worked in a Victoria’s Secret.

“A year to the day, I quit and pursued opening my store,” Poluch says. “I think my youth and my naivety actually helped at the time. I didn’t really have any responsibilities, so I was able to be married to the store.”

Poluch’s original intent was to target college girls, especially since West Chester is a college town, and so she went with the short and sweet name that came from her own college experience – “Obvi,” a slang term for “obviously” that she and her friends used in college.

“The store has evolved, and I have older and younger clients now, but the name stuck,” Poluch says. “As my style has changed, so has the store’s. It’s been shaped by my experiences too.

"I learned the hard way that I need to keep the customers in mind. I tend to take some more risks with my personal wardrobe because I’m in the fashion industry, but I try to make sure the clothing at Obvi has a more classical tone. Still a bit edgy, but also something women won’t look back on and think ‘What was I wearing?’ It’s classic pieces with a little bit of a twist.”

According to Poluch, the clothing at Obvi is mostly casual with a West Coast feel. She buys some cocktail dresses that could be worn to weddings, but it’s “mostly fun and flirty pieces. A lot of flair, a lot of color, a top or a piece you couldn’t find just anywhere.”

And, an important aspect Poluch stresses, is that all her pieces are affordable. “I don’t bother stocking things that are going to be too expensive,” she says. “Our price point is the most important thing. I like to keep everything affordable, because it’s no fun to go to a store and see things you like but can’t get.”

Poluch, who has moved to Conshohocken while she gets the new store up and running, acknowledges there’s more for her to do as the owner of two stores, but she says she welcomes the challenge.

“When I opened my first store I was young and didn’t have the experience I have now, so I was always super busy,” she says. “I think I was starting to get a little comfortable with one store, so I’m enjoying the challenge of launching a new store and cultivating new clients.”

The Fayette location officially opened May 20, and so far, Poluch says business has been better than expected. Despite the success and her innate inclinations to go for broke, Poluch has put further ambition on the backburner, saying that, for the time being, she’s a two-store kind of woman.

“I’m going to stick with two stores for a couple of years, but of course I would love to open another one,” she says. “It’s all about finding a great spot where you can grow and become a part of the landscape. We have that in West Chester, and I think we can have that in Conshohocken.”

For more information: www.obvionline.com