Bridget Quinn Stickline has always been passionate about fashion. But her appreciation for stylish apparel isn’t the only reason Stickline– owner of Green Spring Station’s Wee Chic, a children’s clothing boutique that opened in 2008, and Girlhero, a boutique for teenage girls that opened in September — loves her job.
“It’s so much fun to know these kids [who used to shop at Wee Chic] when they were five or seven, and watch how their personal expression has evolved and who they are today,” says Stickline.
Indeed, it was Stickline’s familiarity with her Wee Chic customers that made her aware of the need for a store in Baltimore like Girlhero.
“We’ve been here for 13 years now, servicing customers from newborns to tweens, and what we’ve heard very consistently is that once you’re past that 8-16 sizing, the market gets strange,” she says. “You kind of jump right into ‘young contemporary,’ but young contemporary in most places is [appropriate for] a 25-year-old woman, not for a girl who’s 13,15 or 17. We were seeing customers growing out of tween sizes and then feeling really frustrated about what was available in the marketplace for them. The thinking behind Girlhero was to create an environment for that high school-age customer to find trend-right products that they’re excited about.”
While customers at Girlhero can expect to pay retail, Stickline says she tries to keep prices reasonable for young shoppers and their parents. Teen girls may fit into women’s clothing sizes, she says, but paying women’s clothing prices doesn’t necessarily make sense for high school-age customers.
For example, says Stickline, “[At a women’s clothing store] maybe you’re buying an $180 pair of jeans. That’s not where we are. Our denim — we’ve got five lines of denim — ranges from $65–$95 at retail.”
Stickline says Girlhero’s jewelry selection is also well priced and considers the fact that girls like to layer their jewelry. “You can’t pay $25 for a bracelet when they want to layer four of them,” she says. “The target price point for us is between $28 and $68 at retail. Party dresses, jackets and some specialty lines may be in the $80 –$120.”
Stickline says the store will not offer prom gowns or bat mitzvah dresses. However, Girlhero does sell cocktail dresses and b’nai mitzvah guest attire.
“We’re not going to sell anything that would be considered a gown,” she says. “What we really do well is the stuff [high school girls] live in. You’ve got your going-out wardrobe because in high school, you might go out with friends on [the weekend]. There might be a party. Then, they’ve got their lounge around, slouchy comfortable stuff. And then they’ve got events like homecoming and bar mitzvahs. We sell all that.
“We’ve had a really tremendous buzz around the opening,” says Stickline, who notes that about 250 people attended Girlhero’s grand opening. “You can’t get more validated than that. We’re excited to be part of Green Spring Station, which has been such an incubator for new business in this community. I’m just really grateful.”
For information about Girlhero, visit girlheroshop.com.
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