After more than a year selling her line of clothes at the Old Fuller Store, Rebecca Wittman is moving her shop into the heart of town.
The President of Me will relocate next to The Hardware Store Restaurant in the former space of Vine to Vashon, which closed in September.
“I’m over the moon,” Wittman said last week, just one day after signing the lease.
Wittman is leaving her shop at Center, which she opened the summer before last. With 100-year-old floors and a wood stove in the foyer, the building has an old Vashon feel to it, she said, but in Center it draws few passersby.
“What I will give up in charm, I will make up for four-fold in foot traffic,” she added.
Now, Wittman is working on readying her new store in time to be open for Friday’s gallery cruise. Her clothes — mostly casual items — are in no way trendy, she stressed, and she finds fault with the fashion industry, when it gives the message that clothes should be worn for a few months then discarded. In fact, Wittman’s favorite piece of clothing from her line, she said, is a simple hooded sweatshirt that can be worn three seasons a year and is durable.
“I want people to wear these and feel like it’s their favorite sweatshirt and that they will wear it until it falls off their body,” she said. “That is the ethically right way to sell clothes.”
Her clothes — and the message she sews into most garments — appear to be gaining increasing interest, as this summer’s sales were up 50 percent each month over last year’s, she said, and the business is self-sustaining. But to grow — and pay herself — she needs more foot traffic, and she expects that being in the heart of town will more than double her sales.
More than years ago, Wittman said, she told Melinda Sontgerath, who owns the space next to The Hardware Store, that if the space were ever available, she would like to rent it.
Just two weeks ago, Sontgerath contacted her, Wittman said, and asked her if she was still interested. Now, in addition to getting enough inventory ready for the holidays, she is also moving.
“It’s a little like building a house while you’re pregnant,” she joked.
For her part, Sontgerath said she closed Vine to Vashon in mid-September because, like many businesses on the island, the wine shop did well in the summer but was not sustainable the rest of the year.
“We loved the concept and had a lot of enthusiastic support, but alas, it was not enough to keep our doors open year round,” she said.
At the same time, she added, she is excited about Wittman moving into the space.
“I truly admire her talent and intentions with her company,” she said. “I have a soft spot for businesses that have a meaningful context around their products and services, so she was a perfect fit.”
