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Business & Tech

Chic Shop is Meeting Spot

Stylish boutique offers trendy and classic jewelry and accessories. Owners seek to make everyone feel at home.

"What's the good word?" exclaimed a customer, before the door to Elle Squared could close behind her.

She was greeted recently with a kiss on the cheek by Lori Sachs-Campbell, a co-owner with Louise Webber.  The two started into a typical conversation between friends, chatting about summer plans and asking about each other's children.

This is the usual at Elle Squared, a veritable shopper's heaven for women — and teens and tweens, too —  in the Livingston Town Center.

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"Do you remember the show Cheers?" asked Sachs-Campbell. "It's like Cheers, where everyone knows your name. People come here to schmooze; they say let's meet there before lunch. That's what it's all about."

By creating a store where it feels as though customers are walking into a friend's living room rather than a typical boutique, the pair of friends behind the popular boutique has created a lasting business. This August, Sachs-Campbell and Webber will celebrate the first anniversary in the Town Center location.

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The girly boutique is a bursting with color. Handbags line the walls from floor to ceiling. Beautiful scarves flow out of baskets placed on the floor and jewelry sparkles from several display cases.

"We're all about personalization: lockets, necklaces, earrings. We'll make a chain any length, any style," said Webber. "We are about styling people. We're about helping get that one piece that makes everything else work, everything come together."

Webber travels to Italy and Paris about four times a year to select merchandise. She has an eye, she said, for future fashion trends. She returns with unique finds exclusive to Elle Squared.

"Our mantra is 'Classic with an Edge,'" said Webber.

Designs by M Z Wallace, Cynthia Vincent, Diane von Furstenberg, and others fill the one room boutique. A jewelry counter displaying personalized trinkets and charms fills the middle of the space. Next to the counter sits a hat stand, with a tree of hats in all shapes and sizes. Scented oils from the upscale "Agraria" line mix with funny fly swatters shaped as flip-flops.

The store was a popular destination for graduation gifts. Just hours after the Heritage Middle School graduation ceremony, graduate Sydney Lagowitz, 14, and her mom, Andie Lagowitz, stopped by to pick up the necklace that Andie ordered for her daughter to mark the memorable occasion.

"I like how unique it is, and it's stylish," Sydney said of Elle Sqaured. "There's always new stuff. And you always see people wearing the stuff around town."

"The service is great. They're a knowledgeable staff, very willing to work with you," added Andie.

Andie had it easy, knowing exactly what Sydney wanted. If someone isn't so sure what to get for a friend or relative, stop by the store and see if there is anything on her wishlist. Sachs-Campbell and Webber keep an electronic wishlist for all of their customers, whether she's been in once or once a day.

"We keep it on your list, so your friends can come by and see what you like," said Webber. "It takes the guess work out of it."

Running a successful fashion boutique is a second career for both women, who met as executives in the publishing industry.

"We were the only two women, and our desks were right next to each other," recalled Webber. "We were talking, and I said, 'I am gonna open a little popsicle stand selling handbags. My goal is to go to Italy, to enjoy life.' She was just getting married, and said she had always wanted to open a jewelry shop."

"My grandmother worked in costume jewelry," Sachs-Campbell reminisced, "She lived on Coney Island, and until I was 14, I just wanted to go to grandma's and look through her jewelry and have fun every weekend."

In 1999, as the publishing company went through a "huge restructuring," Sachs-Campbell found herself looking for a new venture.

"After 15 years it was over. It was 1999, before people started talking about reinventing themselves, but that's what I needed to do. I needed to reinvent myself," said Sachs-Campbell.

Webber was looking to spend more time at home, to be able to spend more time with her ailing parents. The timing worked out perfectly for the two and Elle Squared was born. The partnership has worked beautifully, both said, because they have a special balance.

"We're the yin and the yang. She is sweetness and light and customer focused. I'm the operations person," said Webber.

That's a modest look at how business is done. Webber is also quite customer focused. On the day the farmers market opened, she called a regular customer, whom she knows is Kosher, to tell her about a new Kosher baker who had a stand in the market. It's nothing out of the ordinary for either of them to call a customer about something that has nothing to do with Elle Squared.

The boutique has been in business since October 2003, but spent the first several years operating from Antonio's Salon and Spa. When the Town Center opened for business, they convinced the developers to allow them to sub-lease 100 square feet from shoe store Shoe Inn.

"We are and will probably always be the only subtenant ever allowed in Livingston Town Center," said Webber. "At first, they didn't want to let us do it, but all of the wives of the property managers are fans of our store, and they said to their husbands, 'Don't be ridiculous!'" she said with a laugh. 

Over the past year, they have relished the opportunity to style an entire store.

"It has been wonderful," said Webber. "When you own your own versus sharing, everything you do is about you, from windows to the bathrooms, you control it all. And it is all a reflection of you."

To continue building a loyal customer base, Webber and Sachs-Campbell started offering Sunday specials. The deals change each week, sometimes for a percentage discount, others for free merchandise. It all depends on the owners' moods that week. In the winter holiday season, they host a party where sales people get to invite their favorite customers.

They are also involved in charities, both international and local. They have hosted to events to raise money for Haiti relief funds. 

"Every charity in this community," said Webber, "You ask us for a donation, you'll get one."

Contemplating what exactly has set them apart and what has helped make them a destination store, Webber doesn't have to think for long.

"The new word right now is authenticity. Customers are going back to purchasing local and supporting local. And we, unbeknownst to us, are authentic. It's just naturally what we are," she said.

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