Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rory Mattice. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Rory, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

When beginning Rory + Co, my mission was (and still is) to curate outfits for women that help them to feel confident in their skin. I want the process of getting dress be less complicated and not a burden. My goal is to help women feel stylish, which has a ripple effect of boosting self esteem.

The most rewarding part of starting this boutique has been the messages that I get from women expressing how wonderful a certain piece or entire outfit that they purchased from Rory + Co made them feel. To me, there is nothing better as a boutique owner!

One of my favorite messages I have ever received was from a woman telling me about in detail about an interview she had that day and how important it was. After explaining what the interview was all about, she said “I’m wearing this fabulous Rory + Co blazer and feel so confident because I look great. Thank you!” My heart skipped a beat and it really just made my week.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

In college, I studied Retail and Consumer Sciences with a minor in Business with a long term goal of opening a clothing store. After college, I spent the next 8 years doing working in retail product development for Carter’s Baby Apparel Brand, Coleman Outdoor Headquarters and then a small startup business. In between, I also helped open the Nashville Nordstrom and then the Kendra Scott store as an assistant manager.

Fast forward a few years and my husband and I had 2 little boys. I wanted to work with flexibility so I decided to dabble in the Fashion Blogging world. I have always been a girl’s girl that has loved sharing my favorite fashion finds and favorite things with friends so it was really fun for me to be able to do this as I was blogging with friends and strangers online.

As my kids got older, I was was able to have more freedom and a little voice in my head began pushing me to fulfill my original dream of opening a retail store. In August of 2022, I launched Rory + Co as an online only boutique. I chose to start it as an online only business for many reasons, but most of all because I still wanted to have as much control as possible over my schedule for the sake of being available for my kids.

When I was blogging, I grew a small audience and learned what they wanted when they were shopping. Knowing my audience’s needs was really beneficial when I opened Rory + Co. I have been able to buy according to my audience/customer’s needs and wants in a more strategic way, which I think is really important!

There are a few things that I think sets Rory + Co apart from other boutqiues, but what I hear most from customers is how great the quality of the pieces are, especially for the price point. We try to stick to a certain price point for majority of our inventory, but not at the cost of the quality. Quality and detail and is really important to us!

We try to offer a variety of trend worthy and timeless styles. We also offer a few higher end lines amongst our more moderatley priced itmes, because I firmly believe in mixing high and low price points when achieving effortless style.

At the end of the day, we want the shopping process to be effortless for our customers by providing curated that they don’t have to think twice about, providing quick shipping, great customer service and most of all helping our customers to feel their best in their outfits!

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

We have learned that one of the best sources of new clients is influencer relations.

When we partner with influencers and they share outfits from Rory + Co, we really see a kickback in our audience growth. The key here is to be sure to choose influencers who’s following is parallel to your target customer. Otherwise, you will end up gaining a bunch of followers that is are not your target audience, which will hurt your sales and growth in the long term.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Pop Up markets have been a really huge part of our business as an online only shop. It really helps to get our product in front of people that do not already follow us on social media. It also gives our current customers an opportunity to try clothes on in person. We do pop ups at all types of locations, but try to make sure that they are going to attract customers that are aligned with our target customer.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shoproryandco.com
• Instagram: @shop.roryandco

Image Credits
Meagan Little Photography