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

Hi Stacey, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

It was back in 2018 and I was sitting at my desk job, ordering dairy products for a Fortune 500 company when I started asking myself, “Is this bringing me happiness in my life?” I sat there thinking and knew deep down there were other jobs that would make me a lot happier and corporate life was not for me.

I immediately looked at my interests and knew I was in love with clothes and fashion. I was intrigued by every part of the fashion business, putting together outfits, shopping, how the clothing is made, how trends come and go, I loved it all. In the next few months, I quit my salaried job and took a huge risk and leap of faith in myself and created Millie Lynn, a women’s clothing store focused on young females who love to stand out. My biggest supporter was my Grandma Millie so it seemed only fitting that I name the store after her, I added my middle name and Millie Lynn was born.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Stacey Weismann and I am the owner and creator of Millie Lynn Boutique and Esselle. I went to Penn State and majored in Supply Chain and Information Systems where I learned a lot about what makes a business tick. After college I worked for Mars, Inc and Kraft Heinz in their inventory departments where I gained a lot of experience.  After a few years, I knew I wanted to start a clothing store, so I took the risk and quit my salaried job to pursue my passion on my own.  I now have two Millie Lynn locations in Charleston and Mount Pleasant South Carolina and am opening a new store called Esselle in Charleston.

Millie Lynn focuses on females in high school, college and young professionals who want to stand out and wear trendier clothes. The Millie Lynn customer loves bright colors, fun accessories and enjoying what life has to offer. They want to come to the store with their friends laughing and having a good time.

Esselle focuses on females aged 30-60 who want to wear fashionable, upscale clothing but need quality clothes that are tailored to their age group and lifestyle. They want a storefront meant for their age group where they can shop peacefully.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I believe in treating every person you meet with grace and friendliness and that is how we treat our customers. We welcome every person into the store and treat them as if they are guest at our house. Many of our customers have become close friends and that is what it is all about.  Our motto is more about treating the customer with kindness instead of trying to sell.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Every business owner during 2020 had to go through most of the same struggles but having a storefront where you must pay rent is even scarier. The fear and sadness I felt in those months was something I have never felt at that level before, Covid was hard. Not knowing how you are going to pay rent when the government forced all the stores closed was scary. I leaned on my amazing customers and started doing live shows through social media to sell the merchandise in a more exciting and personal way. I would put together outfits for them on mannequins and giggle my way through it. I made sure to discount everything to ensure things would sell and give the customer a benefit to attending the shows. Having that circle of customers support me through those months is what allowed me to open back up when the whole world started opening their doors again.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.millielynn.com
• Instagram: shopmillielynn