The Find: Designers Circus in Allston offers womens' clothing, for just a few days every year
About a block from the congestion of Harvard Avenue in Allston, tucked away on Braintree Street, is a little boutique called Designers Circus. There is nothing special about the store from the outside, but upon closer inspection, a colorful sign in the window explains that this is not your typical clothing shop.
“An under-the-radar clothing event, a sample sale, a warehouse sale, a pop-up store, an invitation-only designer social, and an experience in social shopping – all in one!” the sign reads.
What this means: Designers Circus is only opened a few times a year, a few days at a time, and the openings are quite the coveted occasions.
“It makes it special,” President and ‘Ringmaster’ Kathleen O’Neill said in an email interview, of her unique pop-up sale approach. “It makes it an event.”
There are no special passwords or processes to gain an invitation. The boutique simply encourages women to tell and bring their friends, which is how many customers discover the Circus.
The store and its distinctive marketing concept are a byproduct of O’Neill’s design manufacturing business. O’Neill said that as a designer for the boutique industry, she would find herself with hundreds of pieces left over after the year’s sales due to overages, cancellations and sample lines. As a young designer, O’Neill began to have annual warehouse sales in Allston for the many pieces she had left.
“Over the past 25 years these sales have grown, and I started to represent my designer friends’ clothing as well as my own label, Blanco Negro,” she said.
Today, Designer’s Circus can be found in three locations: Allston, Portland, Maine, and Guilford, Conn. Each location has its own sale dates, many based on seasons or holidays. The pieces sold in the stores are made by local, national and international designers, with about 70 designers represented at each sale. Designer’s Circus is able to sell below retail because the clothes sold are from last year’s collections and broken up inventories.
O’Neill says that her goal for Designer’s Circus is “to provide quality and creative clothing to women who want to be different” and “to provide clothing at a discounted price so that women with smaller budgets can afford to shop and buy.”
But it is not just a shopping experience that O’Neill wants her customers to have. She wants them to have a social experience. And they do.
The boutique’s openings are not only sales, but social gatherings. Many women come on the same day of the sales throughout the year. These women meet other women who also come on those particular days, and connections are made.
On their website’s “What People are Saying” section, customers explain what this social experience means to them.
“There’s a lot of sharing of ideas. It’s like a community of women helping each other,” one customer is quoted.
“I really have fun when I go because it’s not like normal shopping which seems like a chore to me – it’s more like a feminine, artistic version of fly fishing,” another said.
Stepping into the shop, customers are welcomed by employees with a smile and cheerful “Hi, can I help you with anything?” The store is filled with rows upon rows of women’s designer clothing, with pieces conveniently separated by designer. On this particular Wednesday, women combed through the outfits, some browsing through just about anything, while others seemed to know exactly what they wanted.
One concept of the store O’Neill seems most proud of is the open dressing room. The room allows for women to share opinions of what looks best on each other, and the customers are able to pass the clothes they do not want to whomever they are sharing the room with.
“I want every woman who comes to find something that makes them feel great, that puts a smile on their face, that gives them the confidence they need for a meeting,” O’Neill said. “I want the women to love what they choose, appreciate the bargain, design, and creativity of each garment. Through their purchase they are supporting small women designers across the country. Women supporting women.”
Designers Circus in Allston (One Braintree St., Allston, MA 02134) will holding its next sales Nov. 2-5, 9-13, and 16-19. More information on the stores and their sales can be found at the Designer’s Circus website, designerscircus.com.
This article is being published under an arrangement between the Boston Globe and the Boston University News Service.
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