The Lift You Need

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forever

00:17

what's up everybody mike ham here with

00:18

another episode of greetings from the

00:20

garden state we are here in livingston

00:21

new jersey today at sitting pretty

00:23

intimate with christine dutcher

00:24

christine welcome to the show hi mike

00:26

how are you i'm doing great so glad to

00:28

be here well i'm so glad to be here yeah

00:30

this is uh a place that like i would

00:33

never go to here like i texted my

00:35

girlfriend before

00:36

just before you got here and i was like

00:38

i'm standing outside a lingerie store uh

00:41

by myself so i look like kind of you

00:44

know

00:44

not great it's not a good look for me um

00:47

but uh but let's talk about let's just

00:49

do like what sitting pretty intimates is

00:52

if you catch that when i just said it

00:54

i'm glad to actually hear you say that

00:56

about men because we really like to make

00:57

it more inviting for sure yeah

01:00

actually with men we certainly sell

01:02

convenience um

01:04

once they get comfortable to come into

01:05

the store and

01:07

we just basically will do the shopping

01:10

for you we'll wrap your things and we

01:13

actually keep record of your wife or

01:15

your significant other's

01:17

um

01:18

sizes so it makes it easy for you on

01:20

birthdays holidays yeah whatever it is

01:23

so we don't want men to be intimidated

01:25

and

01:26

i think once we get the the ball rolling

01:29

with men um you know they tell their

01:31

friends and right they want it easy they

01:33

just want to stick it under the

01:35

christmas tree or they want to

01:37

you know just put it on their pillow

01:39

when it's their birthday

01:41

so yeah what are the what are the types

01:43

of things that they would be shopping

01:44

for here

01:45

so we carry uh sleepwear which you know

01:49

ver you can get a nice pajama for your

01:50

wife you can certainly get something

01:52

sexy for your wife um

01:55

you can also we carry very high-end

01:57

socks we carry you know mid-range socks

02:01

we carry um

02:03

a lot of intimate apparel bras panties

02:06

uh swimwear shapewear

02:09

so those are really are our niches right

02:12

at the moment right so we might expand

02:15

you know you never know but

02:17

so what was like your background like

02:18

before starting sitting pretty like what

02:20

were you doing before that were you

02:21

always in lingerie sleepwear is that

02:24

like an industry that you could be in i

02:25

don't even know that yes absolutely of

02:28

course it's uh there's actually a lot

02:30

that goes with intimate apparel um and

02:34

sometimes when people even come to work

02:36

they're a little overwhelmed by what

02:38

there is to learn yeah um

02:41

so we my expertise i have 30 years in

02:43

the business almost

02:46

um and i've been on all different sides

02:48

of the business i've been on you know i

02:50

worked at specialty stores i helped with

02:52

managing them i did um the surgical

02:56

aspect of it

02:58

um i have also

03:01

done more of like the buying i've been

03:04

actually taught

03:07

seminars i ran seminars i used to work

03:09

for

03:10

macy's i was a district fit coordinator

03:12

i had like 20 something stores

03:16

just prior to here i actually managed

03:19

and opened up the wackol store in short

03:21

hills mall

03:22

so i have a very extensive background

03:25

when it comes to fitting

03:27

and when it comes to um you know it's

03:30

really we're finding solutions

03:32

constantly for women right and a little

03:34

bit of therapy in those dressing rooms

03:36

yeah yeah exactly yeah well it's like

03:39

one of those things like you know just

03:40

because i've never really shopped at a

03:42

store like this like i mentioned before

03:43

right i didn't even know like that was a

03:45

thing but then like the more i think

03:46

about it it's like will i get fitted for

03:47

suits or if i go to a wedding for

03:49

example exactly like how is it any

03:50

different you still want to look good

03:52

feel good you know do good it's

03:54

absolutely very much the same and

03:57

the thing is first of all we're all

03:59

about making women feel good about

04:01

themselves whatever their body is and

04:04

just be the best version of them in fact

04:06

in our dressing rooms we have little

04:08

blurps of all of that yeah um

04:11

it's actually

04:12

yeah just just the best version of them

04:14

so we help them feel great about

04:16

themselves right we make sure whatever

04:18

their comfort level is not every woman

04:20

is comfortable taking their clothes off

04:21

and say hey you know measure me for a

04:23

bra

04:24

but we kind of yeah

04:26

it's a very intimate setting i mean

04:28

literally in figure 2 right exactly so

04:31

yeah we do make them you know face the

04:34

wall so that you know we could be behind

04:36

them and actually help them put on a bra

04:38

properly and there is a lot of technique

04:39

to that believe it or not sure right um

04:42

and then so like what led to opening up

04:45

your own place like why why did you be

04:48

like hey i'm gonna you know get out of

04:50

like working for other people yeah and

04:52

open up my own shop with my own product

04:54

maybe not your own products but just

04:56

like your own store of course yeah so

04:59

i mean i've always had such a passion

05:01

for this

05:02

um i truly always wanted to help women

05:06

and i feel like this is truly a business

05:09

where you know women could support other

05:11

women

05:12

and

05:13

i

05:14

again i just want women to feel great

05:16

about themselves i want them to be the

05:18

best versions of them and

05:21

you know feel good about what they're

05:22

buying um literally feel uplifted yeah i

05:26

mean all right

05:27

in every sense it could be like a

05:29

catchphrase for this place feel uplifted

05:31

yes

05:32

yeah so it's really the truth but that's

05:34

kind of was my calling and i have a very

05:37

good uh

05:38

neighbors actually which is why i

05:39

selected this specific location

05:42

um sherry amster is a very nice boutique

05:45

and i've worked with her customers for

05:46

some time actually uh through doing

05:49

events

05:50

um and also there's a lot of um there's

05:54

duet who is a very nice um

05:57

store on our on our corner we also have

06:01

um a very high-end hair salon dossier

06:04

that's beautiful women oh women well her

06:07

and her husband own it

06:09

uh also

06:12

there's bake with me there's a code

06:14

ninja there's a really nice uh store

06:18

right next door that um it's not a store

06:20

but it's more of like a music place for

06:23

kids

06:24

so there's a lot of support here and i

06:26

really feel like that was

06:28

a great place to kind of

06:31

like off the beaten path and also

06:33

livingston has

06:35

i think there's been a little bit of a

06:36

void here because there was a store that

06:40

used to be here some time ago maybe

06:42

about three years ago that used to

06:44

specialize in bra fittings and used to

06:47

um you know help women with different

06:49

kind of undergarments and shapewear and

06:52

um lingerie sleepwear all of that yeah

06:55

so that you know i feel like there was

06:57

really a niche

06:59

so

07:00

livingston you know definitely was

07:03

and all the pieces of the puzzle kind of

07:05

just fit and

07:06

we landed here yeah love it and then so

07:08

talk to me also about like um like the

07:11

types of products so like i see like the

07:13

socks over here are falci is that how

07:16

you say that foggy yeah

07:18

yes um and then like you know you

07:19

obviously have like different stuff so

07:21

how do you i mean maybe just because

07:23

like you know because you've been in the

07:24

business for a while but like how do you

07:26

know like which ones you want to get for

07:28

your store to provide to your customers

07:30

like which is that just like from

07:32

experience yes definitely i mean i carry

07:35

a lot of different brands um you know

07:37

there are certain brands that actually

07:39

uh are specific to maybe more full

07:42

figure there are some that more

07:44

specialize in more t-shirt bras

07:46

we carry a lot of wackol we carry a lot

07:48

of notori we carry

07:52

different costa bella we carry a lot of

07:55

different brands actually that probably

07:57

people have never even heard of aspen

07:59

dream long story short those are some of

08:01

like sleepwear

08:03

um

08:04

claudelle montel flirt

08:07

we have a lot of different brands we

08:08

actually just started carrying hand row

08:10

which is beautiful a higher end um

08:14

one of the finest cottons you could buy

08:16

for sleepwear

08:18

they carry and also they do panties and

08:20

some bras and things like that so

08:23

cool yeah and then talk to me also about

08:25

like the space because we were talking a

08:27

little bit about that before like you

08:28

got the cool legs wallpaper on the wall

08:32

and it's like everything is very like

08:33

neutral and kind of like toned down

08:35

because then everything else that's the

08:36

products actually yes pop a lot so talk

08:39

to me about that was that was that

08:40

coming from experience too like seeing

08:42

how different stores succeeded in that

08:45

way yes yeah so basically the designs of

08:48

our store is we have these cute little

08:50

arches you know in our store and we

08:53

carry you know a lot of

08:55

more fashion pieces we're kind of like

08:58

out in the open and then we have a whole

09:00

stock room filled of like more neutral

09:02

things

09:03

so i would say our our fashion pieces

09:06

are more like front and and you know in

09:09

your face also

09:11

um we also have these this

09:16

the this wallpaper actually that we it's

09:19

kind of like our signature in fact right

09:22

i honestly like when you mentioned it i

09:24

think i like saw it but it didn't like

09:26

register in my brain and then the more i

09:28

look at it like now i just can't stop

09:29

looking at it yeah it's perfect exactly

09:32

so the wallpaper is very subtle and

09:34

we're the only ones that have it because

09:36

it's custom

09:37

so you know in the future when we open

09:40

up more stores this is kind of like our

09:42

branding right um and it's

09:45

people it's not in your face like too

09:48

obnoxious but it's kind of people kind

09:50

of

09:51

see it yeah right and it's cute and they

09:53

really really appreciate it yeah um and

09:56

so uh i just lost my train of thought

09:58

but uh

10:00

future stuff like so goals how long

10:03

that's my question how long have you

10:04

been open here so we've been open um

10:08

only like a month or so right so we're

10:10

recording this in december this is gonna

10:12

post probably like beginning of february

10:13

end of january somewhere so maybe like

10:15

two or three months at that point

10:17

whatever exactly life is yeah we'll be

10:20

open probably about two or three months

10:22

at that point right and how's that been

10:24

like being in new business going out on

10:26

your own like totally different

10:27

experience i would imagine right then

10:29

absolutely yeah but i can tell you it

10:32

makes me feel i really feel comfortable

10:34

like i'm in my niche and i can

10:36

definitely tell you i am so blessed to

10:38

have such long time uh customers and my

10:42

family and friends and everybody has

10:44

been spreading the word and super

10:46

supportive i can't tell you how blessed

10:49

i feel i i'm just

10:51

i'm very very very thankful that i have

10:54

the support group that i have

10:56

um and customers have been coming to me

10:58

forever i mean almost some of them have

11:00

been around for close to 30 years i've

11:03

been helping them from when i originally

11:05

started and especially around all these

11:07

different places exactly that's awesome

11:09

exactly so it's been wonderful and of

11:12

course when women are happy they

11:14

certainly spread the word exactly

11:17

definitely um and if they're unhappy

11:19

then they would also spread the word too

11:20

but that's like with everybody so that's

11:22

why we're going to just keep them happy

11:25

exactly love it um all right so that's

11:27

gonna be our first segment we're gonna

11:28

take a short break and we're gonna be

11:30

right back this is the greetings from

11:31

the garden state podcast i'm mike ham

11:32

we're here at sitting pretty intimate in

11:34

livingston new jersey with christine

11:35

dutcher we'll be right back

11:38

it is time for today in new jersey

11:39

history on february 7 1735 aaron

11:42

hankinson was born in madame new jersey

11:44

he was a military officer in the sussex

11:46

county militia and later served in the

11:48

new jersey general assembly from 1782 to

11:50

1786 and then again from 1788 to 1792

11:55

hankinson would pass away on october 9th

11:57

1806 in stillwater township and that is

12:00

today in new jersey history

12:04

all right we're back this is the

12:06

greetings from the garden state podcast

12:07

i'm mike ham we're here at sitting

12:08

pretty insane sitting pretty intimate

12:10

that's sometimes that's hard to say real

12:12

fast because i you know jump all over my

12:14

words livingston new jersey with

12:15

christine dutcher uh so christine in the

12:17

first segment we kind of talked about

12:18

the background of the business we talked

12:19

about your background um different

12:21

things that people can come to expect

12:22

when they walk in here sure um but let's

12:25

talk about maybe someone that's coming

12:27

in for the first time ever you know like

12:29

a woman that comes in and she's used to

12:31

shopping at like a you know a big box

12:33

type place yes um and coming in here and

12:36

getting just a totally different

12:37

experience a more intimate sitting

12:39

pretty intimate experience absolutely um

12:41

so let's talk about that like what can

12:43

someone expect coming in here for the

12:44

first time and kind of avoid that

12:46

intimidation level sure

12:48

so when people come in i mean we

12:50

certainly you know small talk to make

12:53

them feel super comfortable and the

12:55

environment we create here is a very um

13:00

you know good energy where people feel

13:02

like they are wanting to shop and feel

13:05

comfortable

13:06

um

13:07

because obviously i mean it's difficult

13:09

to get people to you know feel

13:11

comfortable with you but i feel like

13:14

there's definitely

13:15

that's definitely something that i i

13:17

have a talent for yeah um and you just

13:20

you know people are super friendly and

13:22

you want to help them and we really

13:24

provide service and people want service

13:26

today it's really hard to find which is

13:29

why you know they'd come to a specialty

13:31

store

13:32

um

13:33

so that is a big thing we actually go to

13:36

the end of the road to be able to

13:38

satisfy them

13:40

um and we want them to feel comfortable

13:42

we want in every sense of the word like

13:44

when they're buying new bras we want

13:45

them to be fitted properly they want you

13:48

know they're looking for something that

13:50

makes them feel comfortable and there

13:52

are different bras you know for

13:54

different reasons and i try to explain

13:56

to them you know really in theory you

13:58

should have eight bras a year

14:01

and throw them out every year you should

14:03

have at least one strapless

14:06

you should have at least one sport bra

14:08

and then you should have six everyday

14:10

bras so three

14:12

every six months okay so if you do like

14:15

one to wear one to wash and one to rest

14:18

every day bras every six months

14:21

right so and and you can kind of mix the

14:23

colors so you kind of have some

14:25

varieties some variety that works under

14:27

all types of clothing yeah um and so

14:30

like so that's interesting and

14:32

how

14:33

i mean just again because i haven't

14:35

shopped here like what maybe what's the

14:36

experience of someone that comes in here

14:37

does a fitting with you and all that

14:38

kind of stuff and maybe has been going

14:41

and shopping at you know like those big

14:42

box type places and just being like oh

14:44

this is my size i'm just gonna buy this

14:46

and then getting it home and

14:47

is it like like a life-changing thing is

14:49

like a renaissance of just like oh my

14:51

god i didn't know i could feel this good

14:52

let me tell you something so the

14:54

importance of coming to a specialty

14:56

store that knows you know the different

15:00

types of bras and knows it's not only um

15:03

because bras all fit differently so a

15:05

lot of times women will come in and say

15:07

oh i'm a 34 double d and it's not always

15:10

the case in every single style bra they

15:13

all fit differently so it's important

15:15

that you put them on

15:16

um and because we're working with them

15:19

all day literally we know what fits a

15:22

little tight around the back what is a

15:23

little bit more forgiving in the cup or

15:26

things like that so it's very good to

15:28

have somebody who is knowledgeable

15:30

with all the brands and how they fit

15:33

it's not even it's not even specific to

15:35

a company it's interesting yeah so

15:39

you know with that being said i mean

15:41

that women really leave

15:43

beyond happy right so they we make sure

15:46

that everything and we'll be the first

15:48

to tell them hey you know that's not a

15:50

good choice for you right i can get

15:52

something better um and we try to give

15:54

them a variety we also try to get them a

15:56

little bit out of their comfort zone so

15:58

if they come in for a t-shirt bra you

16:00

know and then they leave with something

16:01

maybe a little more sexy and of course

16:04

the t-shirt bra they came for

16:06

um

16:07

so that's you know that's always nice

16:09

because it gets them a little out of

16:10

their comfort zone and they feel so

16:12

great in it right it's are they like and

16:14

this is just me being unaware are there

16:17

common mistakes that people make when

16:19

they're shopping for that like that kind

16:20

of stuff well i don't know if it's

16:23

common mistakes but again i think sizing

16:26

people are kind of fixated sometimes on

16:28

a size and they think everything fits

16:31

the same way gotcha so more so i guess

16:34

you know in that regard yes

16:36

um

16:37

but i mean i i and

16:39

plus

16:40

there is a whole technique as to how you

16:42

should get into a bra the way a bra

16:45

should look when it's fitted properly on

16:47

you you know women are always supposed

16:50

to lean forward into the bra so that

16:52

they get past the wire if they're

16:54

wearing a wire

16:55

um the other thing is too we carry a lot

16:58

of different categories you know we do a

17:00

lot today with non-underwire

17:02

and you know that's definitely a growing

17:04

category

17:06

um because i think women

17:08

you know they want the support and they

17:10

could definitely get it in a

17:11

non-underwire which they didn't believe

17:13

before

17:14

so we have wire we have non-wire we have

17:17

you know unlined lines we have there's

17:20

so many different you know styles and

17:22

options and we make sure that we

17:24

are

17:25

making sure we have enough variety for

17:27

every size

17:29

you know

17:30

every woman so that they can leave with

17:32

exactly what they need right and then um

17:35

so maybe like once they get in here they

17:37

feel comfortable they're all that kind

17:38

of stuff you know like maybe what kind

17:40

of goal is it like what are the the

17:41

steps are there like general steps that

17:43

you kind of go through like make sure

17:44

that

17:46

absolutely so we always do a measurement

17:49

if people are comfortable and we always

17:51

you know have that conversation it's

17:52

important to have that dialogue so

17:54

because you don't know what somebody is

17:56

going to feel comfortable with um but

17:59

typically i mean women come in here and

18:01

they would love to be fitted they want

18:03

to know their size they want to know

18:05

what's going to make them look good

18:06

under their clothes so we do a

18:08

measurement of course um you know we and

18:11

it doesn't take long to do a fitting um

18:14

you know and then we would help them get

18:16

into their bras the proper way and show

18:18

them what is correct about a you know

18:21

the way a bra should fit properly and

18:23

what's not right because sometimes

18:25

they'll put it on they'll be you know

18:26

sticking out somewhere or what have you

18:28

and then you know we'd have to get them

18:30

a different size right

18:31

so but they typically feel comfortable

18:34

like i said i mean the most important

18:36

thing is we make them feel

18:37

uh comfortable by having them face the

18:39

wall so that we can't see them and we

18:42

can actually help them behind them by

18:44

putting the bra like over their head

18:46

they put their arms in lean forward we

18:48

hook it make sure it's you know the

18:50

right um

18:52

you know

18:53

tightness i guess if you will within the

18:55

back

18:56

and then there's there's a technique

18:58

really you're supposed to be on the

18:59

loosest possibly the middle hook but

19:02

never ever ever buy a bra on the

19:03

tightest hook got it so because as you

19:06

wash and wear them they do loosen up

19:08

with time so and there is supposed to be

19:12

you know some sort of measurement like

19:13

from the crease in your arm to your

19:14

shoulder in between those two points

19:16

should be where the height of your

19:17

breasts are and that's

19:19

there's a lot of uh

19:21

you know there's a lot of you when

19:23

people put on a top and things like that

19:25

they'll see the difference yeah

19:27

and then literally they want to buy

19:29

every bra we have right right um so also

19:33

for the fellas out there that are

19:34

listening to this we mentioned before

19:35

about how you know like uh you try to

19:38

make it as easy as possible for someone

19:40

like me coming into a store like this

19:42

not knowing anything you know maybe

19:44

outside of like the size right but does

19:46

that like present interesting challenges

19:48

too like i know you should mention that

19:49

you gotta keep sizes on file but like if

19:51

i'm shopping here and my girlfriend's

19:53

never yeah it's been here that's a great

19:55

thing like hey

19:56

she's this size

19:58

like can you help

20:00

so

20:00

if you're a gentleman who's coming you

20:02

know to shop number one i would

20:05

definitely encourage you like you know

20:07

look in her lingerie door on see sizing

20:10

and you know maybe look in her closet

20:12

and see what size she wears because a

20:13

lot of times guys will come in and it's

20:15

so wonderful sometimes they think you

20:17

know we're a smaller size

20:20

sometimes they you know yeah so we want

20:22

to make sure that we are um definitely

20:24

getting the proper information so we can

20:26

help them accordingly so definitely look

20:29

in in your

20:31

significant other's draws so you can see

20:33

sizing so we have a starting point right

20:35

and then we kind of walk you through it

20:37

because

20:38

they would be certain band size you know

20:40

according to even like sometimes their

20:42

clothing size

20:43

yeah so but again and then you'll be

20:46

able to see kind of the styling that she

20:49

likes and prefers but we do have a very

20:51

you know easy return policy you know

20:54

tags on it 30 days you're more than

20:56

welcome to you know return or do an

20:58

exchange

20:59

the other thing is too um i i would

21:02

think that if you look exactly like what

21:05

she has in her drawers and things like

21:06

that again she's gonna be able to you're

21:08

gonna find what she

21:10

typically gravitates towards and that

21:12

would help us so the more information

21:14

that you could kind of bring to us the

21:17

better we can help you but you can

21:19

always get a gift card that's true yeah

21:22

for fittings yes yeah because most guys

21:25

you know they want their women to

21:26

actually you know have nice bras and to

21:29

be uplifted look good in their clothes

21:31

so i just think sometimes it's difficult

21:33

but i think it would be easy for guys to

21:36

come in and get a gift card and say hey

21:37

honey this is for a new bra fitting yeah

21:41

but i do think the gift card's great i

21:43

do think that it goes like it's like

21:44

next level if you actually like bring

21:46

something home without a doubt holy

21:48

like you figured this out like how did

21:50

you know you know that kind of thing

21:51

yeah i think that would be that would be

21:53

good too and it's funny because

21:55

it's interesting and this is my advice

21:57

to women do not

22:00

do not discourage your man from bringing

22:03

you things that are nice because if you

22:06

you know we can always make a size

22:08

exchange but try not to discourage them

22:10

if they're selecting something for you

22:13

it's because you know they would

22:14

appreciate you having it or they would

22:17

appreciate you in it or any of those

22:19

things so sometimes women i feel like

22:21

are very quick to shoot a guy down after

22:24

you know they buy them this gift and

22:26

then it scars the guy forever he'll

22:28

never buy it again we'll never buy it

22:30

again um and so like when we're talking

22:33

about this stuff like when a guy comes

22:35

in making him feel comfortable right to

22:37

like pick something that he likes

22:40

exactly and he would like to see his

22:41

woman in

22:43

is there like a hesitation there like do

22:45

they you know is it like well i i maybe

22:48

depends on the guy i guess i i think it

22:50

depends on the guy of course but again i

22:52

think everybody that works here at

22:54

sitting pretty we that's our thing we

22:56

are very talkative and we're fine with

22:58

making you feel comfortable and maybe

23:01

it's not you know the very risque risque

23:05

um lingerie maybe it's something kind of

23:07

in between maybe it's not the old you

23:09

know sweatpants that your wife has been

23:11

wearing but maybe something you know a

23:13

more attractive pajama or something

23:16

getting her a little bit more

23:17

comfortable you you know kind of like a

23:19

meeting place

23:20

would be a good uh i i think solution

23:23

kind of you meet in the middle and then

23:25

maybe it'll encourage her a little bit

23:27

more to you know get the things that

23:29

you're more drawn to right yeah for sure

23:31

um okay great so that was a great

23:34

segment so we're gonna take our second

23:35

break our last break of this episode uh

23:38

so this is the greetings for greetings

23:39

from the garden state podcast i'm mike

23:41

ham we're here at sitting pretty

23:42

intimates in livingston new jersey with

23:43

christine dutcher we'll be right back

23:47

it is time for new jersey fun fact of

23:49

the day did you know that in september

23:51

1921 the very first miss america pageant

23:53

was held on the boardwalk in atlantic

23:55

city

23:56

and that is your new jersey fun fact of

23:58

the day

24:01

and we're back this is the greetings

24:02

from the garden state podcast i'm mike

24:04

hamm we're here at sitting pretty

24:05

intimate in livingston new jersey in

24:07

livingston new jersey with christine

24:08

dutcher it's the second segment that

24:10

i've messed up the intro for um but

24:12

that's okay uh so i talk all the time

24:14

but so right now in our third segment

24:16

for every episode we always talk about

24:18

the community tying whatever business or

24:20

place that we're talking to back to the

24:22

community and how they get themselves

24:23

involved with the community so

24:25

being in new business in town uh one of

24:28

the things that i know that you're doing

24:29

is uh are a lot of events um so yeah you

24:32

know like you've done i think you have

24:34

one coming up soon that's more geared

24:36

towards men i know that you've done some

24:38

wine tasting events either in the past

24:39

or coming up you forget um so talk to me

24:42

about like when you started the business

24:44

like how important was i didn't know

24:46

that they had bra fitting events like

24:48

stuff like that i didn't know that was a

24:49

thing um so talk to me about that and

24:51

like making sure that people were

24:53

educated about that you're here what you

24:55

do all that kind of stuff yes

24:57

so of course um you know getting the

25:00

word out is super important for us

25:03

um we want to make sure obviously that

25:05

our our customers do know that we're

25:07

here and you know they're spreading the

25:09

word and the community has been very

25:12

instrumental in assisting with that all

25:14

of my neighboring um businesses here

25:17

have been extremely supportive

25:19

um a lot of them have been you know are

25:21

women owned which is wonderful

25:24

um but yeah we do a lot of events

25:26

actually and that's where a lot of our

25:29

business comes from

25:31

we're very fortunate we do anything

25:33

pretty much in terms of

25:36

getting groups together we do private

25:38

like vip shopping events when girls just

25:41

want to get out and get together and

25:43

we'll do like a little maybe appetizers

25:46

or maybe a candy bar

25:48

we did a mother and daughter event

25:50

that's always fun

25:51

yeah in fact a lot of times you know

25:54

mothers want to get their daughters

25:56

ready for college and they'll send them

25:57

with all new bras to college

26:00

um

26:01

we've done uh events for men

26:05

that's actually been very interesting

26:06

we've had a mobile cigar lounge here and

26:10

we have uh so we would easily you know

26:13

they would come and do their selections

26:16

and then they would go and hang out over

26:18

in the cigar lounge

26:20

mobile cigar lounge and watch football

26:23

okay cool maybe have a drink and we

26:25

would do all of the legwork where we you

26:27

know would we ring up everything and

26:29

we'd wrap everything and basically you

26:31

know if they wanted to do a drive by and

26:33

we'd throw it in their car like a

26:35

frisbee right out the door into their

26:37

way love them yeah right right yeah so

26:40

but yeah we've we've also been very

26:42

involved with the community too um we

26:44

definitely work with different charities

26:47

we've worked with dress for success you

26:49

know well i have previously worked with

26:51

dress for success in a different

26:54

capacity not in this store

26:57

um we've worked with susan g komen

27:00

we also have worked with the valerie

27:02

fund in the past

27:06

and you know i intend to bring all of

27:08

those events too we've worked with the

27:11

breast cancer

27:15

i'm trying to think what it's called

27:17

the breast cancer centers at the

27:19

different hospitals yeah that has been

27:22

actually you know very good for us

27:23

because we raised money so we'll run an

27:26

event maybe from like for like a week

27:28

and if they say that they're from that

27:30

organization then a percentage of the

27:33

proceeds would go towards

27:35

whatever organization they

27:38

you know are with yeah

27:40

so that that has been very good for us

27:42

and you know it's people getting

27:44

together in small groups but still i

27:47

mean even with the covid days now like

27:49

we're respectful of that but still you

27:51

know it's people getting that

27:53

interaction which i think is really

27:55

healthy yeah yeah absolutely um and also

27:58

i think and we were kind of talking

27:59

about this off air but just like one of

28:01

the things you mentioned earlier in the

28:03

episode about you know having people

28:04

that have been coming to you for this

28:06

stuff for as long as you've been in the

28:08

industry yeah um so to me like that is

28:11

like that's the sitting pretty intimate

28:13

community yes you know like the

28:14

christine dutcher community thank you

28:16

and i think that that's really cool

28:17

because it just shows you know that like

28:20

the i feel like a place like this has to

28:22

establish a lot of trust

28:23

with

28:24

its clientele whether it's just like if

28:26

it's gonna fit good or not whether they

28:28

feel comfortable in here or not all that

28:29

kind of stuff so um talk to me about

28:32

like i mean it's it's obvious but talk

28:34

to me about the importance um and

28:37

of that and like how that kind of maybe

28:39

played into even opening up this

28:40

business because you wanted that your

28:42

people to have a place to go to see you

28:44

directly of course of course

28:46

yes i mean i'm i'm so grateful i have

28:49

such an amazing following and it's

28:51

because of all of my years experience

28:53

truly and i have such a passion for what

28:55

i do i really really do i really love

28:59

when women feel great about themselves

29:01

just and exactly like whatever is the

29:03

best form of of them so

29:06

it with that being said i mean i think

29:08

and i'm i'm very genuine when i

29:11

i'm happy to tell somebody no let's get

29:13

something that looks a little bit better

29:15

on you or let's get something that fits

29:17

a little bit different

29:19

and when they walk out of here they're

29:21

very confident in their purchase which

29:23

is amazing

29:24

and yeah i have people that have it's

29:26

not only the my direct customers but

29:30

in terms of them branching out and

29:32

telling so many other women that has

29:34

been tremendous for me and in growing my

29:37

business and you know i partner up too

29:39

with a lot of different businesses we do

29:41

like even little pop-up shops or

29:43

promoting of the other stores in the

29:45

community right

29:47

um

29:48

you know

29:49

we intend to continue doing that in fact

29:52

somebody from another uh store in

29:54

livingston actually just contacted me

29:56

and they're so gamed to do an event

29:58

together so we cross promote

30:00

i i my feeling is you know i want

30:03

everybody to succeed as many people

30:05

around me succeed and i truly i'm not

30:08

worried about the competition either

30:10

because i don't even focus on any of

30:12

that i just stay in my lane and just

30:14

there's plenty of business for everybody

30:16

to succeed and that's my goal i would

30:19

want that for everyone right and so is

30:21

this a thing too where like people can

30:23

go and you know shop for this stuff like

30:25

online or is this more of just like you

30:27

have to come in type of thing so there

30:29

are some brands that i carry that

30:31

actually will not even allow you to sell

30:34

online so we were contemplating doing

30:38

that and i decided not to because

30:41

i mean i really prefer to actually give

30:43

service and even if that means to

30:45

virtually shop with somebody in the

30:47

store on a facetime call you know and

30:50

then send things or hand deliver to them

30:52

if they're locally i mean we really go

30:54

over and above to try to satisfy the

30:56

customer right so i would say that you

30:59

know at this time you know we've opted

31:01

not to do the online uh business because

31:05

it takes away from the i feel like this

31:06

is an experiential store yeah sure it's

31:09

not just like you're gonna go online and

31:10

be like buy six bras for like you know

31:13

20 bucks and like just get them amazon

31:15

delivered to my door exactly it's like

31:17

coming in meeting you gaining the trust

31:19

all that kind of stuff and that's what

31:20

goes into building the community right

31:21

yes and you really should be fitted like

31:24

um every six months

31:26

so as a rule of thumb so that's

31:28

that's good to come in like every six

31:30

months because women's bodies change

31:33

you know either you know if we gain

31:35

weight lose weight or you know hormones

31:37

changes and they have babies and there's

31:40

a lot of different factors that make uh

31:42

that change sizes yeah that would change

31:45

their size

31:46

um and with that

31:48

i think that you know it's it's very

31:50

important that they come in and you know

31:53

be fitted properly but again if there is

31:56

a certain bra that they love and it's

31:59

you know by natori or wachol or montel

32:02

or what have you and they want more and

32:03

we ship them of course we're going to

32:05

give them the service that they're

32:06

looking for yeah um so

32:09

if we can go back for a second to like

32:10

the first time customer coming in and

32:12

what to expect because we're gonna get

32:14

make sure they know like where to go

32:15

like the address here the website and

32:17

all that kind of stuff thank you yeah so

32:20

like if they come in the fitting like is

32:22

there like a cost involved with the

32:24

fitting is there

32:25

that kind of stuff and then like how

32:27

does that work so some places do charge

32:29

a cost but we don't charge a cost for

32:32

fitting okay so we just you know

32:34

obviously are in hopes that you know

32:36

customers buy bras and and some make a

32:39

purchase while they're here but no i

32:41

don't think it's fair to charge somebody

32:43

but first time customer you know our

32:46

goal is to really get them in the

32:48

fitting room just to

32:49

make sure that they're um

32:52

you know we sell them the right size and

32:55

that they're getting what exactly what

32:57

they're looking for and maybe sometimes

32:59

a little of what they didn't come for

33:01

but they found that they loved yeah

33:04

so that is really pretty much our goal

33:07

but i don't everyone should pretty much

33:09

feel very comfortable walking in this

33:11

store like i said i think that it is a

33:14

very welcoming place

33:16

we're here to give service and to

33:19

accommodate you the best way we possibly

33:21

can yeah i know we spoke a little bit

33:24

this morning in regards to where you did

33:26

you find the place easily yeah yeah

33:28

right and we car we kind of are on the

33:31

side of the building

33:32

which is sometimes could be a little bit

33:34

difficult for people to see but sherry

33:37

amster is on our corner um when you pull

33:40

down that driveway we are on the side of

33:43

the building

33:44

so i think that you know once people

33:47

kind of

33:48

obviously once they have an

33:49

understanding of where we are it's it's

33:51

very easy to find yeah and so what's the

33:54

like the address that they could put

33:55

into like the gps sure so we are at 97

33:59

south livingston avenue and we're suite

34:02

c

34:03

so we are right next to doremi um which

34:07

is a children's like uh

34:10

music school

34:12

and we're also right next to shari

34:14

amster so in between those two you will

34:16

be able to find sitting pretty intimate

34:18

okay and then website let's get the

34:20

website sure we do have a website and

34:23

it's www.sittingprettyintimates.com

34:26

and you can actually make an appointment

34:29

right on our website okay which makes

34:31

things very do they need an appointment

34:32

to get to come into a fitting or they

34:34

may just walk right in they can walk in

34:36

we would never tell anyone they couldn't

34:38

shop right um but we do have specific

34:41

hours actually for appointments which i

34:44

think people really like right we have

34:46

like a 9 to 11 um that's for specific

34:51

appointment times like for bra fittings

34:53

or private shopping

34:55

then from 11 to 4 are more like your

34:57

public walk-in hours sure

34:59

so from four to six a lot of times we

35:02

either do events

35:03

or we do um again private shopping we do

35:07

a lot of weddings too um

35:09

like bridal parties and things like that

35:12

that come and can do you know everybody

35:14

can get fitted for their undergarments

35:15

for their dresses

35:17

so yeah i mean we're definitely we are

35:20

doing different things and we are

35:22

definitely service oriented so you can

35:24

come here and

35:26

we can certainly help you i'm sure right

35:28

and then i'm sure like the social

35:29

handles uh like instagram facebook

35:31

sitting pretty intimate to facebook

35:33

everything

35:34

everything we are on everything known to

35:36

man

35:37

you gotta be these days you have to well

35:39

because we we carry things for every age

35:41

group okay so

35:43

that is you know it's important and and

35:45

i feel like all the social platforms are

35:47

kind of a little bit age-related i'm

35:50

in my 40s so i gravitate more towards

35:53

facebook

35:54

but you know the younger generation is

35:56

definitely more instagram tic talk

35:59

you know i'm even on pinterest and we

36:01

have you know cool you can write a

36:03

google review about us there you go so

36:05

excellent um all right so that was

36:07

amazing i'll make sure that i put the

36:09

address the website the social handles

36:10

all in the show notes for the people

36:12

that are listening

36:13

i'll also put the greetings from

36:14

thegardenstate.com uh ingredients from

36:16

thegardenstate gmail.com the website and

36:18

email address of the show if you want to

36:20

connect with me to get to christine i

36:22

don't know why you would want to do that

36:24

but you could

36:25

but uh but awesome so christine thank

36:27

you so much for having me today this was

36:28

a great episode a very unique episode we

36:31

obviously haven't done something like

36:32

this before um so this was this was

36:34

great thank you so much oh it's my

36:36

pleasure i'm so happy to do this because

36:38

i think the main thing is to really get

36:40

the word out that you know there is a

36:42

service here like this so

36:44

yes so thank you for having me exactly

36:46

thank you for coming on and everybody

36:48

else thank you for listening and we'll

36:49

catch you next time

36:58

[Applause]

37:00

[Music]

37:07

[Applause]

37:11

[Music]

37:25

you

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