Apricot Lane Boutique - Part 1: From Corporate to Boutique

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Ever wondered what it takes to leave the corporate world behind and open your own boutique? Ashley Borenz of Apricot Lane Boutique in Vero Beach shares her journey from big box retail manager to independent business owner.

After 15 years in Vero Beach and years working alongside her husband at Lowe's, Ashley took the entrepreneurial leap. Her motivation wasn't just about being her own boss, it stemmed from a desire to create a genuinely personable shopping experience where customer connections matter and employees love coming to work. With her best friend Jamie by her side, they set out to build something special in the community they love.

Ashley offers insights into the franchise model, explaining how Apricot Lane differs from traditional corporate retailers. Unlike cookie-cutter chain stores, her boutique maintains complete autonomy over inventory selection, allowing her to curate styles specifically for Vero Beach clientele while still benefiting from valuable franchise guidance on the business fundamentals.

Perhaps most compelling is Ashley's raw honesty about facing unexpected challenges. Opening the boutique while pregnant forced this self-described "control freak" to learn delegation faster than anticipated. Her initial vision of strapping her newborn on her back while working 10-hour days quickly gave way to a more realistic approach– trusting her team and asking for help. "Opening a business and having a baby taught me to ask for help," she reflects, crediting her infant son with teaching her to relinquish control.

Ready to discover more about Ashley's retail journey and how she's building community connections through fashion? Subscribe to the Vero Beach Podcast and join us next time as we explore the day-to-day operations behind running a successful boutique!

Presented by Killer Bee Marketing
Helping local businesses in Vero Beach connect with their neighbors.

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Episode Transcript

Brian Curee (00:00):
Welcome back to the Vero Beach Podcast.
I'm Brian and.

Shawna Curee (00:02):
I'm Shawna.

Brian Curee (00:03):
And today we are sitting here at the Apricot Lane
Boutique with Ashley Barron.

Shawna Curee (00:07):
Wait, you sound like you're on 1.5 speed.

Brian Curee (00:09):
All right, let me slow that down.
Ashley, we're so glad to behere.
Would you take about 30 secondsto just tell us a little bit
about yourself?

Ashley Borenz (00:17):
Well, I moved to Vero Beach in 2010, so about 15
years ago, and we were raisingour daughter, who's 17 now, and
we me and my husband both workedat Lowe's, so we worked in big
box retail.
Then we just I just decidedthat I was going to open my own
business.

Brian Curee (00:32):
Would this be considered like kind of like a
fashion retail store?

Ashley Borenz (00:35):
Yeah, it's a high end retail store, fashion style
styling boutique for women.

Brian Curee (00:40):
So what sparked your interest in launching a
retail store?

Ashley Borenz (00:45):
for women.
So what sparked your interestin launching a retail store?
I always worked in big boxretail and I always liked the
idea of having a smaller, morepersonable store that I could
run, that you can really connectwith the customers and the
employees, give a very niceplace for someone to work and
enjoy coming to work and alsogiving to the community.
And me and my husband just loveVero Beach and what it means to
everybody here.

(01:05):
So just rooting down and havingsomething that we can build and
be part of the community reallyis what started me wanting to
open a boutique.
How many people are on yourteam here?
It's three of us now.
Okay, Well four of us, countingme, and then the three employees
.

Brian Curee (01:19):
Nice, nice.
And how long have you guys beenin business?

Ashley Borenz (01:22):
About seven months.
We opened in.
We opened December 12th.

Brian Curee (01:25):
All right.
So at the end of this year,you'll be celebrating your first
year.

Ashley Borenz (01:28):
Yes.

Brian Curee (01:29):
Nice, that's exciting.

Ashley Borenz (01:31):
Very exciting.

Brian Curee (01:31):
Yes.

Shawna Curee (01:32):
What made you realize that you might want to
be a business owner when youwork?

Ashley Borenz (01:35):
for a company, a big company.
You see a lot of the flaws theyhave Me and my manager, jamie.
She's my best friend.
We started this businesstogether.
She was a manager at Lowe'salso.
She dealt with customer serviceand the front end and I dealt
with big departments.
I thought it would be great toopen a store that we could just
totally change things around.

Shawna Curee (01:54):
Yeah, I love that.
So I've worked for Sam's Clubin the past and Home Depot in
the past and one thing thatfrustrated me was how limited
you are at customer service,like you have to follow the
policies.
You know you can't do this andyou can't do that, and I can
imagine that it's so freeing tobe able to kind of make policies
that make sense to you.

Ashley Borenz (02:13):
Yes, because obviously working for those
companies, especially Home DepotI worked for Home Depot too.
Your hands are tied witheverything.

Brian Curee (02:20):
Ashley, this is really good to be talking about
because this brings up a topicthat I wanted to talk to you
about.
So one of the things that whenwe were looking at launching the
podcast and the website, someof the things that we were going
back and forth with how doesthis work with franchises and
stuff like that.
So we were trying to do someresearch and learn about that,
because we have some franchisesthat are reaching out to us, but
we were like we don't want todo like a podcast for like Home

(02:40):
Depot I mean, this isn't like aHome Depot podcast.
When your request came in,we're checking out I'm like,
okay, you are part of afranchise, but then we started
learning there was differenttypes of franchises and that you
are a local business owner.
So this makes total sense.
Yes, we should have her on thepodcast because she is a local
business owner.
So, with us learning this,because this is a locally owned
business, maybe you could giveus some insights on what was it

(03:01):
like for you starting this andmaybe you can even explain the
difference.

Ashley Borenz (03:04):
Biggest difference in a franchise and
big box corporations is thatfranchises are singularly owned.
But this one Apricot Lane theylet you hold the reins.
You will never go into anApricot Lane here there's a few
like around the Orlando areaYou'll never go into one and see
all the same clothes.
So I'm very I'm able to get byclothes for the style of Arrow

(03:25):
Beach and then when you havecollege towns you'll you'll have
those based for those teams andthen up North you'll have more
of the high styles and the namebrands.
You all are able to pick andchoose and then change out.
If something doesn't work forme that works for another
apricot lane, I can change.
I have all the reins to pickthe vendors.
They just guide you.
They tell you this is what'sworked for us, this is what

(03:47):
hasn't, but they'll let you pickand choose what you want to do
at your store.
In January I went to a marketout in Dallas, texas, and we
shopped.
It was my first one, so we allshopped together and they told
us which ones to go to.
It was my first one, so we allshopped together and they told
us which ones to go to, but Iwas shopping with a couple that
just opened one in Montana andthen another one was there and
she just opened one, I want tosay, in Santa Marie, california.

(04:09):
We went to the ones fromMontana and I'm like none of my
people were worthless andthey're like go to the one.
You think.
So it's like opening your ownbusiness, but with the guidance.
And it was very nice in thatfact, because there's a lot of
things that people, people likemyself you think having a
business is working for yourself, being free, but then you
realize you're the accountant,you're the HR manager, there's a

(04:31):
lot of hats you got to wear.
Things you would never know whatlicense you have to pull, what
you have to do for taxes.
It was very nice having thatguidance, but also knowing that
you are the, you are the ownerand you can do what you want, is
nice too.

Brian Curee (04:43):
Those are things you don't see on social media.
You know about being anentrepreneur.
You know your first year,you're learning a lot and that
that does make that.
Is nice to have that backing tohelp give you guidance.
I wanted to bring that questionup because there might be some
people that listen and say, well, hey, isn't that a franchise?
Is that a local business?
We were educated in this.
This makes sense.
This is a local business and wewant to support your local

(05:03):
business as well.
So thank you for helping usshed some light on that as well.

Ashley Borenz (05:07):
Opening this franchise shed a lot of light on
for me because I worked in bigcorporate so I thought it was
kind of similar, but it turnsout it's not.
It's business ownership withguidance.

Brian Curee (05:17):
You know you're on your seventh month, so you maybe
not have had many, but thenagain I know business things can
happen, so has there been anychallenges or surprises since
you started the business?

Ashley Borenz (05:26):
I was pregnant when I started, so the biggest
challenge for me was gettingover that.
I thought once I had my babyI'd strap him on my back head
out to work every day, work 10hour days and I'd be the woman
you know.
Yeah, and I think the biggesthurdle is realizing that that's
not the case.
That's not.
I mean, I'd like to believe I'msuperwoman.
I just have a hard time askingfor help.

(05:48):
But that was the biggest thingOpening a business, having a
baby.
You have to ask for help andyou have to be secure with you
know, the people that you chooseto help you.

Brian Curee (05:56):
Yeah, I think you'll look back and really
appreciate that you learned thatyour first year.
A lot of business owners don't,and they do it for 20 years and
struggle letting go of thingsand allowing people to help them
because it's their baby.
But it's very hard when youheld on to it for so long.
Later you can be able to lookback and realize even more how
much of a blessing it was.

Shawna Curee (06:14):
Yeah, it's another blessing of having your sweet
little baby.
Like he forced you to learnthat lesson right now, he really
did and you can ask my storemanager, jamie.

Ashley Borenz (06:22):
She's my best friend, so she knows how I am
too.
But she was very much like OK,I get it, I'll come to you, I'll
ask you what you want.
And then, finally, after he wasborn, I was like just do
whatever you have to do.
I can't come in today.
I look like a mess.
I haven't slept in days.
And she's like are you sure, doit?

Shawna Curee (06:42):
Yeah, that's awesome, we are not getting on
FaceTime right now.

Brian Curee (06:45):
I will tell you that much.
When it comes to running aboutique.
What does that mean to you,like on a personal level?

Ashley Borenz (06:51):
Honestly, it means running a boutique, means
making friends in the community,trying to build relationships
and just be part of her everydaylife, meaning our shoppers and
do what you can for thecommunity.
I don't know about you, butwhen I shop at boutiques I love
the style and how unique it is,and that's another way you can

(07:12):
connect with people.

Brian Curee (07:13):
My styles used to be just a white t-shirt and blue
jeans.
I would always buy like when wewere when me and Shana first
got married.
We've been married for 23 years.
We're celebrating next week.

Ashley Borenz (07:23):
Congratulations.
Thank you.

Brian Curee (07:25):
And back then, when we were first married, we'd go
out and buy clothes and I wouldbuy a six pack of t-shirts same
color and a couple pair of jeans, and I'd be like that gave me
through the whole year.
Now I'm like, styled up alittle bit.
You have to when you live herein Bureau.

Shawna Curee (07:38):
That is very true, and he's like I am not putting
on a pair of jeans, not?

Brian Curee (07:48):
anymore.
No, no, it's like, yeah, it'shalf pants.

Shawna Curee (07:50):
Is that your stylish way to say it?

Brian Curee (07:50):
That's my stylish way to say it, yes, half pants.
As we get ready to wrap up thisepisode, I would love to know
what's something that you'velearned about yourself since
becoming a small business owner.

Ashley Borenz (07:58):
That I'm a that I'm a control freak.
People have said that to mebefore, but I've definitely
learned that.
Now I know that I have acontrol problem and luckily my
son Bryson, has helped merelinquish that.
He's helped me.
Let go.

Brian Curee (08:14):
I bet.
So that's how it all started.
In the next episode we'll talkabout what the day-to-day looks
like behind the scenes.

Shawna Curee (08:19):
Catch you next time, neighbor.