Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Delaware County, PA (Delco"") and the surrounding Philadelphia Metro Region.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
Stile by Per Lei: The Fashion Experience Founded By Candice Caprice
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Stile by Per Lei: The Fashion Experience Founded By Candice Caprice
Discover the incredible journey of Candice Caprice, a trailblazing entrepreneur from Delaware County, PA, whose passion for women's fashion has transformed the boutique shopping experience which is now Stile by Per Lei. Candice visits the Good Neighbor Podcast studio to share her inspiring story with host Bob Blasse. From launching her first Per Lei Boutique, in Media, PA, in 2007 to expanding her vision into several locations of Stile by Per Lei, in the Western upscale suburbs of Philadelphia, including Newtown Square, Glen Mills and Ardmore, PA. Candice shares the exciting news of moving her original Per Lei Media, PA location to the Ellis Preserve in Newtown Square, reflecting on her deep personal connection to that local community and the warm reception she and her business have always received.
Get an inside look at what makes Stile by Per Lei so special, as Candice details her boutique’s commitment to a personalized and welcoming shopping atmosphere at all of her locations. Learn about their unique clienteling system designed to help establish long-term relationships with their customers, whether assisting men in choosing perfect gifts for women with the assistance of her dedicated staff, or assisting women in discovering stylish outfits. Listen to why, when inventory is updated regularly, Candice emphasizes the importance of regularly shopping at boutiques to build rapport with store consultants for a truly customized experience. Plus, you'll hear about Candice's family's connection to men's retail clothing through her husband Bruce’s successful store, B Gross Menswear in Media. This is an episode of Good Neighbor Podcast filled with passion, dedication and insider tips on making the most of your boutique shopping experience.
Stile by Per Lei
www.StilebyPerLei.com
610-356-3635
Newtown Square / Media / Glen Mills, PA
Suburban Square / Ardmore, PA
https://www.facebook.com/stileperlei/
--- About The Show--- Good Neighbor Podcast is a spotlight on local businesses in and around Delaware County, PA (“Delco” ) and Beyond... The executive producer and host, Bob Blaisse, is a community sponsorship advocate, business branding specialist, and publisher of several hometown magazines, including: Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors, Marple Friends & Neighbors and Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors, mailed monthly to more than 12,000 homes in Western Delaware County, PA, and also available for reading online.
Women's Boutique Fashion in Delco
Speaker 1Hello, delco. This is Michael Barkan, welcoming you to the Good Neighbor Podcast, where fans of local businesses and their neighbors come together. It's my pleasure once again to introduce my friend and neighbor, our host Bob Lacey.
Speaker 2Thank you, michael Barkan, for that introduction and thank you all again for listening and downloading the Good Neighbor podcast today. You've become familiar with the fact that the Good Neighbor podcast is being a business-friendly podcast, really a Good Neighbor, business-friendly podcast. We're coming to you today from Delaware County, pennsylvania, in the southeast corner of Pennsylvania, the furthest southeast county of Pennsylvania, bordering the state of Delaware and bordering the city of Philadelphia, and you've heard about the Philadelphia mainline and Chester County, pennsylvania, montgomery County, pennsylvania. The Good Neighbor podcast is coming to you from Delco and beyond. We call it Delco, the shortened form for Delaware County, but it's got a great vibe, great businesses, and today we have a great business owner who is well known in Delaware County and beyond and I'm excited because it's the first episode, in several episodes I think, that we've actually had a woman entrepreneur again. We love to have them. Let me introduce to you Candice Caprice. Candice, welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Speaker 3Hi Bob, Thanks for having me today.
Speaker 2I'm excited, it's so wonderful to have you because I know your business and your business is really primarily for women the business we're going to talk about. But I know it because my wife knows the business and you actually have a shop in Newtown Square. You have many shops in Newtown Square. The listeners are going to be surprised. The business is called Stile by Perlet. It's a really fancy name but classy name. And now the listeners are thinking, well, what could that be? Stile by Perlet? A lot of listeners will know it's got kind of a French sound to it, if you will. But they're thinking that Stile a French sound to it, if you will. But they're thinking that Stile, that might be style and Perle. I can't pull that out, so we're going to have to give it away. It's a boutique, right, candice? Yeah.
Speaker 2Women's clothing store yes, Women's clothing store and it's classy. I've seen it, in fact. I remember a number of years ago you were, I guess, founded, or at least one of your first stores is in the county seat of Delaware County. Media Pennsylvania Perle right.
Speaker 3Yes, we opened. We started our entrepreneurial journey with Perle and Media. We opened that in 2007, and we sell contemporary women's clothing brands that you would find at the big name stores, at Nordstrom's, neiman's, and we build a beautiful business in media. I love styling clients and we just really created a wonderful following. But in 2018, my husband and I Bruce he actually owns B Gross menswear and media we thought that there was a void in the market for a place where women can come and shop, provide all the beautiful service that we provided in Paralay, giving them beautiful hangers and making sure that we, you know, gave them personalized experiences when shopping, but maybe getting to the register and not spending just as much money as they would in Paralay. So we created the brand Stee-Lay by Paralay, you know, as our sister brand, and we're providing women in the area a great place to shop, come, feel comfortable and get good service, but just not have the price tag that the clothes in Paralay have.
Speaker 2Well, that's important. You know, those people who live in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania know the five county area, they know where the expensive stores are and even the listeners outside nationally would have heard of the Philadelphia Main Line or King of Prussia Mall, right. And so sometimes you know, you go where you want quality items, quality shops, and you know that it's going to come with a quality price tag really. But Newtown Square, pennsylvania, where I live and in fact where your store is, and I hear tell I see there's another shop coming. I want to hear about that coming. I want to hear about that.
Speaker 2What we kind of love to say about Newtown Square is that it's a Newtown, it is a mainline post office, if you will, but it's not mainliners. It's people that want to live in Newtown Square. Sometimes they're wealthy and sometimes they're not, but they want good product and they want to live in a good community. In Newtown Square we have a big town center being built. It's called the Ellis Preserve and I drove by there. It's been developed for the last year and a half. It's not fully developed yet, but I drove by there and I saw something, either on a glass window or what, but it sounds like your shop is coming to the Ellis Preserve in Newtown Square.
Speaker 3Yes, so we are excited to announce that Paralay, which started in media, is moving to Newtown Square. So we are going to have two stores in Newtown Square right up the street from one another, and in media we will still have our Steeley location. So we're not leaving media media totally. But I I love Newtown Square. I went to Marple Newtown. I grew up in Broomall, so it's really my neighborhood and I'm so. It makes me so happy that you know, when I pop in the store I'm always seeing someone I know or the girls are calling to say, hey, candace, someone so stopped in. So I love that. It's, you know, the neighborhood that I grew up in and really the town has been so receptive to us and has been so wonderful.
Speaker 2So let's for the listeners, let's really bring it in so we can understand what these brands and what these towns are. In media, delaware County, the county seat, the original Perley store is located, and when we say Perley it sounds like a pear, but it's really spelled P-E-R, correct.
Speaker 3Yes.
Speaker 2And when we say the word, when we say lay, it sounds like L-A-Y, but it's really L-E-I, right.
Speaker 3Yes, it means for her in Italian.
Speaker 2Say that again in Italian it means for her. For her. Yes, pearlet in Italian, and I probably was wrong when I saw stile is probably not French. It's Italian, then, right, italian for style. Style. So stile is spelled a little different. It looks like the word style with an I. It's S-T-I-L-E.
Speaker 3Yes.
Speaker 2E yes, now we say it stile, and it's classy, it's Italian for style and and perle, P E R L E. I is her for her, for her for her, perle. So so, listeners, if you'd like to go and see the stile by perle website, write this down. Listen to it. Clearly it's like style, but it's with an I S-T-I-L-E and then P-E-R-L-E-I.
Speaker 3Yes, style by Perley, so it's B-Y in there.
Speaker 2Say it one more time Style by.
Speaker 3Yes.
Speaker 2Style by Perley would be the website domain and that's the name of the business S-T-I-L-E-B-Y-P-E-R-L-E-I.
Speaker 3Yes.
Speaker 2Got it. It's wonderful and the logo is classy and it has to be. The name is classy and certainly the items inside the shop are classy and you used a term that most men don't get. But I get it a little bit when I try to shop for my wife and buy clothing, because I say I don't know what I'm talking about here. Come help me and they'll ask me what kind of clothes my wife likes to wear and where does she go and stuff and they'll help me, I guess, style my wife's dress.
Speaker 2But now, if you're a woman and you're buying clothes regularly and you know the kind of clothes you want, you still need that help, right. So give us a little understanding of when a lady would come into the store to look at this classy kind of clothing, where, first, the gambit of types of clothing is not all evening wear it could be beachwear, right, it could be anything but give us an idea of the kind of product that are sold and why they're classy and why they're unique from a boutique perspective. And also, what does the shop help do for the lady walking in the door?
Personalized Fashion Shopping Experience at Steele
Speaker 3Sure. So we do sell everything, from denim and casual t-shirts to a dress that you can wear to a wedding, jewelry, handbags, really everything. But one thing we pride ourself on is if you go into any of our four locations we have one in Media, newtown Square, suburban Square in Ardmore and in Glen Mills suburban square in Ardmore and in Glen Mills we want you to walk in and feel that you see a friendly face and that we're here to help you, because I think so many women sometimes feel intimidated to walk into boutiques and they don't want to ask for help. But I would encourage every woman shopping or man.
Speaker 3When you go into a store whether you're going into our store, you're going into a sneaker store wherever the people working there are the experts. They know the product, they've seen it on people and they're here to help you. So you can go around the rack thinking you know, oh, I want a white blouse, and you think you see everything, but there's so much product in the store that you're going to miss something. So it's always great to ask for help. That's what we're there to do and that's what we have fun doing. So it's our job to help you find what you need, but also kind of push the limits a little and show you some things that maybe you weren't going to look at, and you'll be surprised. There are sometimes some of your favorite pieces that you don't, and that doesn't.
Speaker 2That doesn't mean push the limits from a price perspective. It means like, hey, you know, this is the trend, yeah, this is the trend. You think that a woman your age would not wear this? They are wearing it, we've seen it, we've sold a lot of them, and so that's a great help because, you know, sometimes I think ladies are afraid to kind of dress more youthfully if they think that it's going to people think what are you dressing like that? For? It's really because the youth are getting older and now people are dressing this way. Great advice, you know, no one would have themselves for a lawyer or or a tax accountant, and so in a way, you kind of need some advice on how to dress, especially if you're going places where the other ladies in attendance are going to be seeing well as well.
Speaker 3So we're into that. We always say the tag does not have an age on it. You know, the clothing do not come with an age. So we of course want everyone to look appropriate and dress for their body and their style. But I think that people need to get out of their head of saying like, oh, that I wore that before or that's not my age. Because really what we're selling is confidence, like we want you to leave our stores and feel good. You know, from the moment you step in with a friendly face that like greets you and welcomes you to the next day when you're in your closet and you go to put that shirt on. We want that good feeling to be with you every step of the way. So that's really what we're trying to provide our clients at Steele.
Speaker 2It's obvious that you do just that. We're hearing that passion in your voice. We're talking to Candice Caprice, the owner, the founder, of Steele by Perle and also the Perle boutique store which was the origin of all this. But the Steele by Perle now dress shops and design shops, really, with not just clothing apparel but accessories for dress, not just in Media or Newtown Square but Glen Mills. And you mentioned the other shop in Suburban Square, in Suburban Square, ardmore, pennsylvania. So the shops are growing in number because of the popularity of your clientele and we're just so happy to have you here today because this is really an education, not just for the women but really the men who often will look for gifts for their wife.
Speaker 3Do you have many men come in this shop and and, uh, try to shop for their ladies, we do, and we have a really um, beautiful, uh clienteling system where you know, we have, um the all the client's history of what they purchased so we could pull up pictures of everything that they they bought from us. So I mean husbands or boyfriends will come in and say my wife-and-so, and we'll pull up their profile, see the fits they like, their size. So we usually always are able to help someone find the perfect gift and if it doesn't work, they can always come and exchange it for something else. So they're. One thing that is great about our store is we get new product in twice a week. So we want to be a store that is on your weekly rotation to come in. So if you don't, we always say if you don't find something one time, you'll find something another time.
Speaker 2Sure, and if you're coming in the store regularly, you get to know the store help, and before you know it you're giving them your cell phone number and they're maybe even giving you a call and saying this is the thing you told me to keep an eye out for. It is here, get here today. That's what's so wonderful about having a consultant, a dress consultant. Nothing wrong with that. It helps you learn how to dress appropriately, say for age or for styling or for the event that you're going to. But to be able to have a shop like this, that's local here in the Delaware County area and you don't have to necessarily truck off to King of Prussia Mall, you know, and yet you'll find that it's not the Philadelphia mainline pricing that you would think in a boutique along the main line. It's a great opportunity to learn and to make friends and to dress well.
Speaker 2We're talking to Candice Caprice again, the owner of Steele by Perle, of um steel a by perlay and candace. You mentioned something a little bit ago about your husband, bruce, who um is is is the owner of b gross menswear in media. I have to tell you that years ago I did business with bill gross and so I'm familiar with the b gross menswear shop. It's one of the last really menswear shops. Um we candace, you have to nominate your husband, I guess, for a Big Neighbor podcast, because I'm a fan of that shop. I haven't been in there for years, but did I hear you correctly that it's kind of morphing into a kind of steal-a-from-in?
Speaker 3Not really, I mean it's. It's more on the lines with Paralay for men's.
Speaker 2But it's called Steerlay now.
Speaker 3No, it's called B Gross Menswear, but I'm saying B, gross and Paralay are kind of the.
Speaker 3Husband and wife yes, and really our story started because I was working in the men's store I didn't know if I wanted to get in the men's side as well and Bruce bought the business from Bill. Years ago Bill Gross and the men's industry started going downhill because it was casual Fridays and men started, you know, not wearing suits as much. So his business started declining and he was looking for a way to increase business and that's how we opened up Paralay to kind of fill the void of the lack of business in the men's store. But over the years, you know they're still going strong. It's a great store. It's definitely very neighborhood based.
Speaker 2And really it's. It is really neighborhood based in downtown media, the Bull Gross Men's Shop. I've known it, Everybody in Delaware County knows it because it's been there probably for 50 or 80 years or something.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 2Yeah, but we are talking today with Candice about the Stile by Perle. And again for the listeners, if you want to look this up online, just know that the spelling is different because it's Italian, it's S-T-I-L-E and then B-Y and then Perley is spelled P-A-R-L-E-Icom, and I think if you speak that into your phone Steeley by Perley you'll get it when your own phone can translate well enough and bring you to the website. They're moving the Perley Boutique to Newtown Square's Ellis Preserve in the coming months and we're all excited to have you come into the Newtown Square Ellis Preserve. Candice, it's going to be a great opportunity and I'm surprised to hear that you are even a Marple Newtown High School graduate from our area. Here.
Speaker 2You'll have to go online and look at themarplemagcom. I guarantee you, between that magazine and the Newtown Square magazine that we publish, you'll end up seeing families on the cover and you'll say, my gosh, there's my classmate and look at her today with these kids. So it'll be a lot of fun. It's been a great learning for me as a man, learning about women's apparel and boutique wear and the accessories that need to go along with a women dress, and for our ladies and the accessories that need to go along with a women dress. And for our ladies, you got to get to the store in Newtown Square or in Ardmore or in Glen Mills. Look them up online. Steele by Perle.
Speaker 3They can shop online too.
Speaker 2Oh really. So there's actually things you can buy online at the website. So now that's more reason to get to the website. Everybody and you'll you'll make sure that you're actually not you can probably shop and then pick it up if you want to, rather than have it shipped. What a great, good neighbor business we've had as a guest today. A woman entrepreneur, a woman of business who you know has even an understanding of men's clothing from work with her husband Bruce, but the founder and owner of Steela by Perle in Newtown square. Candace, you really are a good neighbor business, you're a good neighbor, and we want to thank you for being a guest on the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Speaker 3This was a lot of fun, so thanks for featuring us, and we were so excited to be here.
Speaker 1Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Bob Lacey. This is Michael Barkan inviting everyone to get on the Good Neighbor team. Nominate your favorite local business to be featured on an upcoming episode by going to gnpdelcocom or by calling Bob at 610-557-3745.