A local restaurateur is stepping into the retail business, hoping to address the lack of shopping options in a growing Brunswick town.
From the newly opened 7-Eleven and Lowe’s Home Improvement to incoming restaurants and fitness studios, Leland is bursting with new business. However, Josephine Tilley and many others maintain the town is lacking when it comes to retail options, particularly women’s clothing.
It’s an issue Tilley and her 20-year-old daughter, Paige Tilley, hope to address with the opening of their new women’s clothing and accessories boutique, called Hamptons Boutique. Embarking on the venture as co-owner with her daughter has been a rewarding challenge, Josephine Tilley said.
“It’s been fun,” Josephine Tilley said. “We’re learning a lot.”
Located at 1174 Turlington Ave., suite 103, Hamptons Boutique will offer clothing, jewelry, handbags, hairclips and other accessories for young and middle-aged women. The boutique is located near Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar in what was previously a Bill Clark Homes showroom.
Eyeing an opening date sometime during the week of April 8, the space is a “work-in-progress,” Josephine Tilley said. Racks of blouses and tables of folded sweatshirts are already filling the 1,800-square-foot suite, along with some boxes of hangers and furniture yet to be built.
Josephine Tilley said she and her family moved to the Leland area from Long Island, New York, some two decades ago. Five years ago, the family opened Farmhouse Kitchen, a breakfast and lunch spot in Brunswick Forest.
Paige Tilley said the mother-daughter pair has worked together at the restaurant, but this is their first venture as actual business partners. Josephine Tilley said the process has been largely smooth, laughingly adding that it’s been “better than when she was a teenager.”
Paige Tilley, a graduate of North Brunswick High School, said she’s always been interested in fashion and is excited to pour that passion into the new business.
“I’ve always liked clothes and I’d thought about [opening a business],” Paige Tilley said. “I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, but then this happened.”
Josephine Tilley said regulars at the restaurant and in the neighborhood are excited about the incoming retail option, given the lack of local or chain women’s clothing stores in the area.
“They don’t want to shop at Walmart, and they hate going over the bridge,” she said. “So, we’re excited to offer another option.”
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The boutique will be open seven days a week, operating from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the week, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
Jamey Cross covers Brunswick County for the StarNews. Reach her at jbcross@gannett.com or message her on Twitter/X @jameybcross.
