– by Doreen Marion Gee –
This is part of a rotating series of articles on members of Sidney Meet Up Women’s Networking Group, featuring women in business on the Saanich Peninsula.
When a woman shops at Norma Jeans’ Closet, she sashays out like a movie star – her head held high with elegant jewellery, glamourous clothes and a new lease on life. We all deserve to feel like a million. And now, Cheryl Young makes it accessible and affordable.
Norma Jeans’ Closet is one of the businesses at “Upstairs on Beacon” in Sidney. Created by the charismatic owner, Cheryl Young, this boutique is paradise for fashion connoisseurs: glittering-gold jackets, exquisite jewellery, sumptuous satin dresses, sleek evening gowns, designer vests and pillows, beautiful works of art, fine silverware and artistic lamps. The flavour and tone of this enchanting boutique is high-end, luxurious, elegant and classy. Norma Jeans’ Closet offers the finer things in life that we all dream of – and now they can be ours!
“I love fashion. Even when I was a little girl, I was dressing up in my mother’s clothes and I was picking out her clothes to wear if she was going out for the evening” remarks Cheryl. The savvy entrepreneur knows how wonderful it feels when we take the time to put on an eye-catching blouse or a dress that sizzles. “I want women to recapture the feeling that we get when we are dressed to the nines.” Sometimes when we look the part, we become it. And at Norma Jeans’ Closet, you don’t have to be rich to look beautiful; their premium clothing is surprisingly reasonable. They offer high-quality fare – vintage, gently used and new: “Some have only been worn once and many still have the tags on them. We don’t take any jeans or sweats.”
Behind the ‘fascinator’ and quick smile is a genuine caring for others. Cheryl wants women to feel good about themselves and look the part. When a customer was experiencing personal issues, Cheryl advised her to “throw her shoulders back, put some makeup on and get some killer clothes. I told her that looking good is the best revenge.” Everyone gets the red carpet treatment at Cheryl’s fashion boutique: “When a woman comes into Norma Jeans’ Closet, I want to make her feel like she has come to a friendly place.”
The winds of change are softly blowing at Cheryl’s fashion oasis “I think that I am going to make it my goal to add some pizazz to shopping in Sidney by the Sea. I’d like to think that our tourists will take a bit of Marilyn Monroe’s glamour back with them!”
Cheryl Young sums up the essence of Norma Jeans’ Closet: “I want every woman to leave feeling special, feeling like she is a goddess, because she is.”
Contact: www.cherylyoung.ca/norma_jeans_closet & www.facebook.com/pages/Norma-Jeans-Closet.
