New Frangipani store opens in Hamilton

Make text smaller Make text larger

Fans of the Frangipani store in St George’s will be thrilled to hear a Frangipani Hamilton has just opened up in the Washington Mall.

The new store has taken over the old Bay Grape space in phase one of the mall, by the Harbour Master luggage shop.

Selling everything from bags and bangles to sarongs and sundresses, this Frangipani sets itself apart from its sister store by catering more to locals than tourists.

“We have very strong tourist and souvenir lines in St George’s,” said Chris Bryan, owner of Frangipani. “This is more catered to the local crowd — people shopping at lunchtime or on the weekend looking for something to go out in, or go from the beach to the restaurant — that sort of thing.”

The store, with its freshly-painted walls and newly refurbished floors carries an broad range of items. The owner says they try to cater to all sorts of women — whether they’re looking for a nice neutral top or an exotic patterned dress.

“We have a very, very wide range — for all shapes, sizes, ages, styles,” Mr Bryan said. “We’re doing bright colours, patterns, prints and solids. Everything from sundresses to beach cover-ups — a lot of flowy garments.”

The store also carries a wide variety of clutches, bags, hats and other accessories.

“What’s interesting is that sometimes we have something in mind with a certain product and somebody will come in and accessorise it in a way that we just hadn’t thought about,” Mr Bryan said. “They’ll take something we think is casual and with the right bag, shoes and jewellery, all of a sudden, they look fantastic going out in the evening to a cocktail party or dinner. That’s always quite interesting to see.”

“A lot of the colours in here are extremely bright and fluorescent looking but we also carry some of the more African, ethnic prints and neutrals,” said Kim Adair, who works in the Hamilton boutique.

The store opened last Monday and just got its sign in place yesterday, but already, they say they’re seeing decent foot traffic.

“We’re definitely getting people just walking in, looking at different things — loving the colours saying they really love the colours and patterns throughout the shop,” Ms Adair said. “The feedback’s been very good. A few of the customers who have come in already know Frangipani in St George’s and they’re really quite thrilled that it’s a different type of Frangipani here in Hamilton.”

Mr Bryan said while Frangipani has been in St George’s for 20-some years, he’s owned it for three and has seen a loyal following.

“Because of the great following and support we’ve had from locals all over the island as well as the tourists, we have often been asked when we’re going to open in town. So we took the opportunity to open up in town.”

Mr Bryan thinks in this economy, the key to his new store success will be variety and pricing.

“We have fantastic new products — beautiful colours, great cuts. Our lines go from petite all the way up to a 3X and I have a couple of lines coming in that go up to 5X, so we’re definitely trying to deal with all shapes and sizes — petite right through to fuller figured,” he said. “And our prices are fantastic. Most of our line hasn’t actually moved in ten or 11 years. Our short and long dresses are the prices they were in 2001 so I know that we’re very competitive.

“We offer a very good product at very reasonable, competitive prices,” he said. “I’m really trying to get the customer to appreciate that we recognise the economic times we’re in, but also to give them a quality product at an affordable price.”

Along with a variety of unique clothing items, the store’s warmly hued walls and shelves are adorned with eclectic artwork, rustic home decor items and gift-worthy knick-knacks. A giant wooden statue of Buddah watches over the cash register while neatly hung column of carved African animal masks graces the wall beside the dressing rooms.

Mr Bryan says that while the focus this spring and summer is on clothing and accessories, come fall and winter, Frangipani will start to sell more home decor items like pillows, throws and even some furniture pieces.

“We have quite an unusual niche because of the range of patterns, prints, fabrics and items. I think we sort of do stand alone,” Mr Bryan said.

“I’ve been very happy with what we’ve done so far,” he added. “I really feel we’re going to do very, very well once the word gets out that we’re here and people see what we have and the prices we offer. I think we’re going to see a very good clientele develop.”

Located in phase one of the Washington Mall, Frangipani Hamilton’s hours of operation are Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm.

Make text smaller Make text larger

Take Our Poll