ost 19-year-olds have enough problems getting up in the morning and balancing their cheque books let alone finding time (amid a hectic social life) to fit in any work.

But Yvonne Cacace was not your ordinary 19-year-old. She was driven, ambitious and clever to boot. She was just 19 when she not only set up her own successful business, the clothing store Stefanel, but also knew her mind enough to get married to the love of her life.

Now Mrs. Cacace at 36 is just about to open her fifth store on Reid Street to be called Mambo (after the popular hit song Mambo Number Five). And she is still happily married.

?The opportunity just came up and we took it,? she said. ?We didn?t plan to open a fifth store so quickly, but the opportunity was there and we went for it.?

The store will sell high-end trendy clothes and is expected to open next month on the site of the old Michael Swan Gallery at the mouth of Walker Arcade on Reid Street. Her husband and partner Domenico will now move over to work with the stores full time, doing the books and keeping the orders coming in.

Mrs. Cacace met her husband while he was working as a waiter at the Trattoria 20 years ago, and fell for his charms immediately. Three years later the couple were married, and have been happily married since, have three children and run the business together.

When asked if it was difficult to work with her husband, she laughed and said: ?No, not at all. We get on very well in fact. We hardly argue ? with the business and work and three children we don?t see each other enough to fight!?

Mr. Cacace is about to leave his post at La Coquille as the business has grown too big for his wife to deal with alone and the couple will work the same hours for the first time in years.

?For a long time he was doing the books, then going to work, or finishing work and then coming in. But it was all getting to be too much work. And he will come over full time shortly.?

The couple have three children, aged five, 10 and 14, and all have been brought up with retail in their veins, and the eldest Francesca can be seen in Iana busily selling children?s clothes during the summer.

Mrs. Cacace got into the business after studying fashion design and construction at Bermuda College. She then went on to work at Benetton, which at the time was on Front Street and owned by Kim Hollis.

Due to her relationship with Domenico, she had taught herself Italian and became an invaluable asset when the clothing store Sicily was being built by Italian builders.

?It was my husband at the time who said I should look into doing a clothing store on my own. He was familiar with the Stefanel brand and his sister in Italy made contact and I got in touch with their man in New York.?

In fact at that time there were no Stefanel?s this side of the Atlantic, and when she opened her store in 1987, it was the first this side of Europe. Mrs. Cacace had a great idea but no capital and went to the bank to get a loan to start up. She was so young that she got Charles Vaucrosson to help her and take her plans to the bank.

?He spoke for us and on our behalf,? she said. ?And we got the go-ahead. ?87 was a good year, one I will never forget. I started my own business and got married. Two of the most important things I have done in my life.? But she and her husband have seen the ups and downs in the business, and were hit hard by the recession, just barely hanging on to the business. ?But we managed to pay off our debt and survive, despite the recession, so I suppose you could say we have done well.?

he couple did not mean to expand initially as fast as they have, and it was only in 2000 that they opened their second and third stores. Children?s clothing store Iana in the Walker Arcade and Sasch along the road at the entrance to the Arcade, were the next step. ?We initially had a mix of clothing in Sasch and it was just a men?s store. But we introduced a women?s line and now just have Sasch clothes for the men. It has proved a big success, much more than we hoped for.?

Now Stefanel and Sasch jostle with each other for the top money making slot in the company. ?It is funny, we have very loyal customers at Stefanel, and they have grown up with us.

In fact the girls that used to come in and buy every season have grown into women who still shop here and they buy clothes for their children at Iana.? The next move came when Opus closed down, and they were offered the space. And in there went Quattro, (meaning four in Italian) their fourth store ? a shoe shop for men, women and children. Then when the Michael Swan gallery closed down between Stefanel and Sasch, it was too good an opportunity to miss ? and once again they got their thinking caps on for a new store. ?There is a gap in the market for trendy and up market clothes,? she said.

?And we want to fill it. There is a need out there for those that want to be a little bit different. You can even tell by the mannequins that it is a different kind of store.? Now Mambo is due to open soon and will take the chain into an up market area it has never been to before. The store will stock Diesel, Puma, Van Dutch, Dolce and Gabana (can you check Gabana) and Robert Carvalli.

ut Mrs. Cacace admits it is not a good time for her stores. And it is not because they don?t have enough customers ? she says they do not have that problem ? but because the dollar is so weak she is having to pay more for her European clothes. ?We are riding the exchange rate storm,? she said.

?We are trying not to pass it on to our customers because we do not want to scare anybody.? But despite this temporary hiccup, she says she is sure her new store will be big hit and has no regrets about her life.

?I never thought I would end up with five stores,? she said.

?My husband resisted expanding from just Stefanel because of the time the business would take from our life and the additional pressure it would put on us.

?It is a lot of responsibility ? we have between 10 and 15 staff at different times of the year ? but if you have people who believe in you then you can go further than you think.

?That is why I will never forget 1987 ? it was a good year.?