CHAMBERSBURG – In honor of its 20th year on Main Street, women’s clothing boutique Here’s Looking at You (123 S. Main Street) held a four day celebration featuring door prizes, gift certificates, a new line of soaps, and lots of in-store sales and discounts. Sticking with the “20” theme, there was a “super clearance” where any clearance item with a dot was only $20. There were also cupcakes, which have become an annual tradition, as well as Bellinis and mimosas.

“I’ve always aspired to be a place where people want to bring their friends or their family when they’re visiting,” said owner Penny Shaul. 

Recognizing that shopping is often a social activity, she strives to create a relaxed environment with a wide variety of merchandise including as many different sizes as she can order.

The inventory at Here’s Looking at You is largely made up of boutique-driven clothing lines “that you don’t see in bigger stores” and purses, scarves, jewelry, lotions, greeting cards and other accessories.

“I’m willing to try anything,” says Shaul. “It’s fun to keep evolving and bringing different things in. Especially around the holidays. I like to keep things fresh.”

As much as she enjoys bringing new concepts to the store, she credits much of the store’s success to striking the right balance between consistency and change. Fashion might rely on novelty, but good business practices require routine. Remarkably, Shaul has kept the same hours in the same location selling some of the same labels to some of the same customers for two decades. 

Customers who fall in love with a particular line can be assured that Shaul will continue stocking it. 

Customers seeking something new will find that, too.

When Shaul goes hunting for new merchandise at the New York and Delaware wholesale shows, her secret is to find items that excite her.

“Really, what drives me is just things that I love, things that I would love to wear or [greeting] cards that I would like to send,” said Shaul. “That is mainly what directs me when I’m shopping.”

She also pays close attention to what her customers are looking for when they visit the shop.

“For so long, post-COVID, nobody was dressing up, but people are starting ask for dressy again,” she said as an example, “so I’ll change my inventory a little bit going forward to bring in some dressier clothes for weddings and holidays.”

A team player within the downtown community

Another key to Shaul’s success has been her congenial attitude towards the other businesses in downtown Chambersburg. She encourages her customers to visit the surrounding boutiques and restaurants and generally spend as much time downtown as possible.

“We’ve got our own little fashion district downtown,” she said. If a customer is looking for something that she doesn’t carry, she won’t hesitate to call Black & Blush Boutique (54 S. Main St.) or Golden Juniper Boutique (24 N. Main St.). For Shaul, the other stores aren’t competition; they’re another opportunity make her customers happy while bolstering downtown’s image as a destination. “It’s nice that if we don’t have what someone is looking for, we can refer them to each other…it’s nice to have a variety.” 

Shaul’s professional journey began in high school when a Career Day speaker introduced her to fashion merchandising. At 18 she started working in a small, family-owned chain of boutiques in Omaha, Nebraska that carried everything from bridals to furs. After working at several of the chain’s locations, Shaul was selected to run a new store that they were launching from the ground up, which was a valuable learning experience. 

Originally, she had planned to buy that business outright, but when she met her husband Guy, she found her way to Chambersburg and used everything she had learned here.

“So instead of opening it there, I decided to open it here,” said Shaul. “I’ve been very fortunate. The store’s been very welcomed.”

Destined for downtown

When she was scouting for her location, she knew she didn’t want to be at the mall and the strip malls weren’t as built up as they are today. The Norland shopping area didn’t even exist yet.

“There was no question that if I was going to do it in Chambersburg, it would have been downtown,” she said. 

“Downtown always has some great promotions, and that really helps,” said Shaul of events like IceFest, AppleFest, Old Market Day, Small Business Saturday and Trick or Treat on Main. 

“We’re so lucky that we have two organizations that their sole purpose is making downtown better,” she said referring to the Downtown Business Council and Downtown Chambersburg Inc. “That’s awesome. Most downtowns are lucky if they get one.”

The store’s opening day exceeded her expectations, and the store quickly established a customer base. 

She added: “Downtown has been so welcoming to me, which is great. Any time I’ve had a question, someone is always there to help me…It is great to talk to people who have done it.” 

“It’s smart to take advice from people who have made mistakes – and believe me, I’ve made plenty,” she said laughing. “I’m notorious for overbuying because there’s so much great stuff out there that I want to share with people.”

Challenges overcome, advice for those who would follow in her footsteps

When asked about challenges the store has faced over the years, she mentions two: the resurfacing of Main Street and COVID.

“Looking back, I think COVID was tougher than when we first opened,” she said. By this time, she owned the building her store was in and rented out the upper units. She qualified for a grant, which helped her survive when her store was closed as part of Pennsylvania’s lockdown.

For someone who values consistency as much as Shaul, watching the daily or monthly sales numbers can be stressful. Her advice is to zoom out. Watch the bigger picture. Resist honing in on individual days. When one month is down compared to the same month the previous year, another month will usually be higher. Plus, there are plenty of things to take care of during down times.

“It kind of fluctuates every year, but in the end, I feel like we’ve pretty consistently increased or stayed the same,” said Shaul. “Which is great.” 

The biggest changes she has encountered over the past 20 years have been in marketing. When she opened, she relied on print ads in Public Opinion and her physical mailing list. Today,  she still advertises in a few print publications and her physical mailing list, but there is also more emphasis on digital and social media, specifically Facebook and Instagram.

“That, for me, has probably been the most difficult thing to figure out: how to get the word out there,” she said. When customers visit Here’s Looking at You for the first time, she likes to find out how they heard about it. 

Going forward, Shaul intends to keep on the path that has brought her 20 years of success. 

“I think my formula works,” she said. She is honest with customers when they ask her opinion. She tries to be friendly to everybody. She has no plans to franchise or open additional locations. 

Her advice to entrepreneurs interested in owning a business on Main Street is to get involved with their communities as possible. 

“You’ve got to take advantage of all of those crowds,” she said. Even if the shop isn’t busy the day of the event, it’s still be introduced to families as they walk by that otherwise might not know you’re there.

While the internet has transformed how people shop, Shaul’s customers still seek her out.

“It definitely has affected things,” said Shaul, “but I’ve been fortunate because a lot of customers see things online and call me because they want to buy it from me, which is great. I love that they want to support me.”

[Photo provided by Penny Shaul, owner of Here’s Looking at You]