Loola Doola Boutique, White Plains
The Loola Doola Boutique in White Plains is not the first business city resident Lauren Morris has owned.
She previously owned a boutique located on Post Road in White Plains, which she opened in 2010. Morris said last week she did not know everything she needed to about running her own business. “I opened and closed quickly. It was like nine months,” she said. “I really needed to perfect my craft and really figure out what I wanted to do. And I took on various jobs and I learned how to work under other entrepreneurs in the boutique business. And here it is, seven years later I got the courage and confidence up again to open up another boutique and I found the perfect location in downtown White Plains.”
Morris explained how she came up with the name of her boutique. “My dad (Erwin Gilliam) called me that as a child, Loola Doola,” she recalled. “I couldn’t stand the name, but he passed in ’06. When I opened the store in 2017 I decided to call the store Loola Doola.”
The boutique offers such women’s clothing as dresses, blouses, and skirts not found in mall stores, Morris said.
She also sells jewelry, which is mainly handmade in Westchester, and accessories.
Morris designs the handbags sold in her boutique. Her handbags received a “Best of Westchester” award from the editors of “Westchester Magazine” in 2018.
Morris said she began designing handbags in 2008. “I began to doodle and it turned into a handbag,” she said.
It takes less than a month for a handbag she designs to be manufactured and be ready for sale, Morris said.
Morris has many goals for her business. She wants to expand to men’s clothing and bring in her own line of clothing in the near future. In addition, Morris said she wants to expand the store.
Morris said it is not difficult competing with larger stores. “If you shop at boutiques and you like boutiques you come in looking for that boutique experience,” she said. “The boutique experience is one-on-one service. When you come in you know you’re going to find something different.”
Morris said she has a special relationship with her customers. “You really do become a friend,” she said. “You’re no longer a customer.”
Loola Doola Boutique is located at 206 Martine Ave. in White Plains. For more information call 914-468-1168 or send an e-mail looladoolainfo@gmail.com. The store also has a Facebook page.
