When Anthony Rich graduated last May from Boston University’s College of Communication with an advertising degree, he knew opening a store on Newbury Street would be a risky venture. But with the help of two partners and their production company C Entertainment, Rich thought it just might work.
Rich, along with Northeastern University graduate Cameron Grob and Northeastern senior Andrew Haddad, has been a partner in C Entertainment, a party planning company, for the past two years. Grob started C Entertainment in 2001 and it quickly became one of the fastest growing entertainment companies in Boston. It has been chosen to plan parties for magazines such as Vogue, Stuff and Maxim.
Rich and Haddad joined Grob shortly after C Entertainment’s birth and quickly moved up to partner status. The trio’s new venture, I Boutique, opened on July 8. It specializes in sunglasses and offers a selection of clothing and women’s jewelry.
“We’re the only buyers and we pick what we like,” Rich said. “We want specific stuff that you can’t get anywhere else. It has to be the newest of everything.”
In the future, the partners plan to expand the store to include more women’s clothing and accessories.
I Boutique achieves its laid-back, cozy vibe with plush chairs and an espresso machine. Rich said the group’s goal was to get away from the stuffy feel they say a lot of other stores have.
“It was really important to us to have somewhere that people felt they could come in and hang out,” Rich said. “We don’t want our customers to feel like they have to come in, buy something and leave. We want them to feel comfortable taking a seat and having some coffee.”
Rich said the location was important in actually going ahead with plans to open the store.
“We knew it had to be on Newbury if we were going to do it,” he said. “We had the concept and found the location and things just fell into place.”
He said the store was originally a copy store, so the team needed to renovate it. The process began slowly, with Rich doing construction on much of the store.
“At first we didn’t want to over-extend,” Rich said. “In the future, we want a lot more clothing.”
And since the three partners have worked full-time with the production company for the past two years, they were able to finance and open the store, Rich said.
“We had the capital, but it was very strict,” Rich said. “We had a lot of opposition from other sunglass stores on Newbury who didn’t want us to come in, so we knew we had to get up and going.”
Rich said the store’s success has to do with the versatility of his partners. “Everyone has their role,” he said. “Andrew already knew the sunglasses side of things, Cameron did the architecture, and I did a lot of the construction. We have different skill-sets and that has really helped us.”
The production company has helped in many of the promotions associated with the store opening. I Boutique had two opening parties at Mantra and Underbar, as well as an in-store party that included fashion shows, Rich said.
“We had Bombay Sapphire sponsoring us one night,” he said. “The promotions company really gave us a lot of contacts in that aspect and it helps get the word out.”
The owners have also enjoyed celebrity guests at their promotion parties as well as in the store.
“Howie Day and Gavin DeGraw were at the party we were at last night,” Rich said. “Howie was also in the store. He bought some sunglasses, which was pretty cool.”
Since the opening, many students have been in the store to buy sunglasses and other accessories.
“We’ve had a lot of college students in here, but there has been an older clientele as well,” Rich said.
College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Amanda Shami said she likes the casual feeling of I Boutique.
“It’s so much more laid back than other stores,” Shami said. “It definitely has a better feel than a lot of other stores on Newbury.”
