ROOK STREET DIVIDES SHOPS IN Asheville’s Biltmore Village, and it’s a busy road that Scout Boutique owner Dema Badr crosses often to grab a coffee or lunch. When she opened her new venture there in April, she wondered if there would be days like those she spent almost a decade earlier in a different store, with no customers in the aisles scouring the clothing racks in search of the perfect cocktail dress. Badr was 23 years old when she opened Zakya Boutique in 2006, which she operated in downtown Asheville for two years. On some days, no one shopped and Badr stared at the mannequins. “I was romanticizing those dead afternoons and what I would do,” says Badr, as she sits behind the counter of her store one morning. “I could walk across the street and get a beer at Catawba Brewing. That hasn’t happened. The day I actually, during open hours, have to go to Catawba and get a beer will be a low moment. I was hyping it, but I don’t want it to happen.” After her first business folded, Badr’s career had stops in Philadelphia, New York City, and China before she decided to return home. The lessons she learned from her years as a buyer and in manufacturing has helped position her for success with fresh ventures. Now, her new shop, an 800-sq.-ft. space located at No. 102 18 Brook Street, is frequented by the well-coiffed from Wink Salon and Boutique and the well-fed from Fig Bistro, two of the businesses that share the space in Biltmore Courtyard Shops. Potential customers shopping at other stores spy her boldly painted yellow script logo and professionally dressed mannequins and wander over. Some out-of-towners walk in, asking what else is down the street, only to stay and browse. Lots of shoppers know Badr and remember her former shop. “It’s why Scout has gotten off on a really good foot,” she says, “because the people who supported me still live here and are excited that I came back to do a more affordable women’s venue.” Biltmore Village has plenty of shops that sell clothes and accessories tailored for women. Scout Boutique is different. With its greenish-yellow floors, steel pipe dress racks and built-in shadow box shelves, it isn’t crammed to capacity with purchasable items. There’s space to move around, which gives the shop an airy feel, as do the high ceilings and somewhat art deco chandeliers. Scout also offers smaller labels—some are even locally made— than many other stores, and Badr is often able to use her extensive contact list to find cheaper ways to make better products. There’s a one-on-one connection that Badr (a self-admitted lover of talking) utilizes to help find that perfect fit and look. “I’ve learned that having a business can be a lot of fun, but serious at the same time,” says Hannah Shull, Badr’s lone part-time employee and a fashion merchandising student at Carson-Newman University. “She always wants to have fun with customers and make them feel welcomed in her store. Some 20
| December 2016