One of the most frequent complaints I hear from women has to do with the lack of stores selling fashionable plus size clothes. So I applauded Hudson, Wis. boutique La Rue Marche for turning over half of its shop to larger sizes. I wrote about it in the Pioneer Press, I talked about it on the radio. Finally, an independent shop recognized that women of all shapes and sizes want to wear trendy, stylish clothes. Finally, curvy women could try on jeans rather than guess their size online. Finally, a shop stocked the same contemporary looks for size 18 that are available in size 8.
But store owner Lisa Shortridge just informed me that she has eliminated plus sizes already. They just didn’t sell. "Women did come in and buy," Shortridge told me, "But some of them seemed to be a little older and they were not looking for my style. Also, it was really hard to find cute merchandise from vendors. And I think these women don’t think of shopping in boutiques – maybe they’re too intimidated, which makes me sad."
Any other theories? If the women who complain about a lack of plus size options don’t support the retailers that are trying, you can’t blame stores for sticking with 0-12.