Just six weeks ago, the Painted Tree Boutiques went bankrupt. The national chain, which rented space to local businesses selling locally-made goods, gave vendors 10 days to move.
Robin Brickell, owner of women’s clothing store Robin Boutique, wasn’t necessarily shocked when she heard the news.
“I was surprised because it happened so quickly without notice,” she said. But the business seemed to be struggling nationally, she added.
“I had noticed that they were opening so many stores all over the country so quickly, and I wondered if that was a good thing,” Brickell said. She heard some locations weren’t doing well and had a lot of empty booths.
Brickell was one of the original vendors when the Virginia Beach Painted Tree opened in 2022. She said because she has another store in the area, the closure of the Painted Tree didn’t hit her as hard as some. The hardest part was figuring out how to sell all the merchandise she bought specifically for the Painted Tree location, she said.
For others, that was their only storefront. Heather Donis, owner of art business Heather Donis Designs, said she does art shows and markets but missed being able to send potential customers to a physical store.
“I looked at this month, and it’s definitely down by a lot, so it really hurt my bottom line,” Donis said.
The last month has been a whirlwind for Painted Tree vendors. First, it was a mad dash to clear out spaces before doors closed for good Apr. 24. Then, vendors had to store merchandise and accept money lost. The Painted Tree didn’t give them back their security deposits or pay them what they made from April sales.
Now, a new company called The Collective Boutiques is inviting them back.
The Virginia Beach location will be called The Boutiques of Virginia Beach, to avoid confusion with The Collective, a clothing store in the same Hilltop shopping center. It’ll take over the same spot the Painted Tree was in at 1624 Laskin Road. A soft opening is tentatively scheduled for June 27. Vendors will start moving in once permits and inspections are squared away.
“We know the concept works,” said Mike Wingard, co-owner of The Collective Boutiques.
Wingard and his wife co-own Kimba’s Collection, a business that sells a little bit of everything from home decor to jewelry. It was in all 61 Painted Tree locations across 22 states. Wingard, who lives in Florida, said moving was a nightmare that nearly broke them emotionally and financially.
“It was one of the worst experiences my wife and I have ever been through, that's for sure,” he said. “But we're ready to turn the page, start a new chapter.”
When it was clear the Painted Tree wasn’t reopening, Wingard and a small group of investors started The Collective Boutiques to take its place. They went after the most successful Painted Tree locations, and Hampton Roads was at the top of the list.
“Our very first lease that we signed was Virginia Beach,” Wingard said.
More than 280 vendors were in the Virginia Beach Painted Tree, and more than half of them are returning, which Wingard said is a good sign the store will be full.
“The more vendors we have, the more customers we'll have for everybody, and everybody will get their share of the pie,” he said. “If we can make the pie bigger, then everybody else does better.”
Wingard said The Collective Boutiques isn’t connected to the Painted Trees but some of the new investors have history with the defunct company. Beyond Wingard’s work as a vendor in Painted Tree for seven years, Melanie Greer, the new CEO of the Collective Boutiques, was hired by the Painted Tree a few weeks before it went under. Corey Gillum was one of the original founders of the Painted Tree who sold the company to an investment group around two years ago, Wingard said.
The Boutiques of Virginia Beach’s business model will work like the Painted Tree’s. Vendors will rent space and pay the company a flat 10% commission on monthly gross sales.
The model helps small businesses and local artisans, said Joann Dodd, the new manager of The Boutiques of Virginia Beach. Dodd was the manager of the Virginia Beach Painted Tree when it closed.
“The concept of a brick and mortar building is pretty much out of reach for most people, and this environment makes it very feasible,” she said.
A clean slate
When Brickell heard The Boutiques of Virginia Beach was taking over the space, she said she was skeptical at first but warmed to the idea.
“They came in and gave the old vendors the opportunity to have their exact booth back, and if they took it back, they weren't making us put a security deposit down,” she said.
Kathleen Rooney, owner of home goods store Shore Gallery & Design, said it’s comforting that Wingard is an owner who understands the vendor experience. She said she’s using the opportunity to start anew.
“I will do some refreshing of the walls, new paint, and we're able to take a space right next to one of our other spaces,” she said.
Brickell is also expanding Robin Boutique, bringing her total number of booths to five. And she said she’s doing things differently this time around.
“We've been able to wipe the slate clean and start over,” she said. “We have a better feel for what people want to see in there.”
She’s stocking the new space with handmade clothing and accessories, gift items and shoes for women, men and kids. She’s not selling jewelry and she’s not selling items at the Painted Tree on her business’s website — which was a hard lesson learned.
“If somebody goes into your booth and they put something in their basket and they get down to the end of the hall and they see something better, they chuck what they took out of your booth into that booth,” she said. “Then you don't know where the heck it is.”
Wingard said he’s making changes to the corporate side of things, too.
“We'll take away some of the policies that were put in the last year of Painted Tree’s industry,” he said. “They changed the hours on Sunday. They started charging for deposits, and they started doing a lot of things that were kind of nickel and dime in the vendors.”
He also said the new company will be more cautious with how they expand. The Virginia Beach location is the only one in the state they’re considering reopening at this time. Leases for two other stores in Texas and Tennessee have been signed, and nine others in six states were pending as of June 5.
Dodd said she remembers helping vendors move out and recalled everyone telling each other they’ll be back.
“I think we say these things under such stressful moments as a way of sort of keeping each other's spirits up, not thinking that in reality that that opportunity would actually arise,” she said.
