Wednesday, November 09, 2022

A Fashion Lover to a Boutique Owner in Toronto

Not being a celebrity or a well-known person, Borislava Marinov, just an ordinary person, who loves fashion, has finally succeeded in setting up her own clothing store in Toronto despite the Covid pandemic.

Being an employee for 18 years at “Your Clothes Friend" clothing store in North York, Borislava marked one of her greatest milestones in her life when she received the ownership of the boutique transferred by its old owner - Ms. Wendy, especially during the outbreak of Covid 19 pandemic. That was when Borislava officially started owning a retail clothing store for women, which suits her passion: being in the fashion industry and the opportunities to meet new people every day.

She has since then managed the store with her partner - Sally, who's in charge of the store manager position now. Even though there are very few people running the store, they have done a really good job by bringing exclusive international brands, most of which are from Europe - also her homeland, to the Canadian market.

One of the key reasons why their imported products have always been on the best-seller list is that they are 100% made of authentic cashmere, which is known for being one of the softest and most luxurious fibers in the world. Furthermore, the prices of those high-quality items are quite reasonable for a handmade and unique progress item. Most of their customers have felt that they have been getting their money’s worth from their purchases so far. She proudly said, “I have been trying to offer Canadian people the opportunity to use high-end product with more affordable prices”.

When asked about her favorite brand, she answered without hesitation: ‘Marc Cain’. It is quite obvious that ‘Your Clothes Friend’ has also distributed Marc Cain’s products from Germany, which was launched over 45 years ago. This German company provides special knitwear designs, extraordinary prints and radiant colours, and creates high-quality garments. It has been Borislava’s understanding of the local market ranging from consumer preferences to local households’ income and her intensive experiences in the fashion retailing business that has helped her secure the deal with the reputable German brand for the past years.

To be a trusted and long-term partner with Marc Cain and other international brands, she’s gone through a great deal of difficulties and challenges. One of the challenges this female entrepreneur has faced during her day-to-day management is how to provide consultancy to some kind of specific customers about what will work best for them. “The challenges I have to face sometimes is to serve more specific customers which really don't know what exactly they are looking for, to find the right way which works for them and our store”, Borislava said. For customers, her boutique is not only the support team, but they're also their stylists. She grasps their likes or dislikes to help them discover more about themself and their sense of style.

However, like every owner of other businesses in the fashion industry worldwide in general and in Canada in particular, she’s had to deal with the most severe obstacle, the Covid 19 pandemic, which she also called one of her most important lessons till now. Although most stores in the fashion industry had to be closed due to Covid, she still tried her best, along with Sally, to manage the store well at that time with a positive mindset: “When you have a belief and work hard, you will succeed” she said. And indeed, Borislava succeeded in making people feel good about themselves through her knowledgeable advice and also through her extensive experience of almost 20 years. Along with her favorite quote: “Clothes aren't going to change the world, the women who wear them will".

Lastly, in the interview with her, she pointed out two important pieces of advice for those who have a dream about being a retail owner like her: “You have to love fashion and people - and “love” here is not just a simple “love", it requires your commitment and means how much effort and responsibility in which you need to put in. Hopefully, these inspirational and helpful messages may motivate certain young students studying fáhion business, who might not be unsure about their chosen career path, to continue to have faith and move forwards to achieve their goals.

To conclude we can say that almost everything related to fashion has played an important role in parts of Borislava's journey so far, and it is still gradually bringing her joy and success so that's why she still decided to attach to it. With all of her effort since she first being in the industry, we can believe now that she is already willing to input everything she could for her store and bring it closer to people, especially middle-aged women, like her store name: "Your Clothes Friend".

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