The Frock Shoppe, a New Charitable Boutique, Set To Open July 13

The Frock Shoppe, located at 1814 Valley Forge Road, will celebrate its grand opening during a three-day event on Friday, July 13, Saturday, July 14, and Sunday, July 15. Boutique owner, Allegra Nottage, said she is excited about inviting friends, family, and seeing and meeting new residents during the three day event.

"The boutique features new, handmade, and pre-loved vintage, vintage inspired and modern women’s clothing and accessories," she said. "The boutique will occasionally feature carefully selected items for men and children, in addition to featuring local designers and artists."

The idea for The Frock Shoppe came about when Nottage was running her nonprofit organization, The Nottage Project. After finding herself out of a job, she was inspired to help others who were in the same position.

"The situation of the economy didn't hit me until it happened to me," said Nottage, who was formerly the Vice President of Bank of America. The Collegeville resident said she was lucky enough to have the support of family when she unexpectedly had her position eliminated. But soon found others were not in the same boat.

"A lot of families were in the same position," she said. "People next door were not so lucky."

To combat what she was seeing, she began to offer community support and formed the Nottage Project with friends and neighbors manning the board. 
"We started with small-scale philanthropy," she said. After many rounds of gathering clothing and distributing it via the  (in conjunction with the food pantry) to families in need and at the , Nottage found they often had clothing they didn't need.

"We had tons of clothing donations," she said. "Some things people couldn't use, like a formal dress. They needed basic clothes, like T-shirts, jeans and work clothes, but these items were worth good money."

Instead of disposing of the formal wear and high-end clothing, the Nottage Project found ways to sell them for cash, in order to then use the funds to purcahse undergarments, socks, backpacks or other items they seemed short of for those in need. 

"The Frock Shoppe was born out of that," said the new store owner. The store will feature many new items, as well as a few "pre-loved," according to Nottage. Funds raised will go to support the Nottage Project, which will continue to support families in need in the Perkiomen Valley area.

The new business will be housed next door to Circa Dee and Fabulous Folks, at 1814 Valley Forge Road. This is also the home of Center Point Pond. For the opening weekend, the store will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The store will "happily accept donations" to help with the Nottage Project, though the main inventory for the store will include items from local designers and artists. There will be limited consignment, said Nottage.

The Frock Shoppe will also be featuring local artists, such as a local woman who makes simple hair accessories for girls, for sale in the shop.

Ongoing hours will be Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (closed Mondays and Wednesdays). For more information on the new store, like The Frock Shoppe on Facebook.