The Bra Room, a local shop in Rothesay, was nominated in the Top 200 lingerie boutiques in North America by The Best of Intima Awards 2022.
Katherine Crilley, co-owner and co-founder of The Bra Room, said she and her business partner, Teresa Goldsmith, were nominated for the award by the distributing companies they work with.
“Somebody in the industry felt that we were worth recognizing as one of the Top 200 in North America,” said Crilley.
The award nomination comes from The Best of Intima, a North American business-to-business magazine focused on lingerie and swimwear. The 200 nominees includes boutiques from across Canada and the United States. The award ceremony is at the end of the month in New York, hosted at the Tribeca Rooftop.
Crilley said she and Goldsmith were invited to attend as guests of one of their distributor companies but the business is too busy to take the time off.
The Bra Room is in its eighth year of business but Crilley and Goldsmith have been doing professional fittings for 15 years. Before they embarked on opening The Bra Room, they worked together at another store and saw what clients were coming in for or what they needed.
“The Bra Room stemmed from the need for women to feel normal,” Crilley said.
She said big-box stores offer limited size ranges and people can get squeezed in amongst what stores have available. With their own company, they sell bras with band sizes from 28 to 54 and cup sizes from AA to KK.
The goal of their boutique is to fit clients properly to help them realized how comfortable and well-fitted a bra can be. To offer this, their employees work one-on-one with clients to ensure they find their proper fit in whichever product they are looking for.
“I find that really goes a long way to having women feel really beautiful in their own skin because when you’re shopping and you’re picking up things and you’re trying it on and it’s not working, you start to feel like there’s something wrong with you,” Crilley said.
The boutique sells everyday bras, swimwear, mastectomy bras, nursing bras, and a variety of other intimates.
The Bra Room employees use their knowledge and training on customers so they can know they are being brought items that will work for them.
“Rather than them just roaming around and trying to pick up their own products, we get a sense of what it is that they’re looking for,” said Crilley. “We can bring all of the products for them and check the fit of everything and make sure that it’s perfect before they make their decision.”
Crilley said through their eight years of operating The Bra Room, they are always blown away by the online orders they receive, some of which come from outside the province.
“Major cities with these large boutiques and yet, we have these loyal customers that keep coming back to us. It’s just such a compliment,” she said.
Crilley said while they use social media to advertise, word-of-mouth has been key to growing their business. Receiving this award nomination broadens their brand awareness and gets their name out into the public to people who perhaps have never heard of their business.
Crilley said she and Goldsmith were at a loss of words when they were informed of the nomination and were excited because they are proud of their business.
“We see ourselves in this little, small town in New Brunswick but [it’s] very, very exciting for them to have wanted to include us and recognize us that way.”
Jessica Saulnier is an intern with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
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