GENEVA – Sonja Beallis and her friend JoAnn Salazar spent years looking for good-fitting, comfortable and pretty bras.
“We both had experiences where it was hard to find good-fitting undergarments, and we kind of decided we can do it better and provide fabulous service for our customers,” Beallis said.
The friends took a leap of faith and on April 15 opened Bare Moxie, located at 115 W. State St. in Geneva, which does bra fittings and sells specialty bras and swimwear for other women like themselves.
“We specialize in personalized bra fittings,” Beallis said. “We start at a D cup in the store and go up to an M cup. For the band, we start at 28 inches and go up to a 54. Our main business model is built on providing really comfortable, well-made bras for women who can’t just stop into [department stores] and find what they need.”
The average women’s breast size these days is a double D, Beallis said, and most don’t really know what size bra they should wear.
“I have women who walk in and say, ‘I’m wearing a 38DD,’ who find out they really are like a 34G,” Beallis said.
“The department stores will not have that cup size, and so the women do the best they can. They make the band size bigger, but they’re sacrificing the support,” Beallis said. “The band is supposed to provide 80 percent of the support, so when it’s the wrong size, all the weight of their breasts goes on their backs.”
Beallis said the store’s focus is on pretty, feminine bras that provide a proper and comfortable fit. It also sells nursing, maternity and mastectomy bras.
Beallis of Naperville and Salazar of Elgin spent a year putting their business model together. Beallis, 44, had worked in the corporate world for 20 years, and Salazar still works a full-time job in addition to running their business, Beallis said.
She finished working at her other job in early February, and – the next day – Beallis said she was on a plane to Los Angeles, going to a similar boutique of a friend of her mother-in-law’s.
“I spent a long weekend with her,” Beallis said. “By the end of February, we went to New York and bought our whole inventory. It was a leap of faith.”
And though they looked at several places to situate their store, Geneva became their top choice, Beallis said, partly because it is about halfway between where the partners live.
“It seemed like a natural fit to come to Geneva,” Beallis said. “We just love our spot.”
Beallis said the response from customers has been enthusiastic in just the few weeks they’ve been open.
“About 85 percent of women who come in our door buy something because they are so blown away,” Beallis said.
“I have had so many call me into the dressing room to cut the tag off their new bra, while they throw their old bra away.”
The price range for the bras is $37 to $79, she said.
“We did not want the average person not to be able to afford a bra,” Beallis said.
And because the store has so much stock, many women are happy to walk out with their new bra and not wait for it to be ordered.
That fulfills the store’s motto, which is: “The Every Miss Boutique” – emphasis on “Every.”
“We try to have something for everyone,” Beallis said.
For information, call 331-699-0285, email baremoxie@mail.com, visit www.baremoxie.com or its Facebook page.