BATON ROUGE — An online store born out of a single mother’s vision has transformed into a successful chain opening its ninth total retail location — its first in Baton Rouge.
Fleurty Girl, which has locations in New Orleans and Mississippi, is hosting a grand opening for its newest location on Government Street near Acadian Thruway on June 15.
“I found a building that was perfect for us,” said Lauren LeBlanc Haydel, Fleurty Girl’s founder and CEO. “My three children will be at LSU this fall, so it was a no-brainer for us. This is our most requested location, and we have opened everywhere else where it was requested. This is the city we have been asked to come hands down. Since we opened in New Orleans, this is the city we’ve been asked for.”
Fleurty Girl was born in 2009, with Haydel taking $2,000 to put into printing T-shirts for women who celebrated New Orleans.
She launched an online store, and six months later, she opened her first retail boutique location on Oak Street in New Orleans. She moved her family to a shotgun home in New Orleans because she believed in the vision.
“I felt there weren’t enough shirts for women for New Orleans, but six months later, people wanted to try on shirts,” she said. “We went from a four-bedroom home in Denham Springs to a 1,000-square-foot home. Looking back, that’s crazy. We had to change schools.”
The online store’s inventory ranges from T-shirts to stickers and everything in between. There are gifts and seasonal items for women of all ages.
Eight locations in, and she said Baton Rouge was one of the most requested locations for her boutique. Six of the company’s eight sites are in the New Orleans area. One location is in Mandeville, and another boutique is in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
“The timing had to be right,” she said. “It’s an hour away from my home. You can ask any member of my staff what is the most requested location for Fleurty Girl. When we look at insights, it’s New Orleans, Metairie & Baton Rouge, and then Mandeville.”
With Fleurty Girl opening in Baton Rouge hinted at it possibly being the last location, but she has admitted she’s said that before.
“Every time I open a new location, I say this is the last one,” she said.
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