For this installment of our holiday shopping series, we visited Lilly Pulitzer Splash of Pink at 78 Elm St. and talked to Store Manager Wendy Probert.
Here’s a transcription of our interview.
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Wendy Probert: “These are our little tennis dresses, which everybody loves, tennis or golf dresses. It’s a luxe fabric. It has matching shorts. Perfect for a person who’s going back to Florida. These are $178.” Photo credit: Michael Dinan
New Canaanite: Tell me how it’s going so far this holiday season at Splash of Pink.
Wendy Probert: We just moved down to this location last year in January. We were up the street at another location, so we’re coming up on a year and it started off quite well. But I will say that the parking situation has definitely been an issue.
Let’s talk about that specifically in a minute. What are you seeing so far this holiday shopping season?
It’s difficult to gauge right now, because of the parking situation, because it’s been slower. But we traditionally have been resort wear and a lot of our customers go to Florida, so they do come in for that. But Lilly has added more colors and fabrications in recent years that are good for New England areas. Like I’m wearing a cashmere pullover now—I’ve got casual, comfort wear. So we are selling a little bit of everything. Some giftable items that we do sell are cotton sweaters, pajamas, things of that nature.
Wendy Probert: “We sell lots of giftables and everyone loves Lilly pajamas. It’s about $120 for a set. They’re super soft and great for gifting.” Photo credit: Michael Dinan
So when people come in, if they’re snowbirds or have a second residence in Florida, they come in for those clothes but they’re finding other things here.
Exactly. And I have to wear other things because I’m freezing outside. But yes, we have heavier fabrications and darker colors that Lily has added.
How do you describe the store to people who have not been here yet?
We are a privately owned small business Lily Pulitzer store, which is why we’re called ‘Splash of Pink.’ So we’ve been in business 22 years. We have our original location in Westport for 22 years. New Canaan we opened up in 2019. Had to close in 2020 for a little while because of COVID, but we’ve been in New Canaan, so we’re your local go-to small business who sells Lily Pulitzer. We have a lot of customers that come and they don’t know we’re here. They Google ‘Lilly Pulitzer’ and they’re like, oh, there’s one in New Canaan. We’ve had a difficult time getting our name out in New Canaan. There used to be a corporate one here many years ago—like 20, 30 years ago—and then that closed.
Wendy Probert: “And then we’ve got velour in black and in pink for your casual at-home, relaxing or traveling and looking good. It’s under $200 for a set like this.” Photo credit: Michael Dinan
Let’s talk about parking. You’ve always been on Elm Street in one location or another. What have you seen since they instituted the changes a couple months ago?
In talking to other retailers, we all feel the same. It was literally like someone just turned the knob off because the foot traffic dropped. I have several customers who are older. I’ve assisted them with the meters. They’ve called me and said they don’t want to come downtown. They don’t wanna be bothered, so they’re not going to come downtown. Some of them I work with online, and they’ll drive by and I’ll run the package out. But my regulars are not coming downtown so much. They’re not happy with the situation. If they just want to run in for 10 minutes, they don’t want to get out and go do the parking and then come back for whatever time that they need in here, and two hours isn’t enough here. And then I’ve had customers who got tickets because they parked for two hours and then moved. I give out this [map] to everybody who comes in, giving them the lowdown on where they can park. It hasn’t helped. The stairway is not accessible for many. A lot of the older people can’t use it anyway. And so it’s quiet out town. If you walk outside, it’s quiet.