New Colchester boutique City Girl opens in Crouch Street

City Girl Boutique, in Crouch Street, opened to customers in May and offers a wide variety of fashion items. 

The building includes a clothes shop in the downstairs area and a nail bar is located upstairs to ensures customers feel special from head to toe.

City Girl is spearheaded by mother and daughter Sarah and Ruby Legall, who each bring different types of experience.

Sarah is an experienced nail technician with several years under her belt and Ruby is nearing the end of a Level 3 Fashion course at Fashion Retail Academy in London.

Ruby Legall cutting the ribbon of the shop (Image: Ruby Legall)

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Both Sarah and Ruby were looking for something to utilise their expertise.

In fact, Sarah had almost acquired premises for a family nail bar previously.

But this fell through as she would have had to sign the lease on the same day as the first lockdown breaking out.

The clothing on offer at the new Colchester Crouch Street shop (Image: Clothes)

Ruby said: “I applied for over 70 jobs and apprenticeships and got nowhere. The fashion industry is so competitive post-Covid.

“It’s so expensive to commute or relocate, not as easy as it used to be. We were just weighing up the options. Staying in Colchester now it’s a city is just as good.”

Mother and daughter acquired the keys to their new premises on April 17.

Their open day was on May 13, attended by friends, family and members of the public, with Ruby saying that some have since become regulars.

Having previously been used by eateries, Ruby said they had to fight and prove they deserved the space.

City Girl plans to bring back fashion and glamour they feel Colchester is missing, especially as a new city.

Ruby said their boutique includes 'out there' clothes that people may gloss over online.

Ruby said: “I keep trying to use the term hub instead of term boutique. In cities, you get women’s hubs for everything.”

She added: “It’s for women to have a place where they can come and feel glamorous.

“We all need that sometimes. There’s women of all shapes and sizes encouraging you.”

Overall, things seem to be going in the right direction for City Girl.

Ruby said: “It’s a nice, steady flow without being too crazy. I’ve only ever studied fashion. I only worked in retail for a month once.

“It’s all trial and error about how it’s going to go. We had a really amazing launch day. Strangers and friends and family, who we’ve got regulars from. It hasn’t fallen flat yet so it’s quite nice.”

To find out more about City Girl, visit their social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok @citygirlcolchester.