Secret Of My Success

The Secret of My Success: Anne Buckley

New York City residents Anne Buckley and Therese Hoarty were both successful in their respective careers - finance and publishing - and they both loved to shop. Their initial joint venture was a traveling women’s clothing boutique, where they sold at house parties and at holiday and charity boutiques.

Buckley dreamed of opening a store, and in January of 2008, she opened Verano Boutique at 84 Main Street in Tuckahoe. She and Hoarty, now the store manager, keep a keen eye on price and style and “mix it up” with well-known – and some lesser known – labels.

What are some key lessons you've learned in your professional and personal life that you translated into your business?

I was on Wall Street, and my friend was in publishing, in accounting, and that’s been helping (us). For us it’s been about customer service and people skills, and you learn that as you go. We make it work with great items and affordable clothing, and we develop relationships with customers.

What suggestions would you offer someone who is considering opening a store?

You have to be prepared to be married to it and love what you’re doing or love what you’re selling. Another consideration is location, where you're going to be, the area. One of the reasons I picked this spot is because there are other stores and businesses around it. We're next to a lacrosse store, which is a huge sport in Bronxville.

If you could change one career decision you’ve made, what would it be and why?

I would have invested in a big sign (for the store) and been more careful about the inventory and the over buy in the earlier years. Sometimes you buy too much, yet you only can tell how it goes as you go along. Find the best pieces of the lines and more careful with your own inventory.

What can you tell me about ins and outs of owning a store? I’m sure there are many things the customer doesn’t see.

We now have a spring line so some (winter) clothes have to be steam-cleaned, some have to be put in storage. Then there’s housekeeping, and making sure the store is clean, and accounting. There's the set-up, too, from signing the lease to decorating to opening (for the first day). Again, you have to love what you do.

How do you stand above the crowd these days when shoppers are more economically-savvy?

You’ve got to be well-stocked – we carry a wide range of sizes and prices - and develop a loyal customer base. We support the local schools and donate merchandise and gift certificates for auction. You want to have a varied inventory and enough of what you’re selling without over buying. It's a fine line.

Earth and other unlikely worlds: The Secret of My Success

I’ve had two full-length plays produced in London. The first ran a week, and the second ran a year. Of course, there are differences between the two plays. In The Birthday Party I employed a certain amount of dashes in the text, between phrases. In The Caretaker I cut out the dashes and used dots instead. So that instead of, say, “Look, dash, who, dash, I, dash, dash, dash,” the text would read, “Look, dot, dot, dot, who, dot, dot, dot, I, dot, dot, dot, dot.” So it’s possible to deduce from this that dots are more popular than dashes, and that’s why The Caretaker had a longer run than The Birthday Party. The fact that in neither case could you hear the dots and dashes in performance is beside the point. You can’t fool the critics for long. They can tell a dot from a dash a mile off, even if they can hear neither.

The Secret of My Success

Secret of My Success

Secret of My Success, Director

Secret of My Success, Singer Ed

The secret of my success