12 Years of Custard (part 3)

Hello friends!  

This is a continuation of "10 years of Custard Part 1 and Part 2." 

This is our 12th year in business!  At the time I sit and work on this we are experiencing a global pandemic that has created hardship for so many, in so many ways. Myself, my family and my business are not immune from these hardships, and our hearts are with all of you!

 At this point it is hard to say what the future holds for many of us, and for that reason, it's important to me to finish the story I started telling 2 years ago, and to bring you all up to date and into the present.  Plus, as I am currently working from home, with both stores shut down for the duration of COVID-19, this was a nice excuse for me to take trip down memory lane. I grabbed the old laptop, and sat out in the sun while I poured over thousands of photos, trying to pick my favorites.

After two years at 414 Whitaker the other corner of Whitaker and Taylor became available and I just HAD to take a chance on moving again.  The corner space had such beautiful windows and natural light, and a courtyard, and the timing was right.  I didn't think that when we opened in 2008, we would move locations so many times, and so quickly, but somehow it was all on the same corner, so it was easy for people to find us.  So, in the beginning of 2011 we moved across the street, to a bigger space, with only one large room, instead of all the small rooms.  We also got fancy and did away with our handwritten check out system and switched to a computer.  I'm not going to lie, I actually really miss those hand written tags and sales log.

(Staff outing on the River Queen 2013)

Along with the move, other amazing things were in the works with Custard and other local boutique shops.  Savannah Fashion Week was founded! As one of the founding members and President through the end of 2013 of this amazing nonprofit, I felt like I poured my heart and soul into this organization.  The week was full of fun events in local shops, including trunk shows, champagne, photo booths, and more!  And of course there was a huge fashion show!  Each year SFW would pick a local organization to be the benefactor of the proceeds from the fashion show, as well as host a drive for them... canned goods, or women's interview clothing, or items to help abused women and children relocate... whatever items were most needed. Getting out into our community and giving back was incredible.

SFW's last show was in 2014 at Forsyth Park.  Many of the founding members (myself included, I opened a second location in Greenville in 2012) had gone on to open second stores, launch their own lines, and create additional projects that kept them from having the time to volunteer, that said, we all felt like SFW did it's job in reinvigorating the local fashion scene as well as drawing attention to different local charities in need of our help.  I'm not going to lie, sometimes I really miss it, and it was a LOT of work, but you know one of the most enjoyable parts of SFW was the strong bond and lasting friendships and that came from it.

In 2014 I was VP of SFW (Heather Burge was the President) and in charge of the lookbook for the event. Izzy Hudgins was our lookbook photographer and it was truly one of the most fun fashion shoots I have ever done! (see her website HERE)  We shot the entire lookbook in my apartment (it gets great natural light) and pulled looks from all the stores and local designers in SFW for a beautiful bound book. In fact, there's still a copy at Custard's Savannah location if you want to see it in person.

A few other fun memories before we wrap this up:

That's it for now!  On to our expansion in Greenville, SC next!

Until next time!

Thanks for reading and thanks for supporting!

Love, 

Tara