Dan Palazzo’s Gems by the Shore in Bethany Beach has been enjoying some quality face time with new and repeating customers, but upstairs from his shop along Pennsylvania Avenue, his wife, Maria, is following along in his footsteps.
Coastal Point • RUSLANA LAMBERT
Glukhova Maria and Rhando Palazzo tend the the boutique which features lines of clothing predominently from Asian countries. This keeps the price down versus lines from Europe.
With an original, chic line of summertime and Asian clothing to accommodate women of all ages, Maria Palazzo is proving that her boutique can hang there with the best of them. Her elegant lines prove to be reasonably priced, and a perfect compliment to her husband’s jewelry store.
“I looked around here, and I wanted to bring something new and different,” Maria Palazzo said. “That way, people can have a choice in fashion.”
The boutique, which opened a month and a half ago, has already seen its fair share of customers, though it’s so new Palazzo hasn’t even had time to put up a sign. “We’re calling it Gems’ Boutique,” she said. “It’s basically branching off of Gems by the Shore.”
Originally, when the property was obtained by the couple, Maria Palazzo’s intention was to expand her knowledge in the furniture business. While living in her native Philippines, her family sold teak furniture imported from Indonesia. Due to limitations in size and space, however, she decided against furniture at the Bethany locale.
“I asked myself, ‘What do I want? What do I enjoy?’” she said. “I’m much more of a clothes person, and fashion. I’m not into selling jewelry. That’s for my husband. Women’s clothing is what I enjoy most.”
Her preferences and tastes in fashion have helped her stock her room with original formal and casual wear for women, from sundresses, tops and skirts to countless accessories. “Everyone has different styles, and different body figures, too. I try to cater to everybody as much as I can.”
With her heritage stemming from the Philippines, Palazzo has already brought an ethnic flavor through the styles and prints she carries.
“I want to bring more clothes from Asia, like Hong Kong, Taiwan and Bangkok,” she said. The economy in the East has seen quite a rise in the past decades, she noted. “I believe Bangkok is next to Hong Kong as the shopping capital of the world. People love shopping there, and I want to bring those styles here. They’re very different from what you get here, but they are very fashionable.”
The price translates very well for Palazzo, as well. “It’s very affordable,” she said. “Everyone is surprised when they walk into the store and find a really nice top or dress for $20 or $30. If I bought from Europe, they’d be a lot more expensive.”
“I want my clothing to be fun, fashionable and affordable,” she said, “and that’s what all of my customers will find.”
Since she opened the clothing boutique, Palazzo has been approached with numerous requests. “I’m going to start carrying clothes of all sizes,” she said. “People were coming in and asking, ‘Can you get something for me?’ Even husbands and boyfriends would come in and ask when I would start selling men’s clothing.”
In addition to pulling in more Asian lines, Palazzo noted that she will carry sweaters, jackets and scarves as the cooler weather approaches.
If her husband’s shimmering jewelry doesn’t draw the customers in, many are intrigued simply from the displays. “A lot of people come in because they see what’s in the window,” Palazzo said. “Just showing people what you have can draw them in.”
Bright yellow walls welcome customers as they move upstairs into the boutique, a decorating task Palazzo and her husband and children took on prior to opening the boutique.
“I wanted to make the store comfortable for me and the customers,” she said. “I like using a lot of colors. I get a lot of feedback from my customers. They tell me it’s nice, pretty and I have a fun, cool place, and that makes me happy.”
Happy customers make for a happy business, she emphasized. “These are the people I want to keep bringing back,” she said. “If I listen to what they have to say, and they see that the prices are low, they’ll come back.”
When not running the boutique, Palazzo is a full-time accountant, so she has the money aspect of running a business down-pat. “Retail a totally different thing,” she allowed, “but I enjoy doing it.”
Pallazo’s boutique is located above Gems by the Shore on Pennsylvania Avenue, across from Captain Jack’s Pirate Mini-Golf.