By Heidi Marino
As the leaves fall, the fashion style changes. To keep up with the season’s trends, citizens say that Downtown Frederick is a great place to shop for clothes, shoes and accessories.
“Downtown Frederick is a great place to shop not only because it’s beautiful to walk around in, but because the vast majority of shops are locally owned, small businesses,” says Amelia Weinberg, who works at Sky’s the Limit boutique. “By shopping downtown one is supporting the community and buying items that are more unique than what you can buy at – let’s say, the FSK mall or Target.”‘
What makes shopping downtown even more enticing, she says, is that the people of Frederick are fashionable.
Weinberg says she’s witnessed a trend of crop tops as the weather heats up.
“I like to see people with more personal style rather than following the latest trends,” Weinberg says. “I think downtown is a mixture between both those.”
Sarah Didion, employee at Chic to Chic in Downtown Frederick and student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York says that a big part of her wardrobe comes from the shops in downtown. Most of her clothes are from Chic to Chic.
“I love shopping in Downtown Frederick because you never know what you’re going to find,” Didion says. “I love being able to come home (from NYC) and have such a unique place to shop, not having to worry about having the same thing as my peers.”
Janel Mayo, a clothing consultant at Chic to Chic, says that after working in Downtown Frederick for close to four years she’s confident that the area is a great place for retail shopping.
“The downtown area has really grown and shaped into a hip and trendy place for people of all ages and interests to hang out, shop and dine,” Mayo says. “I believe that the hard work of the locals who own the stores, as well as the efforts by the Downtown Frederick Partnership have turned this area into a really great place.”
Mayo also said that the influences of bigger cities such as Washington, DC., and Baltimore allow Frederick to combine a variety of fashion styles and trends.
Laura Arias lived in Frederick most of her life, but recently moved to Germantown so her fiancé could be closer to his workplace. Although she doesn’t live in Frederick anymore she says she makes it a point to shop in downtown as much as she can.
Arias says that her favorite shop is the Velvet Lounge. Their edgy, trendy and high quality clothing is something she looks for when purchasing clothing.
“In Germantown there is no independently owned shops within a 15 minute radius of my apartment,” Arias says. “If I want to shop and not look like a robot off the production line, I take a trip into Frederick. It’s worth it.”
Brittany Diehl, the promotion and social media manager at Downtown Frederick Partnership had nothing but positive things to say about the retail stores in downtown. She also says that there are 150 retail stores and around 50 restaurants/food-retailers in the downtown area, and it’s part of the Downtown Frederick Partnership’s mission to work with as many as possible.
“Downtown Frederick retailers are increasingly becoming more and more successful,” Diehl says. “As of recently, our retailers have been featured in national publications such as the Washington Post, Washington Magazine, The New York Times and Southern Living Magazine.”
Diehl says that downtown’s unique and individual style has helped name Downtown Frederick as a great shopping destination, and within the last six months it’s become home to nearly 20 new businesses, most of which are retail.
“This number continues to grow rapidly,” Diehl says.
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