What’s Selling at Allegria Boutique in Brooklyn

In the heart of Williamsburg’s busy Bedford Avenue shopping district is Allegria Boutique. Opened in 2012 by friends Melanie Gomez and Lula Aldunate, the store encapsulates the intercontinental, cosmopolitan aesthetic of its owners—there are definite influences of Argentina and France present and the products hail from all over the world. With beautiful exposed woodwork, vibrantly papered and collaged walls, quirky garlands festooning the ceilings and vintage furniture displaying items, the shop has an eclectic, international bazaar feel to it. Gomez loves the somewhat staggering effect of the combined creative drives in the space—Aldunate is a visual artist and runs her own label, Lulaland, and Gomez is also a designer. Both women take inspiration from vintage pieces and the merchandise mix is simultaneously old-world and whimsical. Gomez cites it as a good fit for the neighborhood, as she sees Brooklyn as less stiff than Manhattan. We chatted with her to see what Williamsburg moms love.

Who is the target Allegria customer?
Our customer is from the neighborhood—Williamsburg or at least Brooklyn. They are somebody who wants something different and out of the box, but who is still looking for decent prices. We try to maintain a nice price that isn’t super expensive for a boutique shop.

What sets you apart from other shops?
It’s really this whimsical, colorful place full of pattern and prints. We want customers to experience more than just coming in and buying something—we want to give them the experience of looking for things together, browsing around and having fun, seeing things that are delightful to the eye. The decorations and things hanging all over the store add to that on top of the merchandise. We like to go through the store with customers, show them toys, decorations, clothes and gift options that they might not have thought of before. We know all about brands, their stories, who their designers are and we like to share that with customers so they know what they’re buying.

Which styles are selling right now?
Well, dresses are always a good seller. But for fall and winter we sell lots of coats, warm scarves and hats.

Which brands are most popular for apparel?
I think our top seller is Lulaland. Munster Kids and Louis Louise both do very well for us, too.

How about for toys?
Moulin Roty is very popular. We also sell lots of Rice products—they’re from Denmark and are fair trade.

Are there any trends for Fall ’15 that you’re excited about?
There are some beautiful cotton jackets that I’m excited to carry that include really nice hand stitching. Also, I saw some beautiful brocades that had a bit of metallic in them. It seemed like almost every collection had at least one brocade piece.

Do you do in-store events?
We do. We are implementing a new space in the store—we reduced our space by about a quarter and there is now a free space where people can come in. We want to share the space with photographers and for classes, like art classes, with someone who needs the space for doing something fun. So people looking for space to do things like that can get in touch with us, we’re open for new projects.

What’s your favorite part of your job?
I love that I get to be a mom and also a businesswoman. I love being home with my kids, but it’s nice to work at the same time. And having a store is wonderful—I love meeting people, talking with moms and sharing experiences. So many people come in pregnant, then come back with the baby, and then you get to see them start walking and talking. It’s great to share motherhood and this world of kids, getting the full experience. Also, we’re not just a store—we create things here, we hand craft all of our window displays, and it’s fun coming in every day and decorating.