Small Business Highlight: Rich Auntee Boutique

Rich Auntee Boutique is an online clothing and accessories store owned by Brittany Collins. Brittany was kind enough to sit down with me over Zoom, amid her busy work schedule. To begin, I asked what inspired her to start Rich Auntee. Brittany’s grandmother was a maker of clothes and being around that creativity as a child sparked her love for fashion. Even though Brittany never picked up sewing, she has always loved picking out clothes for her friends and family, like a personal stylist . During college, Brittany and her friends would buy second-hand or vintage clothing and sell them in pop-ups and markets around town. She enjoyed doing this but didn’t feel fulfilled creatively, which led her to start her own business in August of 2020.

The name Rich Auntee has an interesting backstory. Brittany was sitting in a nail salon one day next to a woman with a beautiful ring on. Brittany complimented her on it and asked her more about it. The woman told her that she had an aunt that left the diamonds to her and her fiance used the diamonds to make her engagement ring. And Brittany told her “So your rich Aunt left those behind”, implying that the woman’s Aunt had to be rich by the size of the diamond ring. But this got her thinking about how she was an Aunt and what she was going to leave behind for her nieces and nephews. Rich Auntee Boutique is about leaving a legacy, impacting the people who are still here when you are gone. Brittany created Rich Auntee because she wanted to curate a brand that carries affordable yet luxurious clothing. She states on her website, “Rich is a state of mind.” Rich Auntee’s market focus is plus-sized women and she wants to have clothing that fits everyone, not just bodies that are trendy.

We also discussed how Brittany chooses which pieces to include on her website. She told me that her style is modest, simple, and consists of neutrals, which isn’t necessarily reflected in her pieces, but she would wear everything that she currently sells. She loves to listen to her audience and what they love. Rich Auntee sells dresses with cutouts and form fitting jumpsuits for the people who want to show off their curves, but also has dresses that show less skin. Brittany likes to have a balance of pieces, so she can give her customers a choice of what they want. It’s important to Brittany for her customers to feel special and make her clothes feel like their own.

The last question I asked was what she loved about being a small business in Memphis. Brittany was nervous about doing markets and pop-ups at first. They pushed her out of her comfort zone, but, in the long run, she was so happy that she did them. She made connections she wouldn’t have made otherwise and found people that were creative-minded like her. One of her favorite things about her business is she loves being able to make it her own and she feels like Memphis gave her that opportunity. With Memphis being full of creativity and artists from all different backgrounds, Brittany found her place here, in turn, giving her the confidence to start a small business by herself.

We would like to give Brittany Collins a big thank you for sitting down with me. If you want to check out her boutique, you can find her website here: www.richauntee.net and on social media here: Facebook - @RichAunteeBoutique, Instagram - @richauntee_boutique. If you want to read about more small businesses in Memphis, you can find them on our blog page: www.theprofitlink.com/blog. Or if you would like to connect with us on social media, you can find us here: @theprofitlink.