Augusta’s first plus-size specialty boutique has been in business for over a decade, and has endured several seasons of change along the way. This year, Curvitude Boutique is adapting to doing business and expanding its inventory with a new fitness wear line.
“The plus-size industry has finally made it to the mainstream,” said owner Kimberly Beasley, who launched the store in June 2011. “We have more people carrying plus now than you had 10 years ago.”
Beasley’s path as an apparel entrepreneur started at the end of her 20-year military career. About seven months from her retirement from the Army, Beasley knew that she didn’t want her next occupation to be working for someone else.
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She also knew she needed a better place to find fitting, stylish clothing.
“Curvitude was out of necessity,” said Beasley. “There were no plus-size boutiques in Augusta at all that are selling trendy clothes. They have a lot of big box businesses that cater to plus-size women, but there was nothing that was a specialty boutique with a fresh, new way of dressing.”
Beasley started selling designer plus-size items from her home and continued to do so until the volume of customers started to be inconvenient. She moved to two different locations along Broad Street, one inside a hair salon next to the former WAGT studio building. After six months, she moved the shop to 1033 Broad St., at what is now Solé Augusta, where it was located for seven years.
When someone purchased that building, Beasley then moved to 908 Broad St., from which she operated the boutique until the COVID-19 pandemic. Between the virus and having to be caretaker for her ailing father, Beasley has since operated the store entirely online.
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She admits that the business took a hit in its transition to internet-only, as patrons were accustomed to very proactive, personal and perceptive customer service.
“Those things are very hard to capture online,” Beasley said. “People like to just have access to us, they had to learn that there’s another way to have access to me, through social media.”
Beasley has always had to keep a close eye on the fashion world and become very discerning in wholesale shopping in order to maintain her inventory. She frequents the Atlanta Market, the AmericasMart wholesale trade center in Atlanta; and is also no stranger to the fashion districts in New York and Los Angeles.
Ultimately, Curvitude is here to stay, with Beasley confident that for every customer she lost, she’ll “get 10 more.” In January of this year, it launched its Curvitude Athletic line, which Beasley notes also grew from a need, particularly for fitting and comfortable workout clothes for losing pandemic weight. She developed the line over seven months of research and design.
“Reception has been very well,” she said. “I presented it at market this past week, and had people from all around the United Stated looking at it, and that’s when you get a whole lot feedback. And everything was positive.”
Beasley doesn’t plan on opening a brick-and-mortar again just yet, but her focus hasn’t slacked and neither has her deep understanding of her clientele and its needs. In her exploration of fashion districts and the boutique industry, she is keen to see who knows who they’re selling to, asking “who’s your girl,” or who is the person the clothing is for. She also notes that a lot of people don’t know who their “girl” is.
“That was my mindset when I was selecting clothes for my customers,” she said. “She’s a mother. She’s a wife. She’s got a lot of things going on. She goes to church on Sundays. She’s intelligent. She’s educated. One dress has got to do a lot of different things. That’s my girl.”
To learn more about Curvitude Boutique, visit its website at www.curvitude.com.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering education in Columbia County and business-related topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
