Deborah Van Cleve at her new employer, Window Concepts in Paoli. The window furnishings and home-design store was headquartered in the Van Cleve Pavilion before it moved a few blocks west.
The petite powerhouse behind the Main Line’s signature bridal emporium has left the building.
Deborah Van Cleve sold her Paoli business this week – the Van Cleve name included – to her longtime manager, Ashley Grape.
“I never thought I would sell,” Van Cleve tells SAVVY. “But I’m 77 years old. Sometimes you get to a point when it’s time to make a change.”
No, this tiny Texan is not retiring. Instead, she’s pivoted to her first love: interior design. Fifty years ago she started her career with a design business in Houston.
In typical Energizer Bunny fashion, Van Cleve took exactly one day off after Monday’s sale and reported to her new, full-time job at Window Concepts, a few blocks from her old salon, on Wednesday.
The plan is to use her design savvy and extensive network of contacts to attract new clients, she says.
“I’m not sad at all. I feel energized and carefree,” she explains, clearly thrilled to leave behind the responsibility of a 10,000 sq. ft. showroom and 10 employees. “When you own a business, every day there’s some major concern.”
So far, the only thing that “feels weird,” she says, is working for someone else after being her own boss for 50 years. But that’s a tradeoff she was happy to make.
Van Cleve started her local fashion career with cozy boutiques in Phoenixville and Malvern. Eventually, she traded up to bigger digs in Paoli before settling into her capstone retail location at the former Paoli Design Center in 2017, now known as the Van Cleve Pavilion. She designed the entire salon – from dressing rooms to the showroom floor – herself.
(Above) Deborah Van Cleve celebrating the opening of her expanded bridal and evening-wear boutique at what is now known as The Van Cleve Pavilion in 2017 and (below) with models wearing Van Cleve gowns at a Paoli Hospital Auxiliary fashion show.
“Sales have been super-strong so it seemed like a good time to sell,” Van Cleve explains. Despite the tough retail climate, Van Cleve’s bridal and eveningwear business has boomed, with receipts doubling since the end of COVID, she says.
Mother-of-the-bride sales have been especially strong. “Sometimes mothers are spending more on their dresses than their daughters,” she says.
Van Cleve promises nothing will change under Grape’s ownership.
“I’ll be excited to drive by and see what’s in the windows. It was a great piece of history for me but I’ve moved on.”
[…] Van Cleve owner sells iconic Paoli bridal business after 39 years. No, she hasn’t retired – far … […]