Today we’d like to introduce you to Kellie, Noel and Ginger Amend. They share their story with us below:
Noel, Ginger and Kellie Amend operate the newest location of Assemble’ Dancewear, LLC, a family-owned small business in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Noel and Ginger’s journey in this industry began In 1978 when Noel opened a small dancewear boutique to supply students at Ginger’s dance studio. Although the first store carried all types of dance shoes and clothing, the focus soon turned to the fitting of pointe shoes. Over the decades, and with thousands of pointe shoe customers, the Amends developed an expertise for fitting pointe shoes that is known throughout the United States and internationally.
In 1996, the Colorado Springs location was launched. The company later added a location in Castle Rock and Highlands Ranch. Kellie started working in the store at age 16 and has trained with her parents for over 20 years in the fine art of fitting pointe shoes.
Customers are already seeking out the newest store location and a typical day may include dancers from Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, Kansas, Montana and beyond and sometimes other countries such as India, Dubai, Peru, Mexico, England, etc. It takes many years to develop the expertise to properly fit the shoes and dancers will travel a long way for that special skill.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Over the last 40 years, there have been many challenges to the success of a small specialty retail business. Economic events such as recessions or supply shortages have affected sales. Popular brands would disappear causing the store to constantly seek new sources for products. Manufacturers in other countries have shut down due to wars, pandemics, or legal disputes. The introduction of the internet and online competition created a new type of competition for products.
With all of these challenges, the Amends stuck to their philosophy — give the best service, expertise, and product quality to every dancer every single time. Offer the customer something unique and special that they cannot get anywhere else. When things get tough — just keep swimming.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
The reason so many dancers travel very far for a pointe shoe fitting at Assemble’ Dancewear is the time and care taken with each and every person. We educate the dancer to reduce risk of injury and to make the experience of dancing ballet at a high level satisfying, pain-free, and enjoyable. We carefully select the styles and brands to offer the best to our customers. We strive to carry brands that are not sold elsewhere so the dancer can experience a wide variety of options. To that end, we stock tens of thousands of dance shoes in our stores.
In addition to pointe shoes, we carry tap, jazz, character, ballroom, lyrical and other types of dance shoes. Dancers, Actors, and other Artists can find exclusive brands of leotards and tights available only at this location. Our shoes originate all over the world and come from Spain, France, Russia, China, Australia, England, and Japan.
What matters most to you? Why?
The safety and success of each dancer is very important to us. This is why we go the extra mile and take the extra time to take care of our customers. For many, the relationships forged in the store carry them into their professional lives and they visit us from time to time with tales of their experiences. We love hearing the stories of our customer’s successes.
Contact Info:
- Website: assembledancewear.com and thedancersoutlet.com
- Instagram: #assembledancewear
- Facebook: Assemble’ Dancewear, LLC
