Garrett’s and Meg’s Clothier Celebrate 40th Business Anniversary

By DANIELLE REID

Patriot Publishing

With warmth and charm, Meg and Garrett Weddle this week welcomed around one-hundred of their clientele during their 40-year business anniversary celebration.

Garrett’s and Meg’s Clothing Boutique offers distinctive clothing for men and women from casual to formal wear.  Their adjacent stores are located in the heart of downtown Radford, at 1136 E Main Street.

Garrett’s Menswear Depot serves the clothing needs of discerning men with a complete line of custom shirts and suits as well as lines by Hart Schaffner & Marx, Cutter & Buck, Johnston & Murphy, and Tommy Bahama. Meg’s Specialty Womenswear has grown into one of the premier women’s clothiers in the New River Valley. Meg’s carries labels such as Brighton, Tribal, Conrad C, and Joseph Ribkoff.  Meg’s Specialty Womenswear services their customers with complimentary alterations, wardrobe planning and consulting and custom ordering.

The all-day anniversary celebration began Tuesday at 10 a.m. with an open house, followed at noon with lunch and a 1 p.m. ribbon cutting by the Radford Chamber of Commerce.  The VA-250 thematically decorated cake, designed by the Weddles and baked by Coco-Nuts in Radford, was ceremonially cut by Meg at 2 p.m.; then from 3 to 6 p.m., gift certificates and prizes were given to the lucky winners.

“We had a great celebration during our 40th business anniversary.  The outpouring of support was truly overwhelming.  Our wonderful clients helped us get there, and we wanted to do everything we could to say thank you to them for giving us 40 years in the NRV and beyond,” exclaimed Meg.

As successful businesspersons, the Weddles wanted to tie in the 250th Anniversary of the nation with the 250-Made-in-Virginia theme and their 40th business anniversary with the American entrepreneurship dream.

To enhance the anniversary celebration, Meg offered her customers discounts and special pricing.  In the Sale Room, a customer could buy one item at 40 percent off, and get the second item of equal or lesser value for free.  Gift certificates could be purchased at a substantial discount and retail purchases over $200 received $40 off the total price.

Interestingly, neither Meg nor Garrett started out their careers as clothiers.

After graduating from high school in Blacksburg, both attended Virginia Tech.  Garrett majored in Industrial Engineering and Meg majored in Elementary Education.  The couple married in 1983 and three years later, at the age of 25, purchased a third generation family-owned business, Copenhaver’s menswear.

 

When starting any new business, it is beneficial to find people who have succeeded in that business and ask their advice.  One of their employees suggested they visit Gene Reece, who owned a clothing store in Mt. Airy.

“We found Mr. Reece to be very generous with his advice.  He taught us the nuts and bolts of the business and became a friend and mentor,” said Garrett.

“One of the pieces of advice Mr. Reece gave us was that if we had any other obligations – such as a home – to sell it because we probably wouldn’t be making too much money during the business start-up.  We followed his advice and two years later were able to buy a different home,” added Meg.

The Weddle’s made some minor renovations to the store and worked with vendors to include additional popular menswear lines.  Their reputation and client base quickly grew to elevate them as a cornerstone business on Main Street Radford. In 1992, Meg’s Specialty Womenswear was added to the venture.

A few years later, Meg took over the day-to-day operation of the business when Garrett decided to branch out into real estate. A decision to purchase the building two doors up from their original store resulted in the current location, with adjacent men’s and women’s clothing stores.

“Meg is a phenomenal businessperson,” explained Garrett.  “She is the driving force for our business and really cares about our clients.”

“We decided early on that ‘service is our trademark.’ Our goal is to enhance our clients lives’ with our clothing services,” said Meg.  “It’s more about the people than it is about the clothing. We want to make sure we have clothes that are the best value for them that will service them for years.  We are interested in our clients and want to help them look good.  It’s really cool when I see the choices that we made help people get compliments and look great,” she added.

Although the one-day 40th anniversary celebration is over, clients shopping in Garrett’s & Meg’s will continue to find great clothing choices and friendly, helpful staff.

Store hours for Garrett’s & Meg’s are weekdays and weekends 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.  They are closed on Sundays.