By: Katie Wildgrube
Posted In: News
Photo credit: royalmale.com
The Royal Male is a specialty clothing store located on Spring Street in Newport, R.I. The owners, Maurice and Lynn de La Valette, both employed in fashion retail, decided to combine their talents and open their own boutique in 1983. Their specialty is quality European outerwear. Later on, they branched out and opened a second store, the Royal Warrant, on Bannister’s Wharf. The two stores feature clothing from England, Ireland, Scotland and other European countries and names such as Barbour, Saint-James and Dubarry. Their motto, “In Pursuit of Excellence” can clearly be seen from the quality outerwear they are known for, as well as the prime locations of their two shops. Lynn de La Valette spoke about her experiences owning her own boutique.
Q: What is it exactly that you do here? A: We have a little boutique and we sell mostly British clothing, but we also go to Western Europe. We go to France, Italy, Finland, Holland and we buy and sell European clothing, European outerwear to be exact. Q: How did you get involved in this? A: I was a buyer at SAKS Fifth Avenue in New York for many years and my husband was also a buyer for a French company that made furs and fur lined coats. Q: How long have you been doing this? A: I’ve been in retail for about thirty years. I’ve been in my own store since 1983. Q: What do you think is unique about your business? A: “We go to very, very small manufacturers who make the items that we buy in the country where they come from. They’re not designed in England and made in China, they’re designed in England and made in England, they’re designed in France and made in France and so on and so forth. We try very, very hard to give our customers a special product and something that they’ll never see in Banana Republic or the Gap or in any other larger retail outlet. We hand pick the garments. We even go so far as to hand pick the fabrics and the details. We try to do special things because we get a lot of people out there wearing just exactly the same thing. We really, really try to give our customer the best quality that we can find. Our motto is “In Pursuit of Excellence” and that’s really what we’re all about. Q: Where did the name come from? A: Royal Male? Well, as you know it’s a British shop. A lot of British goods have what they call a “royal warrant” and if the king or queen or prince, whomever, shops with a particular company and they feel that this manufacturer is of excellent quality, they will give them the right to use what they call their “royal warrant.” Barbour has a royal warrant from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles. So Royal Warrant is the name of our shop down on Bannister’s Wharf and we call this one, just to differentiate, Royal Male because we carry more men clothes up here. Q: What are you known for? Any special products? A: Barbour Products, Macintosh, and Saint-James is our knitwear. We have both lady’s and men’s knitwear, it’s from Normandy. And also we have wonderful boots, Dubarry boots. These are Irish boots. They’re waterproof, lined with Gortex on the outside, great for snow and rain. Q: What do you like best about what you do? A: Dealing with quality merchandise. If I were dealing with t-shirts, cigarettes and chewing gum I would be very unhappy. It’s really nice to deal with beautiful things and to have the customer appreciate what we have. Everything’s interesting and everyone’s interesting. It’s really a lot of fun because you do meet different people. Q: What are your plans for the future? Any more store openings in mind? A: Well right now in this economy, I think we’ll just hold tight. But, never say never. We have a son who’s been working with us so he might take over the business some day. We may decide to branch out but the problem is our manufacturers are so small. Some of them only have 25 people in the factory. To get the production, to get deliveries, it makes it more difficult the more merchandise you need. So sometimes it’s better to be small and just have real, quality things.
