Window Shopping: The Style

She quickly convinced Randy Ebrite and Michael Cochran, the cousins who opened Nellie Dunn’s Used Furniture and Antiques in 1987, that they needed her to build the store’s vintage clothing collection and run the place.

She managed the massive store of vintage furniture, clothing and jewelry until the owners closed down in May 2005. Then that September, Bunch opened her own store, The Style, in the same space.

Since then, she has worked to make the store more “girly,” painting huge pink waves on the walls, adding large custom display cases, boas and garments with chantilly lace.

“I love pretty things,” she says. “That’s how I feed my soul. It’s all about color, form and sparkle.”

Unique finds

Bunch, 56, hand-selects her inventory, often finding something beautiful at an auction or an estate sale, polishing it up, pricing it and displaying it in a prominent way.

The unique finds at The Style are mostly vintage men’s and women’s clothing: a $22 red beaded bag, a $25 1960s avocado overnight case, a $150 1930s fur collar coat and a $20 one-of-a-kind colorful scarf, crocheted by Bunch. It’s the place for the costume, the party dress or the one-of-a-kind lamp.

With its fine rugs, original tin ceiling, disco ball and sweeping antique music, the store in a building more than 130 years old has a certain ambiance. Though she does little advertising, each new college class seems to find her, says Bunch. Sometimes customers will tell her they simply want something that came from her store.

Michele Granger, professor of applied consumer sciences at Missouri State University, says many of her fashion students collect vintage clothing. Granger says her students were disappointed when Nellie Dunn’s closed, and they were thrilled when The Style took its place.

“We’re fortunate to have it,” she says. “Vintage is a cool, affordable way to make yesterday look today. It’s recycling and it’s innovative.”

Bunch is also a clothing designer and seamstress, and she sees herself more as an artist than simply a business owner. She has plans to do more reconstructive work on older garments and recently rearranged the entire store to make space for her sewing.

Over the years, Bunch has mentored young women who have gone on to study fashion design. The former hairdresser tells them to never give up their dreams and says she is now living hers.

Though she talks more of creativity, Bunch says she came from entrepreneurs; her family owned a trading post on Water Street.

“I love to buy and sell,” she says. “I can’t describe the psychology of it. I just love to buy and sell.”

Overcoming a stigma

Though Bunch has been successful in her efforts to create a world all of its own, it is impossible to do business on Commercial Street without being aware of the particular atmosphere found there.

While investors have poured millions over the years into dozens of projects in attempts to revitalize Commercial Street, the neighborhood is still struggling toward revival.

Bunch says too much is made of the homeless who stand outside the Victory Mission and the Missouri Hotel. Still, she feels the area has long been overlooked by city officials.

Last year, city planners identified live music as the key to redeveloping the six-block area.

Councilwoman Mary Collette says that live music will bring young people and music lovers to Commercial Street as it did in downtown Springfield.

“You’ve kind of got to start somewhere and I think if you look at how downtown happened, it started with the live music and the same thing can happen on Commercial,” she says. “We need the foot traffic for retail and the live music can bring that. It’s an organic process and … we hope retail and restaurants will follow.”

In Bunch’s opinion, targeting more retail and eateries first would bring the crowds and provide something for neighborhood residents. She credits the Urban District Alliance for assisting new business owners and is excited about Big Momma’s Coffee and Espresso Bar, scheduled to open next door in spring.

Progress over the years has certainly come in fits and starts. Last summer, Bunch was one of many business owners fuming over a delayed street improvement project and a broken water main that kept shoppers away from Commercial Street.

“We just barely hung on all summer,” she says. “It was tough.”

Retail is never easy and may be more difficult on a street long plagued by negative perceptions. Kids Rags Upscale Boutique, a children’s clothing store, failed after only six months at 320 E. Commercial. Kids Rags moved in May to 1330 E. Battlefield Road.

Sometimes people tell Bunch that they want to own a store like hers. But, Bunch says, it takes plenty of “toting and carrying” and sure isn’t as easy as it looks.

The Style

Owner: Deborah Bunch

Founded: September 2005

Address: 211 E. Commercial St., Springfield, MO 65803

Phone: (417) 864-6822

Products: Vintage clothing, jewelry and accessories, including décor

Employees: None. Completely owner operated

Hours: noon–5:30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday

A Little About Nellie Dunn

When Deborah Bunch was in high school, Nellie Dunn sold secondhand clothes on Boonville Avenue to railroad workers and Central High School students.[[In-content Ad]]