VALDOSTA — Perfectly Priscilla opened its flagship store in downtown Valdosta last weekend.

Perfectly Priscilla started in owner Deidre Thompson’s foyer as an online store four years ago. It grew into a 1,000 square foot warehouse in Adel. It later moved into an 18,000 square foot warehouse in Valdosta.

The company has now opened its first brick and mortar store. Thompson decided to open the store after online customers would drive four to six hours to come to Valdosta to shop at the warehouse, which is not set up for retail shopping. After this happened several times, Thompson said “Maybe it’s time to open a store, because we have had so many people locally and all over the U.S. come in as they travelled on I-75; So, we decided to do it.”

Thompson said she originally started the company because she was “sick of the curvy woman, who is the average woman, being relegated to a single rack,” while shopping. The boutique specializes in clothing for “curvy women” who wear sizes 10-26.

Thompson decided to open in downtown because she loves the architecture of the building and how personal the store feels.

“We want it intimate and personalized,” she said. “We want it to be an addition to downtown and draw traffic from I-75.”

Mayor John Gayle attended the Perfectly Priscilla ribbon cutting and said the storefront is a great addition to downtown.

“This is a success story that makes me proud for Valdosta,” he said. “The location here is unbelievable. Downtown Valdosta is prospering and growing, and we can’t thank you enough for locating here.

“I know it’s going to bring a lot of people to downtown, and I wish you more success than you’ve already had.”

With the new brick and mortar retail location being her flagship store, Thompson has her eyes set on expanding her business. She said she plans to open two or three new stores in about a year in major metropolitan areas.

“We’re extremely excited to see what the future holds, and we are excited to be known as the number one curvy girl boutique, because when we first started no one thought there was a market for it. We proved them wrong,” she said.

Perfectly Priscilla, 116 N. Patterson St., is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. 

Jason Smith is a reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be contacted at 229-244-3400 ext.1257.