Photo Credits: Charity Huffman, CE Studios, www.ce-studios.com
Syble Latta is among an elite group.
According to available data, less than five percent of small businesses last 50 years. Not only has Latta, the owner and founder of Poffie Girls Inc. in Gastonia, N.C., achieved this milestone, but she has done so in spite of significant challenges.
Not only has Poffie Girls has persevered through major turmoil – four hard recessions, 9-11 and industry issues presented by China, shipping, strikes and David’s Bridal – but Syble herself overcame prejudices against women business owners, hostile feedback and personal stresses when starting out.
She endured it all by never giving up, changing with the times and always striving to be better – which, she says, is key to success.
“It doesn’t matter how much knowledge or education you have – in any business you have to have sheer determination and a love for what you do,” she says. “Always be positive and turn any change that comes around into a positive. I didn’t worry about everybody else; I kept going with what I knew and made the best of it!”
From bride to boss
Syble’s journey into bridal retail began with her own wedding.
Married in 1963 at 18, she was the oldest of five siblings who came from a family of very modest means. She’d always dreamt of having a beautiful church wedding but didn’t know how she was going to accomplish that with no money. She finally talked her parents into cashing in a small insurance policy and used that to plan her wedding.
And plan she did – all aspects of it! Her mother even made her wedding, bridesmaids and flower girl dresses, and everything ended up “absolutely beautiful!”
After that, Syble’s friends wanted her to help them plan their weddings.
“So, I did that for a while and thought, you know, I’m hooked! I love this!” she says.
By then, Syble had two small children and wanted to figure out how she could wedding plan as a business from home. She went to the library and checked out everything she could find on the subject. Once she felt knowledgeable enough, she began calling girls whose engagement pictures were in the paper (back then everyone put their engagement picture in the paper, she says), set up an appointment and went to their homes.
She’d sell invitations, as well as plan the rehearsal and wedding day. From there, it grew into doing the flowers, church decorations, reception catering and cake cutting.
Syble was never interested in the retail side of things but wanted to expand her knowledge base. She’d heard about a national course you could take to become a registered bridal consultant. A bridal shop owner in town had received one of these certificates, so Syble made an appointment with her and explained her interest.
“She was very rude to me,” Syble recalls. “Literally told me not to even think about opening up a bridal shop because she had all the business in town.”
Syble replied that wasn’t her desire but the shop owner didn’t care.
“She literally almost threw me out of her store,” she recalls. “When I’d walked in, I’d had no interest in or knowledge of retail whatsoever. But by the time my feet hit the last step on her shop I knew exactly what I was going to do.”
Determined, Syble set out and found a small, approximately 900-square-foot location, picked a name of Poffie Girls – her daughter Pam’s nickname – and wondered what to do next.
It was the early 70s and she attended a bridal market in Charlotte, N.C., buying dresses with the help of sales reps and other store owners who realized she didn’t know what she was doing. Shortly afterward, in January 1974, she opened Poffie Girls as the only employee, doing everything it takes to run a business by herself. Adding to the stress, she divorced around the same time and quickly realized her business needed money.
“I was so naïve,” she says. “I guess I just thought that you buy a dress, sell it and pay for it. It didn’t work that way.”
She tried borrowing money from several banks in town and was quickly turned down.
“Women were literally not respected at all during that time,” she says. “I even had an attorney once tell me he didn’t discuss business with women.”
But there was a lifeline. At the last bank Syble went to, after telling her he felt if he loaned her $1 he’d be doing her a “terrible injustice” because he didn’t see how she could possibly pay it back, a banker added “but to do as well as you’ve done with no help and as little as you had, we’re going to loan you not only the $5k you’re asking for but $10k to give you some operating cash.”
It was exactly the break she needed.
Building a legacy
The early stages of Poffie Girls brought many lessons.
Surprised to realize dresses don’t come in fitting perfectly, Syble, who’d never made anything on a sewing machine before, took a wedding gown apart and put it back together, then started doing her own alterations. This would continue for about 10 years before she was able to hire someone to do that aspect.
Poffie Girls also moved several times and experimented with multiple locations throughout the 80s and 90s, including mall, off-the-rack, consignment and outlet stores. At its peak there were four locations, some of which her sisters helped out with.
“I was doing whatever it took to pay the bills but bigger is not always better,” she says. “(Multiple locations) just didn’t work for me. I think it’s definitely best to have one thing that you can do and do it well.”
For Poffie Girls, that one thing would be their main location: a two-story, 7,500-square-foot white mansion purchased in 1991, where they remain to this day.
“When we bought this house, I was terrified because malls were really popular and had lots of traffic at that time, so I thought, gosh – how are customers going to find me?” Syble says. “There was no internet or Google but when we opened at 10am we had customers there as soon as the doors opened and they just kept coming.”
Make no mistake about it: family was integral to Syble’s success. In addition to her sisters helping out, Syble’s son would assist with chores and her second husband, Bob – whom she’d met at a restaurant in Charlotte in 1974 and married four years later – “has always been a big help and very supportive.”
By far, the turning point came when she brought her daughter, Pam Nixon, on board.
Nearly three decades ago, the now 56-year-old Pam, who had worked in sales outside of college and had a strong interest in entrepreneurship, brought Syble her resume, which laid out everything she could do for Poffie Girls.
Of course, she was hired.
Pam opened up and ran a tuxedo department in the store, which Bob assisted with. Additionally, Bob ran their accompanying car business: renting out a 1975 Rolls Royce and 1957 Bentley in conjuction with the tuxedo department for nearly two decades.
“In the 50 years we’ve done just about every aspect of the business,” Syble says.
Pam spent about four years working in the tuxedo department and other areas of the business. In 1996, the Chamber of Commerce approached Pam with a job opportunity. As a Gastonia native with a strong passion for community involvement and working with local business leaders, she decided to accept the position. A few years later, in 2002, Pam returned to Poffie Girls, balancing part-time work with raising her children.
Syble and Pam have always functioned well as a mother-daughter team, leaving their family relationship at home and doing what’s best for Poffie Girls.
“It’s really strange how we think so much alike,” Syble says. “I’d say we’re 95% always in agreement. Many times, I’ll go ‘you know Pam I was just thinking. . .’ and she’ll be like ‘I did it today!’ It’s like our brains just communicate together!”
So much so that in 2014, Syble semi-retired and turned operations of Poffie Girls over to Pam, who is now CEO.
“This was probably the best decision I’ve ever made because she’s a whole lot more capable of doing things now in the ways they’re done in business than I would be,” Syble says. “She’s literally taken Poffie Girls to a whole new level!”
Creating lifelong memories
The Poffie Girls of today, which recently celebrated its 50-year anniversary, prides itself on providing excellent service from beginning to end.
“I tell the girls to think about each customer as their best friend or mom, and go above and beyond what anybody’s expectations would even think of how they would be treated,” Pam says.
It starts with pre-calling to establish a connection – a move, Pam says, that often leads to genuine friendships and even wedding invites. It continues once customers arrive at the physical store.
“We treat people like they’re family when they walk in, opening the front door for them instead of them doing it while we stand behind the counter,” Pam says. “This is their home as well.”
Additionally, their unique name and gorgeous location set them apart.
“When people drive up, they’re immediately in awe of the outside, and in bigger shock of how beautiful the store appears inside,” Pam says.
Poffie Girls’ social media – run by a dedicated person – highlights the excitement of the dress search and happiness of the staff, allowing stylists to connect with brides and their families on a personal, heartfelt level while building trust.
“For us, it’s more than just marketing – it’s about being part of each bride’s unforgettable wedding experience,” Syble says.
There’s so much excitement around finding the dress that Pam wanted to make sure the pick-up time is just as special.
So, she came up with a special gift: a pink box and crochet hook, which can be used to help with a bustle. There’s also a little card that gives tips to ensure a smooth wedding day.
“It shows we’re still concerned, that we want them to have a great day because they’re a bride once in a lifetime,” Pam says. “They are very appreciative of that pick-up and try-on time more now than I think they ever used to be.” Pam emphasizes the importance of staying personally connected after the sale, which contributes to Poffie Girls’ longevity. A lot of customers grew up in the area and come back to get married.
“We hear all the time: ‘oh, my mother or grandmother got her dress here,’ so I think that’s something that definitely sets us apart because there are just not many stores that can say they’ve been in business 50 years, and none in our area,” Syble says.
Longevity and word-of-mouth also help fuel their strong prom business, which comprises about 40 percent of sales. Additionally, hiring high school and college-age girls; hosting fun contests; and implementing an organized waiting system for dressing rooms via Wait While – which assigns places in line and tracks minutes left until it’s time to start shopping – have helped tremendously as well.
“Customers see it’s a very fair system and they love it!” Pam says. They’ve also had success with moms, although admittedly that niche has been a rollercoaster. Poffie Girls carried moms years ago, until it got to the point where mothers didn’t want to spend much and were shopping last minute, and it was no longer worth it, Syble says.
So, they got rid of mothers and went heavier in bridesmaids. When that niche came under heavy pressure from online sales, they got rid of it and picked mothers back up again about three years ago.
“And now instead of mothers wanting to pay $200 we have mothers paying $900, $1,200 for dresses, so it’s almost like selling a wedding gown,” Syble says.
Poffie Girls tries to buy young in its mothers’ dresses, and provide ample colors and sizes to try on.
“Mothers need you to make them feel beautiful, like they look like a million dollars no matter what, and I feel we do that,” Syble says. “We give mothers the vision they want to have.”
Poffie Girls is appointment only but will never turn down a walk-in, which comprise maybe five percent of customers. They don’t offer online sales, although they semi-dabbled in it about 10 years ago.
“It didn’t work well for us,” Pam says. “I’m just not ready to move in that direction until I hear some success stories.”
Building a strong team
No business runs completely smoothly; indeed, there have been challenges.
“Our biggest today is hiring and retaining employees,” Syble says. “That’s always been an issue in any business I’m sure, but I think it’s even more difficult today.”
While Poffie Girls is fortunate to have good employee retention, it has required a mindset shift.
While they used to hire (and still do) for hourly employees, it was always with an assumed time limit of a year or two.
Today, they focus more on: this is a career; you can make money and grow here. Among other things, they’ve boosted hourly pay, have a good commission and tips structure, give year-end bonuses and provide a simple IRA matching up to 3%.
There’s also robust, ongoing training and meaningful responsibility.
“I try to develop leaders within every girl here so I work with them on the strengths they have as a person and develop those within the store where they can be successful and not just feel they’re an hourly employee,” Pam says.
Training has changed a lot over the years, Syble points out. Whereas in the past she once hired someone on the spot and had her immediately start selling dresses during peak season, that’s not possible anymore.
“There’s so much specialized information to know about the industry and you have to be thoroughly trained in so many aspects to work here,” she says.
Along those lines, Poffie Girls has its own policy manual and handbook. Additionally, it does Do You Speak Bride video training, role playing, magazine reading and hands-on training covering subjects including the companies they carry, business culture and customer service.
New hires, who aren’t allowed to sell on the floor for their first 30 days, shadow stylists, and stylists shadow them, before ever taking their first customer. They’re reviewed after 30 and 60 days. As well, there’s ongoing training for everyone on Saturday mornings, as well as at monthly meetings.
“We call it continued education and it’s an ecclectic mix,” Pam says. “Everybody learns different so we want to hit all kinds of aspects of training to make sure we’re hitting all the styles of learning.”
The journey continues
In honor of its 50th anniversary, Poffie Girls had a big celebration in January 2024.
There was a public party in the store, as well as a catered invitation-only event, held in a local museum, complete with DJ, lots of flowers and favors. They displayed dresses from each decade; did a paper on the business and building history, and featured a slide show showcasing Poffie Girls’ different locations and fashion shows.
“It was fabulous,” Syble says. “Some of the people that came were in a lot of those photos we had saved from all the years!”
Now, with their golden anniversary under their belt, mother and daughter are eyeing the future. They agree there isn’t a desire to open another location. Rather, they want to make this store the best it could be.
Pam, like Syble, is a big advocate of never giving up, continuous learning and changing with the times.
“We’re always wanting to be better tomorrow than we were today,” she says. “Don’t settle; keep striving for more and better!”
Syble – now 79 and semi-retired – enjoys traveling, cooking and being surrounded by friends and family. She remains involved with Poffie Girls, attending markets, going to monthly meetings and stopping in to check on things.
“I still want to know what’s going on in the whole industry, not just in my own business,” she says, “I love it, it’s in my blood, and I don’t think I will ever completely give it up.”
In fact, Syble was once asked if she would ever be satisfied, and her response was instantaneous.
“Gosh, I hope not, because I feel like there’s always something I can do better,” she says. “I’m not perfect and the industry isn’t perfect. There’s always room for learning new things and I’m still trying to do that!”
One thing, however, brings a definite smile:
“The lady who told me back when I would never succeed in the bridal business?” Syble says. “Well, I bought her after five years! And I did more in five years than she had in 25!”
