Rue, a New Boutique, Opens on Palm Avenue
Image: Megan McDonald
Sarasota fashionistas, let us clue you in to one of the best shopping secrets in town.
Tucked into a second-floor space on Palm Avenue, Rue--a new boutique from Natalie Morgan--carries hard-to-find brands from a variety of beloved designers, including Vineet Bahl, Clu, Sea New York, Charles Youssef, B. May, Needle and Thread, Lizzie Fortunato and Edie Parker.
Morgan has always been interested in fashion. She began her career as a buyer at a company that owned convenience stores before moving onto working in the marketing department at Costco and, ultimately, opening her own clothing boutique in Indianapolis. After her shop closed, she began writing about fashion for Indianapolis Monthly magazine before moving to Sarasota in September 2014.
"I always had in the back of my mind that I wanted to have another store," she says of her decision to open Rue. "Then one morning I woke up and was like, 'I'm doing it.' And that day, I got on the computer and started contacted designers."
Rue owner Natalie Morgan.
Morgan describes her aesthetic--and her store's--as "classic with a twist," and says she offers pieces and brands that you can't normally find in Sarasota. "The person shopping here wants something different," she explains. "I buy as few pieces as I can of each item, so you're not going to see it on everyone."
And she's appreciative of Sarasota style, which she says the city has in spades. "For such a small city, there's a lot of style," she says. "And there are really good boutiques. [Before I moved here], I thought that if you lived in Florida, you'd be running around in Lilly Pulitzer all the time. And there is a lot of Lilly--but there's so much more than that."
As for the future, Morgan says she hopes to expand, both as far as space goes and in the amount of product she sells. "I want to have shoes, stationery, gift items and more jewelry lines," she says. "There are so many things I'd like to carry!"
Stay tuned. In the meantime, you can find Rue at 73 S. Palm Ave., Suites 220/221, in downtown Sarasota (with elevator access between Caragiulos and Martin Freeman).
