{"id":15015,"date":"2016-08-17T16:53:30","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T20:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=15015"},"modified":"2016-08-17T16:53:30","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T20:53:30","slug":"oakridge-outfitters-prepares-to-open-new-page-on-a-local-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/oakridge-outfitters-prepares-to-open-new-page-on-a-local-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakridge Outfitters prepares to open new page on a local story"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a young girl, Aurora\u2019s Deb Clark was bitten by the fashion bug.<\/p>\n

Her mother could not afford to let her go out and buy the things she wanted to make a splash, however. Instead, she was sent to sewing class to learn how to create the looks she wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned pretty early that you can love fashion and look great on many budgets and that is the way it has been for me,\u201d says Ms. Clark. \u201cI have always just loved the textiles and the colours, the looks and the shapes, and they have always been a passion for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

But now, this passion has led her to a new career as the new owner of Aurora\u2019s Oakridge Outfitters.<\/p>\n

A mainstay at the Aurora Shopping Centre at Yonge Street and Murray Drive, Ms. Clark takes the helm of the popular boutique from Cheryl Walker, who decided to sell the business earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Since its foundation, Oakridge Outfitters has earned a loyal clientele from Aurora and beyond, Ms. Clark among them.<\/p>\n

Having moved to Aurora with her family in 1997, Oakridge Outfitters was one of Ms. Clark\u2019s first stops. She still recalls her first visit and many subsequent purchases, often looking forward to dropping the kids off at school in the morning to pop over to the store to see what was in stock.
\n\u201cI just felt like many women in Aurora felt: this is a go-to spot, a place where you can always find something,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

In those days, fashion was simply a passion for Ms. Clark, who forged a career in marketing and corporate philanthropy. Things rapidly changed, however, when Ms. Clark took time off over the winter for \u201ca health respite.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo keep myself busy, I asked if I could volunteer at the second-hand Clothes Closet store at Trinity [Anglican Church],\u201d she explains. \u201cI was just reminded all over again how much I loved being with clothes, customers, and helping women put things together, helping them see what we could do with $10. How many different looks can we get? I just loved it. It was one day there that one of my fellow volunteers said, \u2018You love working at stores. Why don\u2019t you buy Oakridge Outfitters?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThat day, I spoke with Cheryl, I spoke with the bank, I spoke to our lawyer, and within days Cheryl and I were writing on paper. [I had a feeling] of absolute certainty. I can\u2019t remember how many times I said to my husband, \u2018this went really quickly, but boy does it feel right!\u2019 There was real joy and excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deb says, in the process, she and Cheryl found a meeting of the minds and agreed that Cheryl would stay on in a consultant role for the first year \u201cbecause I have a lot of respect for the great work she did to build this business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has got a great wealth of knowledge and connectivity in this business,\u201d Ms. Clark explains. \u201cThat is exciting to me. Within weeks we were off on our first buying day and we hadn\u2019t even finished the ink. We have a favourite line that we say: Where are we going when we\u2019re wearing this? It is always looking for our customer. Who is wearing this? Where are they wearing it? When we think about what we\u2019re going to put into this store, we\u2019re really giving, piece by piece, thought on why it is in the store in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Clark refers to the transition \u2013 and the store will officially re-open the first week of September \u2013 as turning \u201ca new chapter,\u201d a sentiment long-time employees share. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all excited for the next chapter and turning a page,\u201d says Donna Grayson, who has been at the store for 15 years. \u201cThere was a big uproar when we said we were closing, so I think our customers are excited for the new changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adds Kim Ferry, who has been there for over a decade: \u201cIt will be something new and exciting for us. A lot of the ladies come to us and we have long-lasting relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, what keeps the ladies coming back year after year as customers? Ms. Clark says the appeal of Oakridge Outfitters is it meets the needs of all women of all budgets, shapes and sizes \u2013 \u201ca magic recipe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing that as a customer made that very appealing to me,\u201d she says, noting that in the future she hopes her new chapter will include some different looks, brands exclusive to Aurora, and getting the store more involved in philanthropy within the community. \u201cThe local business is staying local. I will be happy if I can continue to build the Oakridge customers\u2019 loyalty because I will know then I have met their needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the women who come here are fashionable, they want to look great, but they are smart, savvy and want value. Those are the things that appeal to me because back in the day, my mother told me, \u2018You can look fashionable, but it is going to be on a budget, dearie!\u2019 I feel a certain affinity with the women who walk in the door.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a young girl, Aurora\u2019s Deb Clark was bitten by the fashion bug.<\/p>\n

Her mother could not afford to let her go out and buy the things she wanted to make a splash, however. Instead, she was sent to sewing class to learn how to create the looks she wanted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2016-08-18-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-3Ub","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-16 14:34:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}