{"id":18332,"date":"2017-09-13T16:21:57","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T20:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=18332"},"modified":"2017-09-13T16:21:57","modified_gmt":"2017-09-13T20:21:57","slug":"oakridges-celebrates-20th-anniversary-with-fashion-forward-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/oakridges-celebrates-20th-anniversary-with-fashion-forward-outlook\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakridge\u2019s celebrates 20th anniversary with fashion forward outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

This month, Oakridge Outfitters marks its 20th anniversary as a fashion destination for the women of Aurora \u2013 and beyond \u2013 and while it is a moment of celebration for store owner Deb Clark and her in-house stylists, the lead-up has been a moment for reflection.
\nIn turn, this reflection, has led to a moment of rebirth.
\n\u201cOakridge Outfitters has been a part of the retail landscape of Aurora for 20 years and that is an exciting milestone!\u201d says Ms. Clark. \u201cWomen have come to know they can always find something at this store and that remains the goal: to be the store that provides solutions for women of different ages, of different demographics and of different budgets.
\n\u201cOakridge Outfitters is an interesting name and we thought long and hard about that because while 20 years ago Oakridge Outfitters did start as a store that was more focused on sportswear and outerwear, over these years we have morphed and grown. It is lovely that women who love the store and know it is not an outfitter still just love to call it Oakridge Outfitters, but we recognize Aurora has grown a lot in these last 20 years, and particularly in more recent years. We also recognize that newcomers to Aurora who don\u2019t know Oakridge Outfitters is a full fashion store can easily be misled by that name. Outfitters suggests a sporting or even perhaps a camping kind of store \u2013 and that is not who we are.\u201d
\nEnter: Oakridge\u2019s.
\nSimple, elegant, and to the point.
\nFor Ms. Clark, the name Oakridge\u2019s honours the growth the store has seen during its early days as well as the tradition customers have come to respect, but it clearly defines them as a destination for women\u2019s fashions.
\nIt was not a decision taken lightly. Ms. Clark says she has been \u201cloath\u201d to change the name because the former name has become \u201ciconic in a local way,\u201d but it was a decision that had to be made.
\n\u201cUltimately, I came to trust that those customers who have known us over the years will completely get this decision,\u201d she says. \u201cThey know they are going to find the same wonderful staff, they know they are going to find what they have come to look for in recent years, which is just a full fare of clothing from casuals to classics, to dressy, to day and night. Yes, I had some worry [over the rebrand] but upon careful thought I found this was the right decision for us moving forward \u2013 and the right time.\u201d
\nLooking forward, Ms. Clark says Oakridge\u2019s identity as a business will only come to be more defined in the years ahead. Ms. Clark\u2019s vision for the business is one that is \u201cwell-connected and supportive\u201d within its community.
\nTo that end, Oakridge\u2019s 20th anniversary ushers in a new way of giving.
\nStarting this fall, Oakridge\u2019s will introduce Fashion Fundraisers, a new program which will enable non-profits within the community to book the store for no fee on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening for a mini-fashion show organized by the store.
\nAll the non-profit will have to do is handle the refreshments and the invitations, and the Oakridge\u2019s team will do the rest \u2013 and 10 per cent of all sales made that evening will be donated directly to the group.
\n\u201cWe think this is the best way we can really help organizations that are small, medium and large \u2013 but those organizations who are looking for new and more innovative ways to put together a fundraising opportunity without a lot of heavy lifting,\u201d says Ms. Clark. \u201cWe\u2019re here to help. We\u2019ll close the doors and they will have the beautiful store with lots of room for mingling, 2,000 square feet, a beautiful area for refreshments for their use. We will enjoy hosting them and supporting their organizations.
\n\u201cI do receive a lot of requests, and I\u2019ve noticed a lot of the requests I receive for a donated gift card, or a garment for a silent auction or for a door prize, tend to come to me from medium-sized not for profit organizations that are regional and local. I know from my own days in the past how much work it is to put together fundraising events. It is enormous and we\u2019re all very busy. The idea came to me, as I have honoured every request I have received, to give a donation to a cause \u2013 but it struck me that there is a better way here. Because many of these organizations seem to have women in organizational roles with the group, it struck me that this idea might resonate well because women do love to shop. If they are going to shop for their fall clothes, their spring clothes, this is an opportunity for a local organization to say to their membership, \u2018Hang on, do your fall shopping at our event and when you do you will be able to benefit our organization. Let\u2019s do it together.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on the Fashion Fundraiser program, contact store owner Deb Clark at 905-726-4063. More information will be available online in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This month, Oakridge Outfitters marks its 20th anniversary as a fashion destination for the women of Aurora \u2013 and beyond \u2013 and while it is a moment of celebration for store owner Deb Clark and her in-house stylists, the lead-up has been a moment for reflection.
\nIn turn, this reflection, has led to a moment of rebirth. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18332","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\/2017\/09\/2017-09-14-07.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4LG","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 14:34:20","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\/18332","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=18332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}