Today we’d like to introduce you to Page Litfin.
Hi Page, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I opened Sun Bern NC 2 years ago to fill a gap in the retail market in our town. As a river front town, we lacked anywhere to buy swimwear less than an hour away. There were even fewer options for women to find suits that offered style and support. I intentionally select swimwear that is appropriate for life on the river for men, women, and children. Our summers are filled with time on the boat, in the pool and beyond.
The secondary goal was to bring life to an area of the downtown that was in need of revitalization. New Bern offers such a beautiful segway to sharing stories of growing up along the river. Even though I spent my childhood in Maryland, life along the Patuxent River draws a lot of similarities to the scenery and activity along the Neuse River. I want this shop to celebrate river life. There’s something inherently different between beach life, lake life and river life. Sun Bern NC is here to provide the necessary swimwear and apparel for a laid back life on the water,
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Running a small business is filled with hurdles, but thankfully they have come in waves and less of a tsunami. Securing the brands I wanted to carry was a challenge I faced early on. As a new business, I really had to sell my vision to be compete for the brands I wanted in the shop. I was learning on the fly, but a couple of early wins with reputable brands helped to pave the way to convince other companies that I was legitimate and I was going to maintain a standard in Sun Bern that aligned with their brand mission.
Sun Bern is also outside of the immediate downtown New Bern footprint. We are not as visible to tourists as other downtown businesses are. While I wanted to breathe new life into this section of town and drive the restoration of our building, it is challenging to find the best marketing avenue to draw customers who don’t already know we are here. Collaborating with other businesses to extend our social media reach has been effective, but any print efforts have fallen relatively flat.
While the list of challenges is extensive, I did not expect opening a store to be free of difficulties. My goal has always been to keep the scale of the shop manageable, so that any obstacle would not be too large. So far, the progress has outweighed the hurdles.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Sun Bern NC is a specialty boutique, offering a variety of swim brands for women, men and children. We also carry several lines of quality athletic apparel brands for men and women. I set out to fill a gap in the retail offerings in a 45 minute radius of New Bern. I experienced first hand how difficult it was to find a swimsuit locally. As a riverfront town, we all spend a good amount of the year on or in the water. However, the only options to buy swimsuits were down towards the beach or at big box stores seasonally. The inventory at the other shops did not seem to align fully with the swim season here and did not account for folks traveling and needing swim during the off season. I set out to offer quality suits that are practical for laid back life on the water, offering both style and coverage for women. Men and children are such a part of a customer base, that they have a range of brands to cover their preferred style of swim too.
In order to buffer the off-season, Sun Bern stocks apparel that is intended for everyday life here in New Bern. From elevated lounge and travel sets from Varley and Rhone to workout sets from Beyond Yoga we try and cover the everyday essentials. Men can expect to find key pieces that would create more of a capsule wardrobe. Marine Layer, Fair Harbor and Rhone keep them stylish and comfortable. Sun Bern aims to offer the pieces that will be at the front of your closet and the top of your drawer.
How do you think about luck?
A lot of launching Sun Bern came about very serendipitously. From landing the location and the landlord to connecting with the owners of the adjoining business, the connections are largely what keeps the forward momentum going here. Our location is on the outskirts of downtown, yet very convenient to locals who are driving into downtown. We have a green space that has provided space for vendor markets, food trucks and workout events. We are also on the water, which just feels right as a swimwear shop. The building was also designated for two retail spaces, which lent itself to sharing the space with a second business. I approached my friend who I used to teach with to see if she would be interested in the adjoining space, to which she replied ,”Yes!” She and her mom opened a children’s boutique. As two new businesses, we really have supported one another in these growing years. This support has come in the form of helping customers on both sides, to troubleshooting point of sales systems, to navigating being moms and business owners. We have attracted customers independently that have ended up becoming customers of both shops and the fluidity between the shops adds to the convenience for our shoppers. With similar customer bases, the joint efforts put forth here have been significant.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sunbernnc.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunbernnc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sunbernnc
