Hi everybody, it's Allison. Kevin & I have written this newsletter for quite some time, and Kevin asked me to pen an extra special article. After almost 7 years in business, STYLEDLIFE® will be closing.

It's with a heavy heart that I'm writing this article. I've been with this company since the beginning, and I'm honored to be with it though it's latest transition. As Kevin told me, "This isn't good bye; it's so long for now".

STYLEDLIFE really, truly is a special store. We are more than the bricks & mortar that hold our walls, more than the jewelry & handbags we enjoy selling. We are a community, a like-minded, yet assorted family that shares the core values that our company was based on: Service, Respect, Community, Integrity and Fun.

Family 

Fashion retail has been remarkably fulfilling for almost 7 years, but family comes FIRST now. I (Allison) will become a mother soon and Tim's newly minted teenager will get a lot more of his dad's time. Kevin will be focusing on full-time single fatherhood as his son enters high school.

Customers 

As much as you, our customers, invested your budget into beautiful accessories from our store, we invested in our guests. Many have become personal friends, many more valued members of our extended community. Quite a few became SL employees themselves! Even more have joined us in volunteering at Perspectives Family Services. People have shared their most precious events with us- weddings, special occasions, celebrations, travels and accomplishments. We've seen couples get engaged or married, families got started and babies grew into kids before our eyes. Guests let us into their homes using styledlook. We've seen teenagers grow into wonderful young adults, and adults happily retiring from their careers into new hobbies & travels. Guests have let us know how successful their look was, sent us thank you notes, pictures of them wearing our accessories at those occasions or of artwork created by our products. As Kevin said, "Our relationships will always be our lasting accessory".

Praise 

I've never worked anywhere that received so many compliments, emails, edible treats, thank you notes or gifts from customers, all because we were simply doing our job well. But it happened often at SL. Whatever we received, we'd post it on our "wall of fame" and share the good wishes with the whole crew. We always loved those notes. To think that someone took time out of their day to send a little respect our way, well, that was incredibly sweet.

Thank you 

Did we say "Thank You" enough? Probably not, so let's do it again: We can't express enough our gratitude and profound thanks to the thousands of loyal guests who helped make our store a destination. We also must thank Galleria for their remarkable support and outstanding leadership through the years, especially our friends Warren & Donna Beck and Jill Noack. What a terrific retail center we have been a part of! We know the future is bright at Galleria and we are excited for what Beth Anderson and Luis Serrat will create! We never took for granted how lucky we were to be in the Galleria.

As I look back over the years of being here, I'm proud of what we accomplished. We started something new, and therefore changed the retail landscape in our little corner of the world. We developed our signature way of servicing guests, based on how we wanted to be treated. We lasted longer than some folks thought we would, sometimes even surprising ourselves. We made the tough choices to continue to grow. We tried really hard to make right when something went wrong. We learned from our mistakes and tried to be better, work smarter & do right by our guests and our co-workers. After almost 7 years, I can say that the good outweighed the bad by a shockingly high margin.

Accessories  

We worked incredibly hard to bring the fresh, the exciting and the exceptional to our cities through our selection of accessories for men and women. We had exclusive designers and ahead-of-the-curve fashion choices, and of course, we always had our lovely Vintage collection that bought so many funny comments, heartfelt memories or a new perspective to our guests.

Events 

We encouraged guests to attend the various events we held in our store; trunk shows, holiday shopping parties, private STYLEDparties, Tennis-themed fundraisers, SaLes, promotions, fashion classes, parties for Vintage and Fashion Night Out or our ol'Fun Fridays. Whichever one you attended (and some people attended them all, how flattering!), it was a blast to host you.

We had a secret  

Nothing was done at STYLEDLIFE alone. Every job supported the next, every task impossible without the help of another. We tried to look effortless while sweating behind the scenes, and sometimes we even pulled it off. It was tough, but boy, did we have fun. There was never a day when I did not hear laughter more than once. In the end, we were 15+ of the most service-focused retail professionals around and we're onto our next career opportunity. Thank you from Allison, Karen, Lynn S, Sabina, Lynn W, Emily, Connie, Liz, Egle, Marc, Kristin, Amanda, Elgean, Isabelle, Anna P, Becky, Rachel, Molly, Tim and Kevin. To all past employees, thank you as well. We were in this together, from the start.

The bigger secret:  

You, the guest, were why we did it all. Without you, our dear guests, we would have been random people playing with accessories, alone.

No matter what your personal interaction was at STYLEDLIFE, know this:

To us, you mattered.

On us, you left an impression.

From us, we cared about you.

Without you, we were just an idea.

And for that, we can't thank you enough. We can't, just can't say good bye. So we'll just say... So Long, for now.