FUN (noun) - something that provides enjoyment or amusement

Fun facts are meant to be, well, fun! Like the fact that a hippo can open it's mouth wide enough to fit a four foot child inside. Next time little Tommy finger paints your walls with chocolate from his ice cream sundae, you know what animal to introduce him to at the zoo.

 How about the fact that, like fingerprints, everyone's tongue has a unique print. Or, banging your head up against a wall burns 150 calories an hour. New exercise anyone? I wonder if Gold's Gym will read this blog and soon after start a head banging workout class. If so, we'd like credit for the idea and a small monthly deposit into our primary checking account from all money earned in these revolutionary head banging classes.

These are all interesting facts huh? Well we have some more for you. Facts about Blake & Brady and how they came to be! Don't you sometimes walk into a place of business and wonder "How did they come up with their name?" "Who runs this show anyway?" or in a boutique's case "Who decides what clothes they bring into inventory?". We have some answers for you straight from the horses mouths... errr... well the mouths of the people behind the name. Let's begin...

How and when did Blake & Brady get it's start?
The store made it's debut about two years ago in downtown Anderson. There was a need for a fun and fashionable clothing store downtown, so we filled that niche. Little did we know, we would eventually expand from just a simple local boutique in a small quaint town to one that ships nationwide and caters to women of so many ages.

Who is this Jennifer girl?
Jennifer was our first new hire at Blake & Brady and quickly grew from a basic employee to our store manager. She's one of the best decisions we ever made! She's in the store nearly every day we're open and is typically the one who answers the phones when you call. She is amazing at putting together outfits and serves as a personal shopper to all customers that walk through our doors.  To top it all off, she models our clothing in the pictures we put on Facebook. Smart and pretty? She's got it all and we're lucky to have her.

So where did the name 'Blake & Brady' come from anyway?
Coming up with a name wasn't as easy as most would assume. We went through about 15 different options. In the World of boutiques, there are so many names that are overused. You know what names I'm talking about. We didn't want to be just another obscure clothing store with a name that blends in with everything else. We knew we wanted a unique name, and one that was family oriented. We thought about using our last name 'Sullivan' but it came off as a bit masculine, so that was thrown out. Then we thought about our daughters names which are Blakely and Brady. Saying 'Blakely & Brady' out loud over and over just didn't sound 'right', it didn't have that ring to it. It was about one syllable too long. Back to the drawing board we went.
But one day, Sissa was playing tennis when one of her girlfriends chimed in and said "What about just cutting it to 'Blake & Brady'? Genius! However, we had to run this past our oldest, Blakely, and make sure she was okay with her name being shortened a bit. Being the level-headed little girl that she is, she agreed that the name was fine and shortening it didn't bother her one bit.
So... there you have it folks! We arrived at our name 'Blake & Brady'! It's such a fun youthful and timeless name, that we hope everyone loves just as much as we do.

Now, where did you come up with this logo of yours?
An Anderson University student actually helped create our logo. We like to keep the community involved in our store, so having a logo created by a local student was perfect for us. The ampersand sign, the '&', was actually hand drawn which makes it very unique. Cool huh? We tried the logo in a few different color combinations and once we saw it in blue and brown, we knew it was perfect. Seeing our name in lights, aka on the awning of our store, was an exciting day!

What about product, how do you decide what to order?
Ordering product really is an art. It's difficult but fun all at the same time. We feel it's one of our biggest strengths, as a store. With Jennifer, Laurin, and Sissa combining all of their expertise and opinions, we're able to bring items into stock that many different age groups love. We have loyal customers ranging from high school girls to Mom's of high school girls! While shopping online for new fashion to bring into stock, we pay close attention to pricing. We make sure that we can provide our customers with affordable prices and that they'll be happy and comfortable with every purchase they make with us.

Do you only carry clothes?
No way! We try to cover the entire wardrobe. From shoes, to skirts, to tops, to earrings. We've got it! With so much new stuff coming in every day, it is exciting for our customers.  We love having all the beautiful ladies coming by our store daily and helping them find what's best for their style and body.  Also, with the great food and entertainment downtown, we love it when girls come park, shop and enjoy the whole downtown experience.

Tell us something that many of us may not know about the future of Blake & Brady.
Well how about the fact that we're expanding our store upstairs! Same building, same location, but it will be two floors soon instead of just one! We're hoping to open around the week of Easter if all goes according to plan. Once the upstairs is open we'll be able to bring in more inventory for all of our customers to oogle over! The new space is going to have a loft feel to it with tons of big windows letting in all the downtown charm. We're sure everyone will fall in love with the new space and all of it's contents!

How's that for some fun facts for y'all!? Did you learn something new? Blake & Brady has a strong reliable foundation built on fashion, fun, and family. This will always stay the same.

By the way, you fun lovers, if you can't get enough of us, become a fan on facebook (if you're not already), or follow us on Twitter, we'll tweet ya back! Click the cute buttons on the right side of our page to go to each page.

Now, get off our blog and go out and enjoy this beautiful weather! Or you can take your computer outside and read more of our blog at the same time. Perfection!