American ready-to-wear brand Veronica Beard will open its first Chicago boutique on Walton Street this spring, marking its 14th U.S. store opening since its retail debut in August 2016. The cool-girl label was founded by sisters-in-law Veronica Miele Beard and Veronica Swanson Beard and has fast become a household name with devotees like Meghan Markle, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lopez. Since its launch, the brand has evolved from clothing to include shoes, bags, loungewear and a new activewear line. “Our brand is built on accessible, thoughtfully designed clothing for any occasion, and we’ve expanded our offering slowly over the past 10 years, adding new categories based on the needs of our customers,” says Swanson Beard. “When we went into lockdown last year, we knew we had to casualize the offering to meet her current wardrobe needs, so we really went after jeans, T-shirts and loungewear.”
A look from Veronica Beard’s spring collection
With a difficult 2020 hopefully in the rearview mirror, the founders have been focusing on ecommerce and enhancing the online experience as well as in stores. “We made quite a few technological enhancements that have allowed us to speed up our opportunity in the digital space, merging the online and offline experience so that our customer can still interact with our stores virtually if she cannot visit them physically,” says Miele Beard. Veronica Beard also offers virtual shopping appointments in their stores and a I Want It All Box, curated by in-store personal shoppers, to send to clients so they can shop on consignment. “We have a strong customer base in Chicago and we want to welcome her into the world of Veronica Beard and give her a layered shopping experience in a boutique we curated to fit her lifestyle,” says Miele Beard.
