Dear Ess Elle Customers,
As you may already know, Ess Elle Style Studio is going through some restructuring. After thirty years of fashion and retail experience, our dear friend and co-owner Lisa Trautner has decided to retire. We wish her well and will miss her greatly. Lisa's abundance of experience includes managing some of Milwaukee's finest boutiques including MaJolie, M.E. Lou, and Aala Reed. Lisa’s background includes receiving her bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Cardinal Stritch, and subsequently moving to Chicago to explore the big city. Fortunately, she stumbled upon a job as a photo stylist, where her passion for art met her love for fashion and styling. Many years later, I was lucky enough to work with Lisa at Milwaukee’s Aala Reed and down the line, after reuniting; our vision for Ess Elle became reality.
As sad as we are with Lisa's retiring, the show must go on! We are going to take a little break in order to restructure and will “clean out our closet”. Our doors will be closed from January 12th until March but: Fear not ladies … We will be back! Along with everything I’ve learned from Lisa, combined with my own experiences, I will work diligently every day to ensure that Ess Elle continues to be Milwaukee’s premier women’s clothing boutique.
I have over eleven years of experience in fashion and retail, including being a co-owner of Ess Elle for two years. My initial experiences in retail and business sales were formative as they helped me early on to understand how to best work with all types of personalities, meet individual customer needs, and develop strong creative problem-solving skills. Much of this experience was spent "in the trenches," developing practical skills on the floor at retailers including Giorgio Armani, Three Graces, and Aala Reed.
After obtaining a Marketing degree from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, I immediately began a career as an Assistant Buyer for Carson Pirie Scott, now Bon Ton. After gaining a strong understanding of the numbers game I went on to become the Midwest Account Executive for Michael Brandon (a men’s clothing and sportswear company). I was lucky enough to work with the Midwest’s best specialty stores and form wonderful relationships that I still maintain today. I know the hard work it takes to have a successful women’s clothing boutique in Milwaukee, and we will continue bringing in the best lines, including Free People, BCBGeneration, Tulle, BB Dakota, James Jeans, Silver Jeans, and many more at the most budget friendly prices.
As many of you will attest, Ess Elle is Milwaukee’s finest women’s clothing boutique. In fact, Ess Elle has been recognized by local ABC channel 12’s The A-List as Milwaukee’s number one women’s clothing boutique in 2007 & 2008, and was recently voted first runner-up by the Shepard Express … thanks to all of you!
Thank you once again for being so loyal and understanding. We look forward to providing you with the best in the hottest fashions and superior customer service this March. In the meantime, please email me any ideas or suggestions you have to help make Ess Elle Style Studio even better. Tell us what you like, what you don’t like, and any ideas you may have to enhance your shopping experience.
We'll be out of sight, but hopefully not out of mind! See you in March!
Fashionably Yours,
Sarah Skinner
