High Fashion Amidst Low Times

Julie Er, Owner

I have long appreciated designer accessories even before I set up my own retail shop. My collection boasts of special edition boutique bags, shoes and watches that are rarely found elsewhere, exclusively sitting in my wardrobe and my shop. Aside from fashion, I express a great interest and admiration in antique goods such as clocks, furniture, coins, watches - all these go closely hand in hand with my shared passion for collecting items. In this dot-com era, being IT savvy is a necessity, and I have therefore attended certified lessons on photography and Micromedia. Combining this knowledge gained and with my technical background, all these provide me enough foreknowledge to ensure quality snapshots of my shop's handbags. These will later be shown to public as items which are not lacking in quality. In addition, it will give my shoppers genuine feel of what they're seeing when they intend to purchase my goods online. As such, my collective interests have up till this point led to the setting up of the Attic Place, in my desire to share all these special designer ideas with regular customers from all walks of life who share such similar interests.

Like they say, "Clothes make the man" - apt in societies where consumerism promotes the materialistic culture ubiquitous today. People wield branded goods to signal a separate, 'higher' rank among the social ladder, clamoring for the materialistic 'power' such products grant. Indeed, brands such as Hermes, Gucci, Chanel, Prada and Burberry, are all internationally recognized for being expensive purchases. Labelled popularly as 'rich' or 'high class', they create a culture known as 'high fashion' in today's terms. Yet, the looming recessions ahead pose the struggle to maintain such materialistic image. The Attic Place provides just the right solution in times of rising costs of living where one still needs to look and feel good! Premising on our value - that everyone has the right and accessibility to dress high fashion regardless of financial backgrounds, our business sells Pre-Owned branded products guaranteed 100% genuine.

My past experiences consist of being in the sales and marketing agent in the marine, IT, machinery and real estate industry. I once also ran my own business in the building sector. All this entails working closely with people, travelling broadly, and giving me more than enough experience to communicate verbally with people from all walks of life. This plays in handy today in my line, supporting me with the same people skills when I have to sell my goods and play up their value. My ability to deal with people well was recognized when I was awarded the Real Estate Top Salesman then. I was also a financial planner.

The Attic Place - this name originates from my old sentiments once working in my own roofing construction business. This constantly serves to remind me who I once was, where I came from, and allows me to see how far I have come. The logo of the Attic Place is symbolic. The attic resides near the ridge of the top of houses - explaining the slope and slant of the logo. Attics at the highest level represents where antiques and heritage items are usually stashed and kept, embodying something old yet important, just as how branded bags are known for their long-standing tradition and their high value together with my love for antique goods. The Attic Place in Chinese is also known as "名阁坊". Translating directly, it comes to mean 'branded attic place' word for word respectively. The attic place is a geographical place, and this is very apt as this idea stems from my working background once involved in the construction industry. As they say in Chinese, '饮水思源' - it is always important to not forget my past and what had led me to this road today. The attic itself being in a house, part of a home, is what is meant to represent a cosy, comfortable place - just as how I have designed my shop to ensure customers who walk in feel just as home.

What I see in my future right now is to continuously serve my customers on a personal level as I am doing now with The Attic Place. It has always been my dream to share my passion with like-minded people, and having already fulfilled this, there is nothing more I can see myself doing but walking the same path as I have done for the past five years. After all, having already attained the peak of my career running my own business in the construction industry, it comes as a sort of career respite now to run a personal business that allows me much flexibility as an own employer that at the same time allows me to work with people and share my passion for branded goods - exactly the working lifestyle that I have gotten used to overtime, and surely see myself doing so for the coming years.