Today we’d like to introduce you to S.A. Sebastian Gnolfo.
Hi S.A. Sebastian, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am a musician and software designer originally from New York, and my partner Nikke is a graphic designer originally from New Jersey. As a musician living in NYC with so many places to shop on St. Marks St., and in the Lower East Side and West Village of NYC, I came to love fashion. Nikke and I love to travel and when we do we spend a lot of time shopping for goth and punk clothing and dark fashion. We have our favorite shops back home in NYC, and on Melrose in Los Angeles, and in the French Quarter in New Orleans.
When we moved to Austin from New Jersey there was only one place for us to shop for dark, alternative fashions. It was amazing that such a large city only had one shop like that. They have lots of cool stuff, but their style is different from ours, and they don’t have all the things we were used to getting back home. No store can rally be everything to everyone, so we saw an opportunity to create Bloody Rose Boutique to expand Austin’s dark alternative fashion offerings and do something a little different and carry the stuff that we love.
At the time we started, we couldn’t afford to lease a storefront, so we transformed a 1995 GMC delivery van into a cozy 85-square-foot mobile boutique. With limited space, we had to carefully curate a small collection of local, domestic, and imported designs in a setting unlike anywhere else in Austin.
In November 2016, we finally got on the road and we parked the mobile Bloody Rose Boutique at spots all over Austin, including in front of Elysium, but our main space was on the drag near UT campus. We made appearances at horror conventions, parties, the ROT Rally, Blood Over Texas events, and more. We gained a loyal following that enabled us to eventually open our store on North Loop where we have been since April 2018. Even though we are in a larger space, we are still curating a small collection.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been a smooth road! First, we couldn’t afford to lease a storefront, so we decided to get started as a mobile boutique — a store on wheels. We found a company that does custom work creating food trucks and they helped us find a used delivery van to build our mobile boutique. That company turned out to be shady and took us for a ride. We were supposed to launch in March 2016 but it wasn’t until November 2016 that we actually opened.
After we finally got the Bloody Rose Boutique mobile fashion truck on the road, we had endless breakdowns getting to gigs around Austin and even Bastrop and San Antonio. The scariest incident we had in the mobile boutique was when the brake line snapped on the way to a gig at the Alamo Drafthouse in Lakeline! I had to get creative using the parking break to stop that huge delivery van while driving over 60 MPH on the busy highway.
Then, all the construction popping up all over Austin made it so we started losing places to park. Our customers couldn’t easily find us anymore. Between that and all the maintenance on the van the mobile boutique model was no longer sustainable. But we could afford leasing a small storefront in the North Loop neighborhood.
Things have been fairly smooth at our current spot on North Loop, but sometimes it was a struggle to make rent the first year or two.
As you know, we’re big fans of Bloody Rose Boutique. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Bloody Rose Boutique curates a small and unique collection of high-quality, exceptional clothing, accessories, footwear, cosmetics, gifts and more from all over the world for goths, punks, witches, rockers and people who are a little different. We feature international name brands and independent designers like Killstar, Punk Rave, Sourpuss Clothing, Kreepsville 666, Serpentine Clothing, Akumu Ink, Strange Cvlt, Glam Goth Beauty and more.
At our shop, we host the Black Market, which is held almost monthly. Unlike other markets where you can find vintage clothing and crafts, we try to feature artists. Having come up working markets and events, we met so many amazing artists and saw how difficult it is for them to make a living, we thought we should host our own events to give the artists another place to promote themselves and sell their works. We even feature some of their art on display in the store. And, twice a year we have punk, metal, goth or darkwave bands perform at the Black Market.
We have met so many great people since opening the shop and working events and hosting the Black Market. We have built a special relationship with many of our customers and many of our vendors. We don’t pressure anyone to buy anything. You can just come in and browse or hang out — and maybe have a beer with us. It’s really nice when people stop in to say hi and chat when they are in the area. We have come to know our regulars by name and what they like and don’t like. When we are ordering new products, sometimes we see something that makes us think a specific customer might love so we’ll take a chance and order it.
We also try to ensure that we provide a safe, judgment-free space to shop. Our customers come from all backgrounds but are mostly shy and introverted. Many of our customers are also part of the LGBTQ+ community and are transitioning or not completely out yet, or are still figuring things out. Things are hard enough for them, so we feel that it’s important to provide a safe and comfortable space. We are closed on Tuesdays and provide private shopping by appointment which is popular with people that aren’t comfortable trying on clothes while other people are around.
We also created the website the Darker Side of Austin to promote all the other dark and alternative business in Austin, and we sponsor and help organize the annual Nosferatu Festival.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
You need to take risks to take your business to the next level. But, sometimes, you can only take on so much risk in relation to the capital you have access to. For example, when we started we couldn’t afford a storefront so we took a risk creating Bloody Rose Boutique as a mobile business. We weren’t sure if people would be comfortable walking into a big black and red van parked at a meter to shop for clothes. But it worked!
We love taking a risk on fashions and new designers. We are always trying out new things and bringing in products that might not sell, but we love and believe in. We could be like Hot Topic and stock pop culture items and the most popular brands and the best-selling items, or just the basics and staples. But where’s the fun in that?
Fashion should be fun and exciting. When we are curating our collection, we look for items that not only reflect our sensibility but we look for items that are unique and exciting. Sure, we do have some staples but a lot of what we carry is created by exciting, up-and-coming, independent or European brands that you can’t find in many other stores in the United States.
Each year we take a risk on new brands that we think our customers will love. Some of the items may not sell, but we believe in them. In the past two years, we brought in designs by Angry Inch boots, Mary Wyatt London, Foxblood, the Pretty Cult, Lucky 13, and Lip Service among others. We love that Angry Itch, Mary Wyatt, Fox Blood and the Pretty Cult are all handmade and in small quantities. The higher cost of these brands may put people off, but they are high quality and sustainably made justifying the higher price.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bloodyroseboutique.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/bloodyroseboutique
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bloodyroseboutique
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bloody-rose-boutique-austin-3
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bloodyroseboutique
Image Credits
S.A. Sebastian Gnolfo
