Big venture: a local full-figured fashion house debuts at Aventura Mall, leaping into major league retail on its first outing

South Florida CEO, Sept, 2004 by Jaclyn Alcantara

* American waistlines are expanding, but clothing retailers have been slow to adapt, leading business owner Rina Abramovitz to take matters into her own hands.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The size-16 CEO opened her first full-figured women's clothing boutique in Aventura Mall this May. Her strategy, she says, is simple: create a clothing line with broad appeal and make her Rina store a one-stop-shop for plus-size women.

"No matter your size, you can still feel good, feel sexy, and look gorgeous," Abramovitz says.

The market for plus-size clothing (made to fit women sizes 12 and higher) is expanding. Sixty-eight percent of US women wear a size 12 or larger, according to market research firm NPD Group Inc. The Port Washington, N.Y.-based firm estimates the plus-size industry grew more than 30 percent during the last 10 years--even as the overall apparel market shrunk. In 2003, the market was worth $30 billion.

Enter Abramovitz, who learned entrepreneurism from watching her father. Avi Abramovitz opened the first Chinese restaurant in Israel and later launched Pizza e Via restaurant on Miami Beach's Lincoln Road. The restaurant earned a high-profile list of clients, including actress Carmen Electra, singer Jennifer Lopez and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Rina Abramovitz took over the Italian eatery two years ago when her father passed away, and this March she sold the lease for an undisclosed amount.

Rina took the money, together with personal savings, and plowed it into her clothing boutique. She set her sights on one of South Florida's highest-volume shopping centers: Aventura Mall.

With a waiting list to obtain a store location in Aventura Mall, Abramovitz says her friends told her she wouldn't succeed. She persisted, and in November 2003 presented her business plan to Aventura leasing agent Ted Seigal.

"She just comes across as very positive, and she understands the merchandise," Seigal says. Six months later, the Rina store opened.

Inside the store, the back walls display photos of Abramovitz and her sister decked in Rina outfits. The store's line includes evening gowns, summer capris, camouflage pants, dress suits, and polka-dotted tops. Abramovitz focuses on making shoppers feel good. "Let's have fun!" she tells one customer. "We don't charge to try."

To help her plus-size customers feel more comfortable shopping, the store swaps traditional clothing sizes 12 to 24 for tags that range from 0 to 6.

"A woman walks into our store and she's not a size 20 anymore--she becomes a size 4," Abramovitz says. The store will carry size 26 (a Rina-size 7) and size 28 by October. The clothing is priced from $30 to $400. Abramovitz hopes the variety of prices and styles will appeal to plus-size women from teenagers to grandmothers.

Trying to appeal to too many groups, though, could be Abramovitz's downfall, says Eugene Fram, a professor of marketing at the Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, N.Y. He says trying to draw too broad an audience often backfires in retail.

"Will teenagers want to shop in a store that has styles and clothing for their mothers? Possibly, if the mothers also shop frequently at Abercrombie & Fitch," Fram says. "In this day and age, a retailer can't be everything to everybody."

To be sure, Abramovitz has hit a few bumps along the way. A planned $60,000 store renovation ballooned to $142,000, and initial merchandise costs hit $150,000. The $5,000 a day she expected to sell has instead averaged around $1,500. Now she expects the store to ring up sales between $3,500 and $4,000 a day by yearend.

Abramovitz says she is undeterred. Advertisements for the store are scheduled to appear in Aventura magazine this December. She also hopes to offer more designs. The store's clothes are designed and manufactured in Israel, but the CEO wants to hire a local designer to launch a Rina label once the store is profitable.

Abramovitz's enthusiasm for her products is clear. "I cannot hide it, I am a full-figure woman and I know what I want to show, and I know what I don't want to show," Abramovitz says. "I believe I am like an average full-figure woman."