Belles and Beaus takes Oxford by Storm

        Two years ago Cathy Lowe and her mother, Betty Jane Cadle, had a dream. However, this dream had been around for much longer. Lowe, a mother of three, was an elementary school teacher for eight years. During that time, she felt that she wasn’t getting enough time with her children.
“After I found out I was pregnant with my third I decided I wasn’t going to go back to work,” Lowe said. “So my mother and I decided to follow our dream of opening up a children’s boutique. It was good timing because there was a need in Oxford.”
Thus, Belles and Beaus was born. The store has prospered during its two year existence in Oxford, and is looking to continue to serve the community with their unique selection of children’s clothing.
Lowe credits her children for bringing the idea to life and pushing her and her mother into opening the business.
“My kids are our inspiration for it,” she said. “We also had friends asking us to do it because they knew that we had this plan and that there was a need in the Oxford area.”
Belles and Beaus has been able to set itself apart from many stores in Oxford by their emphasis on having affordable quality children’s clothing, but also having the ability to monogram all of it.
“All of our monogramming is free and our appliques are very cheap,” store employee Jonna Williamson said. “We know that monogramming has really become a big thing and believe that being able to do it for free was a big plus for us.”
After realizing what a success Belles and Beaus had become, Lowe and Cadle decided to take another step in making their business grow. So they decided to open another store next door, Tummies Maternity.
“We opened Tummies this past year because there was nowhere in Oxford to get maternity,” Lowe said. “Our customers were asking for it, so we just decided to go ahead and do it.”
Now that the stores have taken Oxford by storm, the duo is looking at a possible expansion to other cities.
“I have heard about the store possibly going to Starkville and maybe Jackson,” Williamson said. “But I know they are happy here so it is really up to them.”
Belles and Beaus prides itself in customer satisfaction and friendliness and the store is always looking to cater to anyone’s needs when it comes to welcoming in a new baby.
“We are a very inviting business and we just do anything you need when it comes to baby showers, pregnancies, or having a new baby,” Williamson said. “We are just overall very family oriented and a good environment for anyone baby shopping.”