Late last week, Dear Lucy owner Melissa Desautels sent a disheartening message to the customers on her email list: She would close her store by the end of the month, the conclusion of a two-year downward spiral in sales at the Burlington boutique.
Desautels has been a fashion fixture downtown for 18 years, first opening women’s clothing shop Whim in 2007 on lower Main Street and moving about a year later to 50 Church Street. In 2015, she took over shoe purveyor Dear Lucy, in the brick storefront at Cherry and Church streets, and saw annual sales at both stores grow steadily for eight years, she said. The years after the pandemic, 2022 and 2023, were the retailer’s best ever, she said.
Then, in 2024, the business climate on Church Street took a turn, and the shops’ sales plummeted by 30 percent, Desautels said. Customer traffic on Church Street dwindled as Burlington grappled with the increasing prevalence of homelessness and drug use on and around the downtown’s commercial corridor.
Still, Desautels held out hope. Last April, she combined her two stores into one under the Dear Lucy banner, consolidating her operational costs and moving into a large Church Street space vacated by outdoor clothier Fjällräven. She thought sales would rebound over the summer, but the political climate — spurred by President Donald Trump’s disparaging remarks about Canada last spring — led to a noticeable decline in visits from our northern neighbors, Desautels said.
By fall, the usual boost from University of Vermont parents shopping with their kids never materialized; Desautels believes they spent their money elsewhere, perhaps in Essex or Williston. Some of her customers even suggested that she move her business to those communities, but Desautels balked.
“I always wanted to be on Church Street,” she said. “Its beautiful. You’ve got locally owned shops and coffee shops. It’s just such a good mix.”
Coffee shops have recently shuttered on Church Street, as well. Black Cap Coffee & Bakery closed in December amid what employees described as a stalemate between management and their newly formed union, while on social media the owner blamed faltering sales. The Cosmic Grind locked its doors this fall.
And other Church Street clothing retailers continue to exit. FatFace, between College and Bank streets, closed in August. So did the Vermont Eclectic Company artisan T-shirt shop on the corner of Bank Street, previously home to women’s boutique Monelle Vermont, which now operates in Shelburne. A convenience store and vape shop have taken its place.
Dear Lucy’s holiday season ended up worse than Desautels imagined, she said. The year finished with revenue down 44 percent, and the owner realized she had to stop the free fall.
“Like so many independent retailers, the past few years have brought challenges that have reshaped what’s sustainable,” Desautels wrote in her January 8 email. “This decision was not made lightly, and it comes with immense gratitude and pride for everything we built together here.”
Desautels spearheaded many popular downtown shopping events in recent years, such as the Mother of All Sales in March, generating traffic for herself and fellow Church Street boutique owners. She also created the Shop Local BTV website and social media accounts, encouraging consumer spending at independent retailers.
In May, she joined more than 100 downtown business owners who signed a letter to Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, asking city officials to clean up drug paraphernalia and graffiti downtown and take other steps to try to stem the economic decline. The move generated blowback from residents who deemed the requests insensitive to those struggling with substance use and lack of housing and called for boycotts of the retailers behind the letter.
“I just felt like Church Street isn’t the focus of the city,” Desautels said of the effort, adding that downtown businesses need more attention from city leaders and public messaging to generate consumer confidence and interest in shopping in Burlington.
She has six employees on her payroll, down from 15 at the high mark, and hasn’t paid herself a salary in a couple of years, she said. Desautels also has a Dear Lucy location in South Carolina, where she now lives with her husband and son most of the year, outside of summer. They own a condo in Burlington.
Referring to Church Street retailers’ struggles, she said, “This isn’t something we created. It’s not poor management. It’s not bad employees. I think everyone’s putting their all into it.”
Dear Lucy is running a store-closing sale with up to 80 percent off regular prices until the end of the month, or as long as its inventory lasts. In the three days since her email, the shop ironically tallied record sales — far surpassing even the best-performing holiday season weekends.
Many customers showed up over the weekend in tears, Desautels said, telling her how much they value the store.
“I’ve come here for years and years and years,” said Erin Langevin, who said she shopped at Whim and Dear Lucy during visits in town to see her husband’s family before moving to Hinesburg two years ago. Holding two bags of Dear Lucy purchases on Saturday, she said she loved the shops’ selections of brands such as UGG footwear and Z Supply clothing.
“We try to keep coming to Church Street as much as possible. We want to keep it alive,” Langevin said, noting that some neighbors have told her that they no longer feel comfortable shopping in downtown Burlington.
Desautels said signs of improvement downtown have begun to emerge. The presence of the Vermont State Police and the attention of Gov. Phil Scott, who vowed in September to work with city leaders on public safety, could help prompt the return of shoppers.
But it’ll take more effort and too much time to make a difference for Dear Lucy, she said.
“I hope that I’m the lesson,” Desautels said. “We need to make people start feeling safe and feeling good about coming to Burlington again.”
