It’s been a long road in retail for entrepreneur and fashion designer Jennifer Croll. The Los Gatos, California, native opened her first boutique in her hometown in 2000, when she was just 24 years old. She expanded to locations in San Francisco, Newport, Dallas and Scottsdale and was thriving until the 2008 recession hit. “It was a very hard time for all the stores,” she says. “Nobody was shopping, and rent was very difficult to maintain.” Devastated, Croll closed her shops. By 2012, she’d regrouped and reopened in Scottsdale and Del Mar, and debuted her own line of classics. “The perfect little black dress kind of concept is for girls on the go,” she says. “It’s versatile and doesn’t wrinkle.” In addition to her fashions, Croll highlights local designers and curates pieces from her travels for her Scottsdale Quarter boutique, which feels more like a luxe home than a mall shop. “It’s a different environment than online or a department store,” she says. “I want everybody to come in and walk out of that store feeling joy and that they had a good time.” jennifercroll.com
