Potpourri of Sandy Springs, a beloved city boutique, will close its doors after 50 years in business.
Owner Julie Routenberg announced the store, which is located at 227 Sandy Springs Place NE, in the City Walk Shopping Center, will cease operations on Feb. 28.
In an interview with Rough Draft Atlanta, Routenberg attributed her boutique’s success to the merchandise it had in the store. She carried many European lines from Germany, France, Barcelona, Scotland, and England. She also carried a line from Australia.
“It’s for women that are, I would say, from 50 up, that want to look modern, but don’t want to look like their daughters,” she said.
Most of Routenberg’s customers don’t work. They’ve retired and have disposable incomes. They travel a lot, which dictated the kinds of items she kept in stock.
To her regret, the trend is moving toward a more youthful look, countering Potpourri’s philosophy to dress woman to look their age with a modern, non-too trendy twist.
Routenberg said she was energized when making trips to New York and the Atlanta Apparel Mart, where she visited individual showrooms to look for something new for her boutique. She tried to add at least three to five new brands every season.
“I love merchandising the store. I love taking odd pieces, putting them together, and creating outfits,” she said.
Throughout the years, Routenberg’s relationship with her vendors remained strong. Potpourri, even though it was small, would carry an exclusive line of clothing. The owner of one line she carried called Routenberg to say she was opening her own clothing store at Phipps Plaza, but assured her that Potpourri would still be a priority.
Potpourri opened its doors in Roswell in 1976 and became successful almost immediately. Traffic and a lack of accessibility at that location led her to move the store to Sandy Springs in 1985. She opened another outlet in 1989 on Roswell Road in Buckhead. The Buckhead store closed in 2008 during the recession.
In 2005, Routenberg had the opportunity to move into the City Walk Shopping Center when its owners built another bank of shops. She contacted friends who also owned businesses and they leased the whole strip, though each business owner negotiated individual leases. In 2021, she moved Potpourri to its final location across the parking lot to another spot in City Walk.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a struggle. A gift card program helped keep the business afloat. Many of her customers treated the gift cards as a donation for Potpourri, she said. The business sold $57,000 in gift cards.
It was the height of the spring season in 2020, and many customers had made special orders, but COVID-19 restrictions made shopping difficult. Routenberg would take payment over the phone, and while masked, bring the clothes out to the customers’ cars.
Potpourri made more than $1 million in sales a few times, because of the employees’ personal touch. The staff didn’t wait for customers to come through the doors, instead calling them to tell them about a piece of clothing or outfit that had arrived. The store’s regular email blast was always followed up with phone calls.
Vicki Grosswald has worked with Routenberg for more than 40 years. She said the relationships the staff developed with their customers over the years made them successful.
“They’re friends, they’re clients, they’re people that I have seen grow up and raise their children and now have grandchildren, and still I have a very close relationship with them. So that, for me, has been totally the biggest reward of all,” Grosswald said.
Phyllis Cohen, who worked at Potpourri for more than 24 years, also stressed the importance of relationships. She’s seen customers’ kids grow up and become Potpourri customers, too.
The trio at Potpourri also connected their customers with references for other services, Cohen said.
Potpourri has helped the community throughout the years with donations for non-profits and local organizations, including the Sandy Springs Police Department and cancer support groups.
Routenberg said the million-dollar question now is what she will do after the shop closes. Customers and friends who have retired tell her not to wake up on Monday morning with a plan. Things will come to her.
“My hope is that I will not pull the covers over my head and stay in bed all day and watch Netflix,” she said.
