After moving back to her hometown of Fayetteville to take care of her aging father and suffering an injury that kept her from her former hobby of running, Michelle Clark started going to estate sales, yard sales and thrift shops to add to her vintage collection. She initially planned to start an online store to sell the dresses she had accumulated. Then she and her husband began doing pop-up events and selling pieces in person.
Clark had considered opening a storefront, but it had seemed like a pipe dream. Then one day, the couple drove past an inviting space on Fort Bragg Road and noticed it was empty. Clark was determined to find the owner and acquire the space for her new storefront. Clark and her husband, Jamil Rashad, opened Westdale Vintage at 1225 Fort Bragg Road in Historic Haymount in October 2024.
“Everybody in the neighborhood has been so supportive. And it’s really, I think, the only place I would have even dared to open a store, just because of the neighborhood and all of our fellow small businesses around there, and just how much it’s growing,” remarked Clark…