STAY Boutique/Bar : A family history
It is never easy to combine two different concepts together, such as mixing a clothing shop with a restaurant.
However, some people make it with talent, as the boutique/bar STAY in Antwerp (Belgium) holding by Stephanie and Tinne. Interview of the two owners, sisters and best friends. A family history …
Could you tell me a little bit more about your background and what led you to create this project?
Tinne (26) studied Interior Design and Stéphanie (24) studied Event Management. Despite of the two totally different fields we studied, we fit together perfectly as sisters and best friends too. We both never wanted to work for a boss and pretty soon after we graduated it became clear that we wanted our own business, together.
Besides, why the name “Stay” ?
STAY stands for ‘Style, Taste And You‘. It is an abbreviation but also a word that implicates that if you come in to our shop, you would like to hang out for a while. And that is what our concept is about. ‘Style‘ goes from home decoration and tableware to fashion for him and her. ‘Taste‘ is all about the ‘bar’ in the back of our shop: you can stay for a tasty brunch or lunch, an intense roasted coffee or a good glass of wine with fingerfood. ‘You‘ implicates that you can treat yourself or someone special with elegant fine jewelry, wonderful make-up, unique perfumes and body products for him and her. Briefly: At STAY you can forget time for a while and browse through the beautiful products or have a delicious meal or drink!
How did you get the idea to mix a shop and a bar?
We wanted to share our passions wich are fashion, interior design and food. With our parents having a catering business for over 30 years now, we were brought up with good food. The more we thought about mixing those things, the more we started to believe in that combination. People who are shopping get tempted by the smell of coffee or fresh baked quiche (by our mum, who is in the kitchen!), the people who come in to have lunch get tempted to browse through the shop after their meal. And we love to see that, because that is the situation we had in mind.
What brands can we found in your shop? How do you make your choice?
We have a mix of different brands. It took us a while to find the right brands that fit our style and that match together. The most important thing that all the different brands have in common is that they all are exclusive in Antwerp and affordable.
What did you like in Olow ?
Olow is an urban brand that’s a little bit edgy: just what we were looking for. Men can find plenty of classic clothes in our city. A brand similar to Olow is harder to find. Olow is for men who know what they want and who want to wear stylish clothes that are different. The clothes from Olow are affordable, from great quality and look absolutely masculin and fashionable at the same time!
Finally, if we came at your place in a late beautiful afternoon like today, what would you serve to us ?
We would like to serve you a cinnamon latte or home made ginger tea with something sweet, like a chocolate brownie with walnuts or maybe a classic chocolate chip cookie? If you haven’t had lunch yet, we would recommend you our ‘Back to Bagel’: a delicous sesame bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon and radish. Not into fish? Then try our ‘Grilled Meat & Cheese’! A delightful grilled sandwich with manchego cheese, dried Serrano ham, creamy pesto and a pepper-tomato dip. We can sum up our entire menu, but why not swing by to try it all out? Hope to see you soon!
STAY
Nationalestraat 49
2000 Antwerp
Thanks to Stéphanie & Tinne
Interview by © Guillaume Schavann
