Charity Washington is the only Black woman to have a storefront in the upscale South Park Mall in Charlotte, North Carolina, reported Black Business.
Washington’s high-end store for women, Captivate, sits among other luxury brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton. The location is seeing an uptick in clientele now that pandemic restrictions have eased across the state.
Her goal is to dress women of all shapes in clothing sizes that “captivates” who they are on the inside while maintaining the stares of those who view the glamorous clothing on the outside. “Captivate actually means to captivate you, to get your attention, and to keep it,” Washington told WCNC.
Washington dreamed of having a store in South Park Mall way back when she was a student at the University of North Carolina.
“I went to college here in Charlotte, and I used to run this mall with my little cute outfits with my friends, so to actually have a store in here was a dream,” she said.
She opened her first store in Charlotte in August 2019 at Carolina Place Mall in Pineville, NC. The one in South Park Mall followed. However, Washington had to close the Pineville location and consolidate last May due to the pandemic.
“It’s about moving smarter, not harder, so I just felt like I had to make the decision to downsize to one location and that God was going to help me figure out the rest,” she said.
Looking forward, Washington is hoping she can inspire young girls who may want to get into fashion or other Black women looking to thrive in business, particularly during the pandemic.
She plans to expand and grow Captivate’s online presence and reach shoppers across the world for her own business.
Charity told Sheen Magazine last year, “I want to captivate the world. To captivate the world, I have to reach everyone… Wherever you are, I want everyone to be captivated. To see myself around the world and see this business around the world is very exciting.”
