Earth Bound: Clothes Quarters
by Michelle Troutman

You won't find seeds, trowels, Birkenstocks, farm-fresh produce, or handmade soaps at Earth Bound. What you will find are satiny formal gowns, shelves of shoes and jeans, and racks of shawls, shirts, and pants that spring before the eyes in rainbow shades like the season they represent.

Owner Jennifer Bergeron intended the name to convey "that we had things from everywhere," because she liked finding new and unusual clothing lines, and wanted to appeal to travelers.

By age six, she began sketching her own fashion designs. When she was in 8th grade, her mother encouraged her to talk to the buyer at Sterns department store about what her job was like. “What I wanted to do was either be a buyer for a big department store or own my own store."

Bergeron attended the University of Maine at Orono for two years before transferring to Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York for a business degree with a concentration in retail, and to be closer to her then fiancé (now husband), Steve, who worked for Kodak. While there, she interned in the buying office and on the sales floor at Sibley's department store, and in the jewelry section of B. Forman's before returning to Waterville to work at CVS, and later the Grasshopper Shop in Camden, "her dream store."

"I really liked that concept. That was, I think, one of the ones that really made me want to have my own store," which she opened in 1998 where Re-Books is now. "Perhaps jumping into this was a lot to jump into, when the kids were little, but at the time, I didn't think so."

She and Steve decided to move Earth Bound to Camden, and in 2002 started a Hallowell branch, and a year later, re-opened another Waterville store. They closed the Camden location a year ago.

"I wear every hat in this place. Customer service is under my job description, as is ordering, and paperwork, and entering purchase orders, and everything down to -- hopefully not that often -- shoveling the front walk, or vacuuming the store."

Steve handles the bookkeeping. Jennifer's sister Alison manages the Hallowell store, sometimes accompanying her on buying trips. "She's very much a detail person, where I'm more of a big picture," Bergeron laughs. "She's really good at keeping me in line. We make a good combination."

Bergeron can spend weeks traveling to fashion shows in Portland, Marlboro, Mass., and Las Vegas . "If I go to Las Vegas, I've got a better chance of picking up a line before someone here gets it, so I try to pick up lines that not everybody on the planet has, or at least in New England . Sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn't."

Earth Bound extended its sixth annual Consolidated Clearance Sale to April 5, which has grown to include merchandise from such stores as Macey's in Bar Harbor, Moda Bella in Gardiner, and departing downtown retailer The Clothing Gallery.

"My sister and the owner of Moda Bella at the time were talking one day, and he said, 'What do you do with all that sale stuff you have?' So, they started talking, and then, it grew into, 'Let's have a big sale together.' And, so that's what we ended up doing, was having a big sale together, and it was huge. It was like, 'Why doesn't everybody do this? Wow! What a great idea.'"

Bergeron likes to help customers choose outfits for special occasions, such first dates, weddings, and graduations.

Customers range from high school and college girls looking for formal wear to their target market of women in their mid-thirties to mid-sixties. "But I have women who are in their 20s and 30s who like the jeans, and like the funky shirts, and then I have women up in their 60s and 70s who like the more casual line."

Best sellers are Christopher Blue jeans and body slimming undergarments known as Spanx. "Whenever Oprah talks about something, it's like, oh, everybody needs to have it now."

Prom dresses made by Josh and Jazz range in sizes 0/1 to 13/14 and in price from $89.00 to under $200.00. "Every single one of them is just unique," says Bergeron, adding that you won't see anyone else wearing one. "Every time I tell somebody this, they'll say, 'Oh, that happened last year at our prom. So-and-so and so-and-so showed up in the same dress.'"

"People like our clothing, because it's quality, and it's unique, as opposed to being cheap and basically disposable, and something that you could find anywhere."

Cathy Geller has managed the Waterville branch five years, having been friends with Jennifer before she opened the store. She describes helping regular customers who hate to shop.

"I have one customer who comes down, probably once every six months. 'OK, it's time to change my wardrobe,'” says Geller. “She likes her outfits to be intercoordinated, so I'll take a rolling rack, and I know her sizes, know what she likes, and I'll start, one over here, and I'll take another behind it, and show her that we can change this with this and this and this."

Despite having been in business 11 years, Bergeron states "having my kids grow up, and raising them to be decent people" is her biggest life achievement.

"My sister and husband are with me. That's a huge achievement. Cathy hasn't killed me,” she says, laughing. “Nobody's killed anybody."

"Not yet," Cathy retorts.

When it comes to customers trying on clothes, and giving opinions, "You almost have to ask people, you don't mind if I tell you the truth, right?," says Bergeron.

Asked if she is honest with customers, Geller replies, "Absolutely. If they walk out, and I don't like it, I don't care if there's 500 people in here. I can be standing at the register, and they'll walk out of the dressing room, and I'm like, 'No! Go take that off.'

"We want everybody to like what they have and wear what they have, and for people to look at them, and say, 'Wow, that's a great outfit. I'm going to go there and shop.'"

The 109 Main St. store is open Monday through Saturday, 9am to 5pm: (207) 872-7679. The Hallowell store at 148 Water Street is open seven days a week, 10am to 5pm: (207) 623-7679. Visit Earth Bound on Facebook!

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