16 SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Clothing boutique closes after 36 years
BY MAX PARROTT
MPARROTT@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
After 36 years of business, R & M
Children’s Boutique, a Ridgewood
store run by first-generation Italian-
Americans offering imported dress
clothes for communion and christening,
is shutting down.
“After a long thought, we decided,
especially after our mom passed,
that it’s about time we close the
doors,” said Rita D’antoni.
Rita, who ran the shop with her
mother and sister – both named Maria
– from its opening, said that the
decision was based on a combination
of financial and personal reasons. At
65, she was ready to retire, but she
said that sales had been long declining
as a result of online shopping.
“The times have changed. That’s
what I tell my customers. Amazon is
doing a nice job,” D’antoni said.
The business weathered a number
of economic shake ups before the
explosion of e-commerce in recent
years. When it opened it 1983, the
D’antonis would import many of their
items from Italy, but that changed
with Italy’s adoption of the Euro in
2002, driving up the exchange rate
from that of the lira.
R & M Childrens Boutique announced it will be closing its doors. Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
“Italy became very untouchable,”
said D’antoni.
Eventually the shop began importing
its clothing from South
America, which D’antoni said had
comparable quality to the Italian
products. D’antoni said that people
of her age still want to see that
merchandise and to feel its quality
in the store, but that doesn’t seem to
be the priority for the new generation
of young mothers.
Still for decades, D’antoni said
that they maintained a clientele who
passed down their loyalty to the store
from generation to generation.
“To even see the kids that you
dressed up for their communion
sic coming back with their own
children, it was really fabulous,”
she said.
D’antoni has not set a final closing
date. Based on the amount of inventory
they have left, she expects to
stay in business through October or
possibly November, but they’re not
going to make it to Christmas.
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