phoenix on bellevue clothing has been serving West Vancouver for more than 35 years. Romantique Lingerie is West Vancouver’s finest lingerie and swimwear boutique, specializing in the world’s most elegant and luxurious name brands. It’s been owned and run by mother-daughter team Lin and Sasha Rockwell for over 25 years ago. They started it because they themselves had difficulty finding beautiful bras and lingerie that fit, and so they started Romantique Lingerie as a small corner within their women’s clothing store phoenix. It proved so successful that it’s since outgrown several locations, and has settled into one of the most picturesque settings near Ambleside Beach in West Vancouver. Romantique started in the corner of phoenix and we kept trying to keep it small. Now it’s outgrown the clothing store!
Question: How are you supporting other local businesses?
Answer: We have an impressive list of local designers at phoenix, I estimate that we have 90% Canadian made products, and many are made here in BC. We sell Sympli from Burnaby, and Myka is our #1 jewelry line, which is designed and manufactured in Vancouver. It’s run by a husband and wife team based in Vancouver. We also sell a lot of Canadian designs, including Joseph Ribkoff, Lisette L and Frank Lyman from Montreal.
At Romantique much of our stock comes from Europe (as there aren’t so many good bras made in Canada). However, we do sell Shan Swimwear and Shapeez shapewear, both manufactured in Montreal. We have the largest showroom of Christine Silk in Western Canada. We have a whole room is dedicated to her silks – Christine Morton is a West Vancouver designer sold worldwide, and designed and manufactured in Vancouver.
We also use almost exclusively B.C.-based service providers. We have our business bank account at the West Vancouver Vancity Savings Credit Union. They are really good people and the branch is right behind the store! We use Kyla from Limelight flowers for the store or as gifts. We use Kyla from Lime Light Floral Design in West Vancouver for flowers inside our stores & Maple Leaf Garden Centre in North Vancouver for flowers outside. We use Malkin’s Dry Cleaning in West Vancouver, a local sign maker, a local alterationist and a local window washer. My bookkeepers are also from the North Shore. We have staff Christmas parties at the Beach House Restaurant and all the staff frequent local restaurants – Cafe Crema for morning coffee’s, The Wooden Fish, Nishiki Sushi and Earls for lunch and Carmello’s for dinner.
Question: What social and environmental practices are you proud of?
Answer: On the environmental side, my daughter is very good about making sure we recycle all the materials we can. On the social side, we aim to be a great employer. We have 10 staff, all from the North Shore. We’d hire them all full-time if they’d do it, but they want their flexibility. Some of them have been with us for almost 30 years! We are also involved in the community and do our share of charitable giving. All of our donations go to North Shore charities. For a long time I co-chaired the North Shore Nite of Hope to raise money for breast cancer research. We support North Shore Family Services Christmas Bureau, I am a former Board member so it is very close to my heart. We also donate to the Collingwood Gala for Collingwood School in West Vancouver, and often donate products and gift certificates to other local charities.
