Fancy That and Roundstone celebrate 50 years of business in Kingston

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Two women’s fashion boutiques in downtown Kingston are celebrating huge milestones.

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Fancy That and Roundstone are marking 50 years in business, an endeavour that has spanned three generations.

The two stores are run by Maria Cronk and her two daughters, Alix Martin and Amanda Worsley, a strong family team that has made it through two recessions and a pandemic.

It all started back in 1973 with Maria’s mom. At that time, her family moved from Sweden to Canada. After living in the country for some time, they struggled to find shoes that fit properly.

“There were no shoe stores that would fit the European wide feet,” Cronk explained.

So, in November of 1974, her mom decided to open her own shoe store in Brockville, called Limestone & Ivy.

Over the years the number of stores throughout the region grew to nine, spanning as far as Peterborough to Smiths Falls. Today, only their stores in Kingston and Limestone & Lily in Brockville remain. The latter is run by Maria’s brother.

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Kingston received its first store in 1979 at the Frontenac Mall. At the time, it was a bustling location filled with other boutique businesses.

In the summer of 1985, Fancy That opened in downtown Kingston, where it currently is today. That’s when Maria started getting involved and sharing her vision for the store.

“I thought shoes were kind of boring. I like shoes but I felt like I wanted clothes. I love clothes,” Cronk said.

In 1998 the store at the Frontenac Mall was relocated next to Fancy That and named Roundstone.

While Cronk did help with the stores, she also went and got her teachers’ degree and taught before making her way back to the family business.

She said her two girls did the same. They both worked at the store throughout high school, but went on to pursue their careers.

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“They all went and got their degrees,” Cronk said. “I never thought they would come back. But Covid sort of brought everybody back because they realized I needed the help.”

Cronk explained that during that time her mom was starting to suffer from dementia and wasn’t able to help with the two stores.

So, the sisters stepped in and have been a crucial part of the company ever since.

Martin holds an MBA from Queen’s University and worked at the post-secondary institution for a few years. She now takes care of the office work such as administration and finances.

Worsley received her teaching degree from Queen’s University and taught overseas. She is considered the creative and artistic one. Since returning home she has helped launch online sales, handles social media, and populates the store with unique items.

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“When you’re in our store, we have hand-picked every single item,” Worsley said.  “A jacket comes in eight colours, what colour do you want, what sizes do you want. Everything is very analytical and that, in a way, it’s also art, where we are trying to tell a story, which I think is pretty cool.”

Cronk is the visionary behind everything.

“I love being out in the stores. I love the buying, I love the people, I love the decorating. That’s my thing.”

The ladies say having their own jobs within the company helps with the family dynamic.

“We all have our own strengths, we all have our own weaknesses and we each have sort of responsibilities with the company, and we don’t micromanage each other,” Martin said.

So how does a family business make it through two recessions and a pandemic?

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Martin attributes it to the relationship they have with their customers and suppliers.

“People wanted us to succeed, and they knew that we were trustworthy, we were doing the best we could to pay them. Or customers who wanted to keep shopping with us in the future. It just showed the relationships that we built over decades. People were going above and beyond to help us during that hard time.”

Cronk also attributes their success to the change in the retail industry.

“Retail today is like an open world because of the internet and the instagram and shopify. All of a sudden you don’t just have customers in Kingston, you have customers everywhere.”

And it’s not just the shoppers they are thankful for. They also appreciate their long-standing staff, who they consider part of the family.

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“A lot of our staff stay because they love it, too,” Cronk said. “That was one thing my mom was really good at is including staff in everything we do, to make staff feel important.”

As for Martin and Worsley, they say they are in it for the long haul.

“The moment it hit me where I was here and committed to this is, I have three kids and my youngest is a girl,” Martin said. “She could be the fourth generation of this company.”

“Our family has always known that we were building more than a business,” Worsley said. “We were building a story — a story we’ve always welcomed our customers and community to be a part of.”

The company officially turned 50 years old on Nov. 5, 2024.

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