Anne Kelly saw a retail opportunity 11 years ago: She knew that about half of American women wear clothes that are size 14 or larger, and that plus-size baby boomer women were unhappy with the workout wear available to them. Still, she faced a bit of skepticism. “The financial people I approached for funding said, ‘If large women exercised, they’d be small, so where is the market?’” Kelly recalls.
But Kelly, seeking to start her own business after a career spent mostly in the public sector (including a stint as a budget officer for the State of Minnesota), was undaunted. She invested her savings, pooled some money from her family, and started Junonia, an Eagan-based catalog retailer specializing in activewear for women sizes 14 through 40. Last year, it posted sales of more than $10 million and mailed out more than 5 million catalogs, making it the leading retailer exclusively for women’s plus-size active-wear. Its Web site was recently selected by Internet Retailer magazine as a top-50 retail site, along-side those of Land’s End, Anthropologie, and other apparel retailers.
Junonia’s most notable online innovation might be the “Notebook” section of its site, where customers can post journal entries regarding their experiences with a Junonia product or share other personal anecdotes. “Listening to women and encouraging their active lives is our brand,” Kelly says. The Notebook helps bring customers back to the site for repeat visits to see new products.
According to Kelly, Junonia responds to every question or com-plaint it receives. “I especially like it when a customer complains that we just don’t have the product she needs to solve a particular problem,” she says. “Those e-mails often result in new products.” For example, a customer who suffered from nightly hot flashes suggested the company make a nightshirt from its QuikWik moisture-wicking fabric. (Junonia designs its own products.) The February catalog included four sleepwear garments using a lighter version of QuikWik.
Junonia is now looking at new ways to enhance its site. The company also has added lingerie and loungewear to its offerings.
