Shopping: BitterSweet (Charlottesville, VA)

A Fully Beautiful Shopping Experience

By Christine Stoddard
QuailBellMagazine.com

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Quirky yet romantic, Charlottesville's pedestrian mall resonates with Virginians for its wide range of family-owned businesses. One of these businesses is BitterSweet, a charming boutique brimming with nostalgic clothes. Like butterfly wings and spiderwebs, many of the garments possess a precious delicate quality that forces you to sigh before touching them. The clothes are simply so pretty, so unique. These beauties cannot be found anywhere else in the Blue Ridge foothills—except at BitterSweet's other location in Lynchburg, Virginia.

While BitterSweet's inventory is small, the boutique offers a rainbow of choices your next-door neighbor is unlikely to already own. BitterSweet carries various brands, the majority of which are designed by independent artists and small companies. A few of these brands include Ark & Co., Born Purple, Gentle Fawn, Hodgepodge & Such, Little Paper Cranes, Mink Pink, Odd Molly, White Rice, and Wooden Ships. If you think the names are tantalizing, imagine how delicious the actual clothes are!

I first stepped into BitterSweet to escape the cold of a First Fridays night. Then I saw Toms, soft cotton dresses, and stylishly beaten-up leather boots. What started out as a refuge transformed into a full-fledged haven in my mind. I wanted to wrap myself in every diaphanous piece of fabric. There were elegant sweaters, big button rings, and lacy things here and there. The mellow music and friendly staff only further brightened my mood. Despite the chill outside, BitterSweet felt cozy.

BitterSweet is what the Free People store ought to be: smaller, more intimate, more fairly priced, and more accessible to Virginians who don't live in Northern Virginia or Richmond. The vibe at the two stores is similar, but the differences make BitterSweet distinctly Virginian.

ShopBitterSweet.com  |  106 East Main Street, Charlottesville, VA 22902  |  (434) 977-5977