Fashion is Simply the Family Business for Ani K

Ani Kazanjian is following in her father's footsteps. Quite literally.

Earlier this month, the Harcum graduate opened consignment shop Personally by Ani.K in the same 22 Ardmore Avenue space that housed her father's suit shop Paris Clothiers, Inc. a quarter of a century ago.

"Fashion runs in my family," said Kazanjian, 27, on Wednesday, explaining that, in addition to her father's shop and her foray into the clothing business, her uncle is a designer in Paris. Kazanjian herself worked styling photo shoots before she opened Personally.  

Back to the boutique. The fashionista, and Broomall-native, has designs on squaring a circle with the shop: she wants Personally to reflect her own cultivated tastes, while maintaining a broad appeal.

"It's a high-end consignment boutique," she began, before correcting herself. "It started as a high-end consignment boutique, but there's a lot of college students around here, so I decided to mix it up."

The mix: Kazanjian carries brands like Gucci, Norma Kamali, Chanelle, Prada, Versace—"That's the high-end stuff," she adds (we'll take her word for it)—as well as more moderately priced lines from bebe, H&M, and BCBG.

"The prices go from like $10 to $500," she explained. "There's something for everybody. All ages."

Kazanjian buys the merchandise from customers, but admitted she has discriminating taste. 

"I go for fairly new stuff. Clothes with tags on them still. A lot of our clothes haven't been worn yet," she said.

And while there's no shortages of other consignment shops on the Main Line, each jockeying for the chicest stuff at least one person doesn't want, she says that's fine with her.

"There is actually a good amount of consignment shops around here," she admitted, "but I'm not trying to compete with them. I'm just trying to do my own thing."

Her own thing includes personal shopping and wardrobe consulting through the store. Kazanjian is also working on launching her own clothing and handbag line.

Fashion is a notoriously difficult business, but one thing's for certain: if Kazanjian struggles to sell jeans, the problem won't be her genes.

Personally by Ani.K is located at 22 Ardmore Avenue in Ardmore. You can contact the store at 484-412-8598, email them at Personallybyani,k@gmail.com, or find them on Facebook here.