You have been cordially invited to … Gay Phillips scans an invitation that was delivered to her, though her name is nowhere on it. Phillips owns Coco’s Corner, an upscale consignment boutique in Greensboro that carries quality brands, stylish outfits, and timeless accessories. And some of her regular customers look to Phillips for a dress when they need to impress.

Longtime customer and local real estate agent Susan Purgason picks up sharp work wear for showings and meetings, but when planning for a big event, she brings her invitations straight to Phillips. Throughout her decades working in fashion around the Triad area, Phillips has dressed shoppers for weddings, cocktail parties, galas, and anything else fabulous Southern women are asked to attend.

Though the shelves and displays at Coco’s Corner are full of designer and high-end pieces, the most glamorous part of this boutique is its owner, Gay Phillips. photograph by Stacey Van Berkel

To help her clients, Phillips starts by combing through her ever-evolving racks of clothing. Filled with athletic wear, casual pieces, silk blouses, evening gowns, designer handbags, and fur shawls, the shop could be mistaken for the closet of some well-traveled mystery woman.

To find the perfect ensemble, she considers the woman before her. Measurements are factored in, of course, but Phillips goes further than that.

“I know what size my regulars wear. I know what they like. I know what’s going to look good on them,” she says.

This is where Phillips shines. She’s not just selling garments — she’s dressing women for the lives they live. Better yet, she’s dressing them in pieces that she believes in, that she hand-selects from consignors who trust Phillips to sell their clothes. Short of turning a pumpkin into a carriage, she’s helped countless women feel like the belle of the ball.

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Before she became fairy godmother to the women of Greensboro, Phillips started her fashion career at UNCG as a clothing and textile student. She loved retail and hoped to one day open her own store.

With help from her mother — a talented seamstress who lent a hand with sewing — she graduated and set her sights on a career. Phillips landed her first job as a saleswoman for The Limited, which was then the country’s largest women’s retailer. The gig was, she says, a learning experience. “[Corporate] would come in with a store plan down to every piece of the outfit on display,” Phillips recalls. “They wanted every store to look the same. There was no creativity whatsoever.”

She left The Limited and went to work for Jones Furs, a popular Triad-area furrier, where she spent the next 10 years running their Winston-Salem salon. She had a knack for sales and an eye for style, but what set Phillips apart was her ability to build relationships with her clients. “When she worked at Jones Furs, [their customers] trusted her so much that they gave her their credit cards,” says Gary, Phillips’s husband of 24 years.

When customers approach the register at Coco’s, they’re greeted by a mannequin usually outfitted in formal wear, like this magenta ruffle-sleeved Alexander by Daymor dress. photograph by Stacey Van Berkel

When Phillips moved to Nitsa’s Apparel, a former high-end women’s boutique in Winston-Salem, many of her future consignors followed. As she helped women dress for shows, weddings, and other special occasions, she noticed something: “These people were buying all of this stuff and wearing it one time!” Phillips says. “They were wearing it to a cocktail party in Winston-Salem, and they wouldn’t be seen twice in the same outfit.”

Phillips knew the clothing she sold deserved a better story than one night in the spotlight, followed by a lifetime buried in the back of a closet. Her clients agreed. Soon, they began giving her their clothes to keep in the hopes that, one day, she would sell them and return some of the sale back to the owners.

The clothes that Phillips collected shone with potential under the lights of her store.

“I didn’t even know if I was going to do it,” she says of opening her own shop, “but [my clients] would say, ‘You’re going to make it. Let me help you.’” Phillips’s home filled with garments waiting for their second chance, and in 2003, she opened Coco’s Corner in Greensboro. “I’m grateful, looking back, that they were willing to trust me,” she says. “What if I didn’t open my store? I had their stuff! It was literally on rolling racks in my living room.”

Although they were no longer of use to the women who owned them, the clothes that Phillips had collected looked different under the lights of her store. Each garment shone bright with potential and carried stories of glamorous evenings on the town. Standing together, they became a collection that couldn’t be replicated.

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Phillips pops a mannequin’s leopard-print collar, her gold hoops swaying as she adjusts the display outfit across from the dressing rooms at Coco’s. She’s layered a cream sweater vest on top and sports a pair of black designer jeans with frayed hems below. A neutral look like this might be enough for some, but not for Phillips. She drapes a neon green puffer coat overtop, an unexpected frame that perfectly balances the ensemble.

Among her inventory, these carefully curated outfits serve as inspiration for shoppers and as a testament to Phillips’s expert eye. “Our displays sell,” she says. “[Customers] know if they buy that outfit, that’s not going to be seen anywhere else.”

As shoppers browse the displays, they never have to balance hangers or merchandise in their hands. Phillips and her staff take prospective purchases to the dressing rooms. Then, they’ll help tie, zip, smooth, or style selections for them.

Coco’s Corner welcomes spring with pastel accents and cheerful ensembles. photograph by Stacey Van Berkel

This level of attentive service has built her a following of longtime customers like Purgason, who first came into Coco’s 10 years ago looking for an outfit to wear to her daughter’s wedding. Phillips pointed her to a silk blue dress and sparkly pumps — pre-worn-in, like Purgason prefers — and ever since, she’s visited the shop regularly for Phillips’s expertise.

“It really harks back to my growing up, when you had salespeople who were knowledgeable, and they were really trying to help you curate a look,” Purgason says. “They would come into the dressing room with you and help you zip up and make sure that you didn’t get your lipstick on [the clothes]. They were careful, they were respectful, and they cared about what it looked like on you.”

Among the shoe racks, you’ll find names like Manolo Blahnik, Chanel, and more. photograph by Stacey Van Berkel

There’s a growing community of women who feel disenchanted with modern retail. Shopping was once an event: You dressed and headed into town. You went into a boutique where the saleswomen treated you like a celebrity. There was oohing and there was certainly aahing. Maybe there was even a glass of champagne to celebrate the experience. There was a sense of glamour that some worry has been lost, along with the quality of clothing and service that they once enjoyed.

“People often say to me, ‘They don’t make clothes like they used to,’ or [that they] don’t like anything in the stores,” Phillips says. “Personal service and personal styling in here is what’s made us last.”

Coco’s Corner — and Phillips herself — is the retail antidote that these women have hoped for. “She’s going to do whatever she can so that when you walk out of here, you feel good about yourself,” Purgason says.

Phillips built Coco’s on the relationships she forged while making women feel catered to and beautiful. This is why, in the more than two decades since its opening, Coco’s has become a beloved Greensboro institution. Along with their outfits, Coco’s and Phillips are one of a kind.

Coco’s Corner
2925-B Battleground Avenue
Greensboro, NC 27408
(336) 288-8208
cocoscorner.net