Store owner helps people dress for happiness

Megan Szanik, owner of Espy Experience in Calgary

Website: espyexperience.com

Instagram: @espyexperience

Months of isolation along with unhealthy coping mechanisms have caused many to struggle. So Megan Szanik, owner of clothing store Espy Experience, wanted to offer some light. She used her store’s social media to encourage self-love, and began to offer virtual consultations to help customers find the right fit for their bodies. Her renewed mission? Help customers feel good about themselves like never before.

“When we can help transform somebody from feeling so low and they finally see themselves the way you see them, it’s absolutely perfect. We don’t need to change how we look, we need to change how we see it.” – Megan Szanik, owner of Espy Experience.

As the saying goes, ‘Clothes Make the Man (or Woman)’. How we dress each day influences how others see us, but it also affects how we see ourselves. With COVID-19 keeping us home, many people are finding it hard to dress up like they used to. This concerned Megan Szanik, who owns retail clothing store Espy Experience. She specializes in body-type styling and exists to help people feel confident in their clothes. So when she had to close down her store in response to the pandemic, Szanik knew she had to help her customers feel better about themselves through their fashion.

Rather than just sell clothes on her website, she decided to move her styling consultation services online. Szanik wanted to make sure her belief in human connection could still be maintained. Her team created capsule wardrobes for customers based on their preferences, styles and body types, and tried to make every interaction as personal as it would be in store. She also decided to amp up her store’s social presence. Rather than using it to push sales, she’s been posting messages of self-love and acceptance. Szanik wanted to remind her customers that it doesn’t matter what’s happened to your body during isolation, it’s still beautiful and worth loving.

She’s happy to have found new ways to virtually boost people’s confidence, but misses the in-person experience. “It’s the human connections that we miss the most. Watching their eyes light up when they see how great they look in an outfit, and how confident we’ve helped make them feel.”

While working on the plan for her store’s upcoming reopening, she leveraged some of her learnings over the past few months to ensure her team’s well-being. For example, she’s now giving her employee’s every Sunday off to spend time with their family. “I think there are so many beautiful lessons that we can take away from this. We should slow down and realize that not everything needs to come at once. We also need to remember rich experiences and how important they are to us being human.”

To support Megan Szanik, Calgarians can visit the Espy Experience website and book a fashion consultation.

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