by Karen Brune Mathis
Managing Editor
Gunnel Humphreys and business partner Tom McCleery remain on the cutting edge of retail at their 5 Points store, which has re-sharpened its focus for more than three decades on changing trends, from hippie to disco to punk to whatever defines “young contemporary.”
Having opened Edge City 35 years ago, Humphreys and McCleery have been a constant in the heart of an area that attracts teenagers and baby boomers alike.
Some of the boomers were teenagers when Edge City opened and still visit for its clothes, accessories and atmosphere.
Customers also visit to see Humphreys, who moved to the states from Sweden and still doesn’t drive. She walks, bikes or takes a cab or a bus if necessary. She leads weekend 60-mile bike rides and has actually cycled to the symphony.
A graphic artist, Humphreys trains her eye on making Edge City a bright, energetic and comfortable “living room” type of store.
Edge City is open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday at 1017 Park St. Her customer base is women from their teens to their 30s, although the apparel appeals to all age groups.
“I wear everything that I sell, obviously,” she said. “What’s most rewarding is if I sell what I wear to a teenager, that’s really awesome.”
Asked her advice for retail survival, she provides a simple but challenging response: “You try to see what works.”
It’s a constant process of weeding out and reading the market. “You always are going to make some mistakes,” she said. “You have to search for your identity all the time.”
Edge City opened in 1968 and was a head shop, selling pipes, cigarette papers, incense and so on, and Humphreys and McCleery kept it as such for a while before evolving with the times. “If you’re a retail store, you have to change,” she said.
Jewelry and bags are popular, and her lines of clothing are chosen with her graphic eye trained on the designer’s offerings.
“I’m an artist. I’m not a business person really,” said Humphreys, although she knows very well how the economy changed the way retailers do business. Adjustments in price points and inventory sales, like the half-off-everything promotion she instituted to generate cash flow, are necessary.
She grew up in the textile industry, working since she was 14 in Sweden and Germany, doing window displays for a clothing manufacturer and working with mail-order clothing catalogs. She also worked as a graphic artist at the Florida Times-Union in the early 1970s, using old-style tools like X-ACTO knives and Rapidograf pens.
“You could actually spill coffee on your artwork and ruin it,” she said.
Humphreys said she “battles” with merchandise displays and rearranging as inventory arrives, but summarized the efforts, reflecting decades of experience.
“It works.”
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