Folk brings attitude, style to Lynchburg's Fifth Street

The red brick building at 514 Fifth St. is more than a century old.

In a past life, it was a fire station. Later it was empty. Decay seeped through its ragged walls.

Enter Ali Hallock, 23, and Sarah Jean Simmons, 26, — friends and co-workers at Starlight Café. Instead of rot, they saw beauty. Instead of decay, they saw new life.
Slideshow: Fashion by Folk

Hallock and Simmons decided to rent the ground floor of 514 Fifth St. It is owned by Oliver Kuttner, a Charlottesville-based developer who owns property in Lynchburg and has been active in downtown revitalization efforts.

With the help of friends and family, Hallock and Simmons transformed the rundown space into Folk, a women’s clothing and accessories store with a progressive edge.

The store opened March 15 and sells everything from basic T-shirts to intricate dresses. Most of the clothes and accessories come from small, independent designers. All of it is fair-trade or made in the U.S.A.

“We want people to do responsible shopping and responsible thinking about what they’re buying and what they’re wearing,” Simmons says.

Behind the folk
The name came first. As an adjective, folk means “originating of or among the common people,” Simmons says.

The idea took off from there. Hallock and Simmons call themselves “regular girls” trying to launch a big dream on a small budget.

The owners are both transplants to Lynchburg. Hallock, a Liberty University graduate, moved here six years ago from Irvine, Calif. Simmons came to the city a year and half ago from Portland, Ore.

Expanding on the “folk” motif, Hallock and Simmons crafted the store’s own folklore. Part of the description on the store’s Web site says, “It’s about independent designers and unique personal style that has a story behind it . . . style that screams of adventure and tales told around fires . . . It’s about going downtown and making a city your city, finding fashion that moves you and making it your style. . . .”

The owners exude enthusiasm for fashion and the designers they chose to carry at Folk. They selected their designers in part for their stories.

Take TOMS Shoes, a California-based enterprise started by a young entrepreneur, Blake Mycoskie. TOMS was conceived by Mycoskie during a trip to South America in 2006. His canvas slip-ons are based on traditional Argentinean styles.

Hallock and Simmons chose TOMS, in part, because for every shoe sold in the store, a child in need receives a free pair.

Other designers at Folk include Velvet, James Jeans, Tea in the Woods, Loomstate, Valentine, perfectly imperfect, American Apparel and Scosha.

Like the clothing, the store’s interior is earthy and eclectic. It whispers a storied past.

The brick walls are rough and cracked in places. Vintage lamps dangle from the ceiling. The wood furniture, mostly from thrift and antique stores, has nicks and scratches.

“Rustic yet elegant,” Hallock says with a glimpse around the room.

The store is all about details, from the vase of fresh orchids by the register to a dreamy painting by Simmons behind the counter.

“It’s really personal to us,” Hallock says. “It’s literally going to be a second home.”

The 500 Block
Folk joins Peruvian restaurant Machu Picchu and Starlight Café on the 500 block of Fifth Street. The owners of all three businesses see themselves as pioneers.

“A huge dream of ours is for the downtown to be a place where young people are hanging out,” Simmons says. “We want to see that happen in a really organic way, through art and beauty and awareness.”

Machu Picchu has been open for a year this month. Owner Elsa Duran has no regrets about moving into the 500 block.

“I believe in the downtown,” Duran says.

Starlight opened in October 2006 and is owned Carri Sickmen. Sickmen, who grew up between Nelson County and Charlottesville, experienced the revitalization of downtown Charlottesville firsthand.

Seeing similar potential in Lynchburg, she bought the Starlight in July of last year.

“I could see the potential for a decaying urban area coming alive again, of us being kind of pioneers on the 500 block,” Sickmen says.

When Sickmen took over Starlight, she had to fight the perception among many Lynchburgers that the 500 block was unsafe.

“It is not a dangerous area anymore,” Sickmen says. “A lot of people from Lynchburg think that the area is very dangerous. It was about re-educating people about that area.”

Duran and Sickmen have been supportive of the effort to get Folk off the ground, offering advice to Hallock and Simmons throughout the process. They hope Folk will bring new business to the block.

Organic Evolution
The Folk venture has not come without risk. One of their main fears, Hallock says, is whether the pricier items will sell.

“We were really nervous before we opened,” Hallock says, “because we knew we were taking a risk for all kinds of reasons.”

In general, Folk’s merchandise is more expensive than what you’d find at a chain store. For Hallock and Simmons, the emphasis is on quality, eco-friendly materials and socially conscious business practices, rather than on selling the cheapest clothes possible.

Simmons and Hallock expect the store to evolve based on customer demand and feedback. They also hope to bring some local designers into the mix.

Carry Lemaster is one of those local designers. Lemaster has plans in the works to make bead earrings for Folk.

Lemaster, who works as a picture framer at Estate Specialists, lived in New York City for four years before moving to Lynchburg. To her, Folk evokes a big-city vibe, and she appreciates the store’s emphasis on fair-trade products. She already has bought a pair of cowboy boots.

“I like the ethos behind it,” Lemaster says. “I don’t shop at Wal-Mart. I won’t give them my business. It’s nice to have an alternative.”

Joyce Jackson, who works as the kitchen manager at Academy Café, considers herself a socially conscious shopper. She will pay more for clothing that she knows was not made with sweatshop labor.
“I think it’s entrepreneurial of them to have the guts to do something like this in Lynchburg,” Jackson says.

With the boutique less than a month old, much of Folk’s story has yet to be written.

Only time will tell how the folklore will end.