For many people, the adage of not mixing business with family is more like a law than a suggestion. For Ellen and Joan Shepp, a Jewish mother and daughter team who run the titular store named after the elder Joan, that rule is one that was and is meant to be broken.
Joan Shepp was founded by its namesake in 1971. It has been housed in a few locations in the area, but announced last month that it is returning to Rittenhouse Square, where it was previously located from 1999 to 2014. Its new location will open in the beginning of September.
Ellen Shepp joined the business in 1984. She said she didn’t originally think she would follow in her mothers’ footsteps, but that working with her has been a blessing beyond belief.
“I hit the jackpot. She is one of the most creative, fun, energetic women. I was literally raised by somebody who was so enthusiastic about everything they did. So when she jumped in this business, it was out of true passion,” Ellen said. “I watched the whole thing, and I saw it grow and blossom, and I saw how people [came] like a magnet to the store, and how she built this community.”
The team at Joan Shepp will spend August preparing the new space, placing racks and hanging clothes. The new storefront at 1905 Walnut Street has needed a lot of love before those steps can even occur, as it is a unit that has been empty for a long time. For most of the past century, Shepp said, it’s been unused.
“I believe there was a business there back in the day, but nobody seems to remember what it was. There were a couple of pop-ups there, but just in the front of the store,” she said.
“It’s a very curious space, because it’s been shut off. There was a lot of construction and renovations [needed]. Really, it was a shell, and they’ve made it beautiful.”
While Joan Shepp will miss their longtime home at 1811 Chestnut Street, they are excited for something new. Ellen Shepp described their last home and its location as “a gift” and said it created high standards for what they wanted next.
“Our lease of 11 years was coming due this past June, and so a year ago, we started discussing and thinking about the excitement of something new. But also, where would we ever move Joan Shepp to? It couldn’t be like a small spot on a side street,” she said.
For Ellen, the store, regardless of where in Philly it’s located, does more than sell clothes. The clothes are, in part, a vehicle for community and confidence. She said she has seen people come into Joan Shepp one way and leave another way.
“Everybody has this common thread of loving fashion and style, or if nothing else, just feeling good in your own skin, which means feeling good in your clothes,” she said. “I watched how that changed people who walked in and who didn’t feel great about themselves, and they left laughing because they had this great experience.”
The boutique, which has been featured in magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar and boasts Instagram followers like the late head of Louis Vuitton menswear, Virgil Abloh, and respected Jewish fashion pundit Mordechai “Mr. Mort” Rubinstein, prides itself on being a community gathering place as much as it is a business.
They host events and parties, and they donate to organizations that are both Jewish and not. Jewish Federation’s Women’s Philanthropy, FamilyMatters JAFCO and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia are a few.
“Since my mother opened this store, we have had a lot of events. It’s a part of this community that we’ve built of everyone — of all different ages and backgrounds,” Ellen said. “Every event, we give a percentage of sales to different organizations. I keep going back to community, because it is kind of the thread that follows through all of us.”
While the store doesn’t sell Judaica or have a Star of David in its logo, the Shepps are proud to be Jewish. Shepp said that while nobody has explicitly told her that they, as a Jew, appreciate buying their favorite clothes from another Jew, that dynamic can be felt.
“There’s definitely a very clear support,” she said. “We’re supported by a lot of Jewish women. For all different reasons, we’re a family. We really care about the Jewish community.”
The dynamic of women supporting women can also be felt.
“It’s a clear support of women and the Jewish community,” Shepp said. “It’s a really warm and fuzzy feeling.”
While Joan Shepp carries mostly women’s clothes, it has always had a small men’s selection, and, as Ellen Shepp said, those gender lines are becoming less stringent in the world of fashion. Now more than ever, brands are producing unisex pieces and customers are looking for something they like regardless of what gender it’s tagged for, if it’s tagged for one at all.
“I have women who like to wear menswear, and I have men who like to wear women’s, whether it’s feminine or masculine,” she said. “The divide isn’t very clear at all anymore. Like, I’m not wearing a white and yellow polka dot dress. I love black; I love suiting. It’s so blurred.”
While Ellen Shepp is sad to see their tenure on Chestnut Street come to an end, this new location is kismet in a way. A customer and friend of Joan Shepp planted the seed, and the flower blossomed from there.
“[She] said there was space on Walnut Street that was the annex of the Rittenhouse Plaza. She said, ‘You should go look at it,’ and I said, ‘That’s really funny, because Mom and I looked at it 12 years ago when we were in search of a new spot,” Ellen said. “I went and looked at it, and that was the end. I was like, ‘I want this, let’s make it happen.’”