Athens Boutique with $7M in Sales Lands $600,000 on Shark Tank

Funding update: On the show (which aired last Friday) investors Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec agreed to pay $1.2 million for a 20 percent stake in Athens-based retailer, the Red Dress Boutique. The terms of the deal changed after the show was taped in 2013, and Cuban ended up investing $600,000 for 15 percent of the company.

The scoop on the company:

  • The owner, Diana Harbour, said she created the boutique to escape a dead-end cubicle job. She found that there was a niche for Southern style under $50.
  • The business has grown from $70,000 in sales to $7 million. Ninety-three percent of the growth is attributed to the online boutique.
  • May of this year was the company’s first month of more than $1 million in sales.
  • They have a Facebook fan base of 1.2 million. Diana was one of the first business owners to set her company up with a page. Facebook shut her down three times before they lifted the ban on businesses participating in 2007.
  • This year Diana opened a West Coast office in Los Angeles, where she spends time buying and collaborating with designers.

Watch a sneak peek:

 Read more:
Fast Company 
WSB-TV
Online Athens

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