Odyssey has been providing fashion to Fernie women for 14 years. An essential part of the downtown shopping district, the store offers a wide range of clothing for a wide range of women.
Owner, Yvonne Molle, describes Odyssey as a casual, career, and special occasion clothing store. From career clothing and outerwear, to weekend outfits and a variety of dresses, there’s something for almost every occasion. “We sell a lot of dresses through the summer and throughout the season,” commented Molle. “The lifestyle in Fernie doesn’t maybe always dictate dresses, but women love wearing them and men love seeing women in dresses.”
And it’s not just all about the clothing. “We carry a large range of accessories, from belts, scarves, hats, purses, jewellery, just fun accessories from season to season,” Molle said. “There’s always something novel that’s on the marketplace that we try to bring in. That’s just an ongoing thing with accessories, they’re fun to sell, people that are just totally browsing can grab something if they’re not into trying on that day, they love their accessories.”
After moving to Fernie with her husband years ago, Molle noticed there wasn’t much shopping in town available specifically for women. She explained, “I was working as an optician before [coming to Fernie] and needed to do something, and really saw a void in the community as far as ladies clothing went.”
Odyssey opened in September of 1998, and is now entering its fourteenth year in business, and still going strong. “It’s been a good run,” Molle remarked. “There have been ups and downs. The struggle now is the dollar and cross-border shopping. So there’s always something around the corner that you have to be adjusting to and dealing with, but for the most part, it’s been really good.”
She added, “I think you’re always evolving, you’re always trying to read the customer. There’s always those little hiccups along the way where you have to make adjustments.”
What keeps not only the store going, but Molle herself, is helping out her customers. “The service side of things I really like. There’s quite a bit of satisfaction that comes with helping people,” she said. “We have a lot of fun with what we’re doing, and really try to give good service.”