I’ve been buying lingerie for women for over 25 years, so when I met up with my friend Shaw Lewis at her intimates shop on Main Street in Manayunk, I was entirely in my element. Shaw opened Expect Lace six-and-a-half years ago. She recently opened Gild + Olive, an elegant concept shop that offers jewelry custom design, piercing and tattoos that’s a couple blocks away.
Expect Lace is known for its European designers, bespoke collections — and bra fittings. “We carry sizes 30A to 42J,” Shaw says, “You can’t go to a department store and get that kind of service anymore … Client services is everything to us.”
Shaw grew up in Germantown — “a Philly girl, all the way” — graduated from Slippery Rock University with a degree in public relations and marketing, and worked in retail and retail development, helping companies with strong online presences go brick-and-mortar. Now, she’s a first-generation entrepreneur.
Manayunk has been through a lot of changes. A couple decades ago, Main Street had some of Philly’s best restaurants and shops and high-end chain stores — Banana Republic, Restoration Hardware. The clientele was majority European descent. To me, Shaw being here represents resilience. She often has her nieces helping her out and hires interns who want to learn the business hands-on.
A Philly girl, all the way
“My girls get a chance to see that it’s not easy, but see that I don’t give up,” Shaw says, “They know that it’s not a cake walk. They know you can’t say, I’m just gonna start this business and I’m gonna make a million dollars in one week. They see me sacrifice things. My nieces see their aunt’s not going to Neiman’s every week.”
As an entrepreneur myself, I know: It’s climbing a mountain every day.
To people like Shaw and me, it’s worth it, though. “We really take pride in what we do. We make sure women are comfortable shopping with us. Men, too. There’s men who never shopped for lingerie for their partner. We make sure they’re comfortable. We educate them on how garments should fit,” she says.
That’s another thing we have in common. I’ve helped men friends shop for lingerie for their ladies. I think it’s a chest-out thing. You can easily go buy sneakers. Buy your lady a nice bra and some sexy panties … That’s something special.
West Philly born and raised with a slosh of Brooklyn, New York in between, Big Rube partnered with Mitchell & Ness in 2000 to help make it a global brand marketing and selling high-end vintage jerseys. He has been photographing Philly since 2009, including in a Daily News Column from 2011 to 2017. He’s also a chef, operating Chef Big Rube’s Kitchen seven days a week at Pitcher’s Pub in Manayunk, selling the best handmade food in a Main Street dive bar.
