When I stopped by to say hello to Debbie Gibbens, the proprietor of Libby's at 4742 McPherson, she said she had just renewed the lease on her CWE location for an additional five years. Libby's opened almost three years ago (see first post here) in the handsome space formerly occupied for many years by Bissinger's, now located on Maryland Plaza.
At one time Debbie and her husband lived on Westminster Place and then moved to St. Charles before locating to Eufaula, Oklahoma, the site of the original Libby's. A third store is located in Tulsa. Her strong attraction to beautiful buildings is the reason there's a Libby's in the Central West End. When she and her husband were in town for a wedding, sitting outside Llywelyn's having a beer, she spied the "for lease" sign in the window across the street. Before her husband knew what happened she had signed a lease and was ordering clothing for a Libby's in St. Louis.
Her employees, who seem to have just shown up at propitious times (she has never conducted an interview), all live in the neighborhood. Rose Sullivan was walking her dog by the store just before it opened, and stopped in to ask Debbie if there was anything she could do to help. Debbie asked if she knew how to operate a steamer. Rose didn't, but wound up steaming clothing for hours and has been on the sales staff ever since. For the past few years I assumed that neighbor Hannah Roth just liked hanging out at the shop (it is that kind of place) with her Japanese Chins, Miles and Ella. The day I visited Debbie I learned that she works there part-time.
Debbie goes to market in Dallas or Las Vegas six times a year to buy for her three shops. She looks for loose free-flowing clothing–without zippers–for women over 35 who are of average body size and want to dress with an artistic flair. Debbie buys differently for the CWE location than for her stores in Oklahoma, as people tend to dress up more in St. Louis. There are larger, dressier weddings here, more people attending graduations, and out-of-towners who come back every year to stock up on the latest fashions when they are in town for Cardinals games.
Dresses at Libby's are priced in the very reasonable $50 to $80 range. Debbie treats the sleeveless knit turquoise dress, $50, shown above, as a canvas over which to layer flowing tops, to dress it up or down for the occasion. The multi-colored knit "Adore" top, $176, shown with the dress in the photo above is one of the more expensive pieces in the store.
The open-weave jacket, right, shown over the same style dress as above but in black, is $68. It also comes in a soft grey.
The store stocks lots of cool-looking linen pieces for summer, as well as some unusual sandals. There is a also a large selection of costume jewelry in the display cases. The multi-strand necklace shown with the outfit right is $35.
Libby's carries eco-friendly gossamer-thin silk scarves that fly out of the store at $32, left.
Capri-length summer leggings with rhinestone buttons come in brown, grey, turquoise and white, $34. There is also a selection of full and half slips in black and white that are cleverly "2 or 3 lengths in 1," $20 to $30, i.e. you can actually cut them to the length that works for you.
Brightly colored form-fitting "jeggings," a cross between jeans and leggings come in sizes 4 to 14, $88. They can be worn with a long top for more coverage. These quickly sell out each time they are reordered. More sizes and colors are on the way.
A very snappy leather iPad or Kindle case, $52, right, makes me wish I had one or the other of those devices to slip inside.
Besides juggling three Libby's (named after one of her dog's) Debbie Gibbens runs an Italian restaurant, called The Stuffed Olive, located on a lake in Eufaula. Why a restaurant, and why call it The Stuffed Olive, I asked? Again, because she fell in love with the real estate—and her mother's an Olive. "It's really cute," Debbie said, "the former haberdashery is all cedar and in the summer the sailboats go by on the lake (the largest man-made lake in the U.S.)…it was hard to resist." We're just glad she found a space that was hard to resist right here in the CWE. It's great place to shop, fun to visit, and now, with five more years to look forward to, Libby's has become a fixture in the neighborhood!
Libby's, The Picasso of Women's Clothing, 4742 McPherson, Tues.- Sat. 11 to 6, Sun. 11 to 4, (314) 454-3003.