JACKSON — Wyo. Belle Cose announced new company name Belle Shops this week.
After coming to the epiphany that she did not want to become a lawyer in her first class of her second semester, Jane Carter Getz withdrew from law school. A month later, she was in Jackson Hole. She worked various retail jobs at Teton Village Sports, Teton Pines Country Club and the Ralph Lauren Polo Outlet. Two years later, in the summer of 1994, she opened her first retail shop, Good Goods.
In 1999, Carter Getz purchased the VandeWater business on the Town Square and with the sale was required to change the store name.
“Since we were already operating a store a block away under Good Goods, and felt that VandeWater’s carried more upscale lines than Good Goods, we didn’t want to use the same name. So Belle Cose was born in 2000,” she explained.
At that point, the retail location was one level and carried tabletop, gifts and kitchenware. In 2013, Belle Cose added a staircase and opened up the former basement and it became the now dedicated kitchen store. That’s also when Belle Cose introduced selling fine jewelry.
She started with four staff. Now, her staff tops 50 members.
The Belle Cose brand is now made up of 13 locations with stores in six locations in Teton County, including the Final Call outlet, two locations in Vero Beach, Florida, two in Carmel-by-the-sea, California and one in Big Sky, Montana. The thirteenth location, in Bozeman, opens this summer.
“Our tagline is ‘Live life beautifully,’ and I think that is our hallmark and what we strive to deliver both in merchandise and service,” the owner said. Carter Getz said she has more than tripled the number of lines in the years since becoming Belle Cose and are exclusive with close to 75% of their vendors.She’s always on the lookout for new brands that she believes her customers would love.
She didn’t think, however, that she would have to be on the lookout for a new name as well.
“In 2022, we were sued by another store that had a similar name. Their store name was not spelled the same as Belle Cose, but their claim was that the names were similar enough as to cause consumer confusion,” Carter Getz explained to Buckrail.
“We did not carry the same vendors and their store was markedly different from our locations, so we elected to fight their suit. After years of back and forth, we met with an arbitration judge in the state where the store is located and reached a settlement.”
Part of that settlement was to change all of the store names. While Carter Getz still feels that the reasoning was flawed behind the suit, the company no longer wanted to keep fighting and “focusing time, energy and funds in a direction that did not benefit the store.”
So as of May 13, 2024, Belle Cose is now Belle Shops.
“Finding a name is so much more difficult than it was in 1999. You have to find something that works as a domain name, is not taken for trademark and also has social media aspects available. And it was important for us to keep Belle as the first part of the name versus a total rebrand,” she said.
Carter Getz said she has worked hard with her team for over 25 years to build the brand and wanted the change to be understandable to our customers.
“I liked the idea of Shops as the second name as we do have a dozen locations or individual shops. Plus, shops is not just a noun but can be a verb, like ‘Belle shops Jackson Hole.’ I liked that secondary usage as well,” she added.
Last week the name change was celebrated with a large sale at the Town Square location before the rebrand transitioned online and social media. Over the next 45 days, Carter Getz said Belle Shops will roll out new signage and packaging.
“Once that is done, we will have another celebration so stay tuned for that. Live Life Beautifully is still our motto and featured prominently in our rebrand. The famous black and white striped paper is staying!”
