Last month, Ie’lana Qualls opened a thrift collective in Clintonville. Located at 12 W. Pacemont Rd., Pretty Dope and Darling offers a unique shopping experience for both women and young girls. A Columbus local who has been thrifting and bargain hunting her whole life, Qualls is ready to share her expertise with her customers.
Within her thrift collective, Qualls has put her thrifting skills to use in creating specific and unique collections to offer her customers. From “Structured Sophistication” to “Sheer Passion” to “Leather + Lace,” each collection is grouped to provide a different kind of shopping experience. The space also carries collections for young girls, a few being “Denim Diva,” “Have Some Phun,” and “Prim & Proper.” The wide age range of collections allows mothers and daughters to enjoy shopping together without having to go to multiple stores to find age-appropriate clothing. Each collection also runs in sizes from 0-4x for women and newborn-12yr for girls. Qualls also carries complementing accessories in her shop.
Pretty Dope and Darling was born out of Quall’s desire not only to present her best self to the world, but to empower other women to do the same. She is passionate about helping women of all ages to feel confident about how they look. Her goal with Pretty Dope and Darling is not only to provide excellent fashion and customer service, but also to help her female customers build up their own self image.
Pretty Dope and Darling does not have regular open hours. Instead, Qualls sets appointments to work with each customer individually to help them achieve their own perfect look. This VIP shopping experience helps Qualls build rapport and cultivate a relationship to better serve her customers.
Qualls stocks both new and secondhand items, gathering the most unique pieces she can find to curate her collections. She hopes in the future to be able to accept donations for items, but she currently has limited space for accepting unsolicited donations. She also plans to be more involved in the community, giving back to the Clintonville neighborhood that has welcomed her into their retail community.
For more information, follow Pretty Dope and Darling on social media @prettydopeanddarling.
