Women's Special Occasion Dress Boutique Opens in Port Washington

Petra, a special occassion dress boutique on Port Washington Boulevard, is now open for business. 

The shop's owner, Cassandra Rock, named the store "Petra" because it means "rock" in Latin.

A true bootstrapper, Rock did a lot of the preparation work herself before the shop's October grand opening.  

“A final product was delivered about three and a half weeks ago or so and then we painted and laid the floors and went from there,” Rock said.

Walking through the front door, visitors are greeted with a woodsy scent. The floors are a dark brown and black wood, complementing the black showcases on each of the store that hold neatly hanging designer dresses. Between the showcases are the dressing rooms, adorned by a black and white floral curtain, black chair, hanger and mirror inside. The store also features two crystal chandeliers that shine light on the small tables holding evening jewelry and handbags.

“I always wanted to have a store – it’s been something that I always thought about, but previous to this I worked for Lord and Taylor,” Rock said, who originally thought she wanted to be a doctor and studied pre-med in college. “I was a merchant there, so I went through their executive training program and then I went up the ranks.”

Rock was first an assistant planner, then an assistant buyer and worked with special occasion dresses for the last four years. Her relationship with various vendors eased the transition to go out on her own.

“To have had a relationship with [the vendors] I think helps me, which is also good for customers because when they come in here and I only have a few sizes I can pick up my phone and dial somebody on their cell phone because I know them pretty well,” Rock said. “I can get the size that you need, or I can see if they have the color that you want or whatever.”

Petra offers high-end dresses and evening separates, like dressy sweaters and suits.

“In the springtime I’ll do more daytime dresses, but they’ll still be like day-to-dinner and I just know that occasions in the spring tend to be a little less fancy…so I’ll do more cotton dresses and things like that, but it’ll always be of this caliber,” Rock said, who said she is actually a casual, jeans-wearing  girl at heart.

Rock visits New York designer showrooms and trade shows to find her merchandise and is always looking online for new resources.

“I hope for big things,” Rock said. “I hope to be successful and to really build a clientele who comes in and tells me, ‘this is the size I wear, this is the color I’m looking for, this is my occasion, and can you find the right thing for me.’”

So far, so good. Petra opened on Oct. 24, and Rock said she has been averaging 10 customers per day and made some sales.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a come-in-the-door and shop-off-the-rack business, so I really hope that people start to trust me,” Rock said. “I have these clothes and I hope people love them and find what they like here, but I also hope that I can go the extra step and do the personal shopping step if they need that.”

Petra will be open seven days a week, from 10:30 AM to 6:30 PM until Rock figures out which days and time generate the most foot traffic.

“I’ve done some sales, we’ve had a bunch of customers buy things already, just people that come in off the street, so it’s been good,” Rock said.  

To learn more about Petra, visit shoppetra.com.