Like many other young girls, Judy Sapol spent her younger
years playing with dolls, pretending to be a fashion designer and dreaming
about becoming a nurse when she grew up.

She followed her nursing dream for 40 years, but now she’s
returned to the other dream of being involved in fashion. To that end, Sapol
opened Sophisticated Ladies, what she terms an, “upscale” consignment boutique.

The shop is on Station Way Road in Chadds Ford, behind the
Cattie Shack and across from Leader’s Sunoco, the site of a former tack shop,
frame shop and glass blower’s studio.

“These are all name brand designer clothes,” Sapol said. But
the prices are drastically reduced. She pointed to a pair of slacks that
originally sold for  $200. She was
selling them for $28. There was also a jacket that she was selling for  $126, but that originally sold for  $500.

All the clothes brought in for sale must be in good
condition and be cleaned, she said. A price is decided upon with Sapol and the
seller splitting the sale price 50/50.

Shop hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
and Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m on Thursday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. For
the holiday season the store will also be open Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday hours begin Nov. 15.

Sophisticated Ladies has been open since Oct. 11, and Sapol
plans a formal grand opening Dec. 5, with wine and cheese from 1-4 p.m. and a
men’s only night on Dec. 9 from 5-9 p.m.

“Those people coming in for the grand opening can make a
wish list. Then the husbands and friends can come in with that wish list, Sapol
said.

There will also be wine and cheese served during men’s
night, she added.

The boutique is not Sapol’s first business venture. As a
nurse she owned a home care agency in Philadelphia, sold that and then opened a
medical staffing company in southern New Jersey.

“I always said I was going to get out of health care and I
was going to have fun. I’m going to open a boutique; that’s what I’m going to
do,” she said.

She retired from healthcare in December 2008 but, as she
said, after six months of retirement she couldn’t take it. She then rekindled
her love of clothes and fashion and went to work looking for a place to let the
little girl in her have her way.

“It was my dream to have a place
where I could have fun with clothes because I’ve always been a clothes horse.