3 Daughters and a Mom Boutique Closes Its Doors Forever

Longtime Stow resident Diane Fritz recently made the difficult – and sad – decision to close the doors of her business, 3 Daughters and a Mom Boutique.

It was a good run for the Graham Road store that featured unusual fashion jewelry, handbags and gift items, but the depressed economy finally did it in.

“We have spent nearly five years trying to make 3 Daughters and a Mom Boutique a sustainable business. Despite the fact that you have voted us ‘Best Boutique’ three times in the last year or so, sadly our business levels are too low to enable us to continue beyond this point,” Fritz wrote in an online “letter” to her customers.

Those “Best Boutique” awards were bestowed upon the shop for two years running by Akron Life magazine and once by Fox8 Akron-Canton Hot List voters.

Fritz, a 26-year Stow resident, said this week that it’s the loyal customers she’ll miss most about running the shop at the Crossroads at Fishcreek plaza.

“My customers were the perfect customers. They supported me in everything we did and they just were great fun. I couldn’t go a day without a customer coming in and saying, ‘This is the perfect shop. I love coming in here,’” she said.

While the Fritz daughters – Stow residents Lisa Knight, Melissa Musgrave and Katie Fritz – got billing in the boutique name, it was Diane Fritz and husband, David, who co-owned the business.

“We’re just kind of laying low right now,” Fritz said of her post-boutique life. “There are some things in the works, but nothing definite that I’d like to announce right now.”

Fritz will continue selling the Miche handbags offered at the boutique for the past couple years (it was the only Miche retail store in the Stow area) through her personal website.

And, eventually, Fritz said she’ll be able to drive past the plaza her store was in without feeling regret.

“Closing was really hard. I didn’t go in the store when it was empty, so I can still picture it as it was. Stupid economy,” she lamented.