Happy Birthday, VITA! The women’s athletic casual boutique nestled between TechLab Photo and the recently opened martial arts studio in Belvedere Square is celebrating one year of business with the Charm City Run family.
VITA: the vision starts to come to life.
“It seems like yesterday we were rushing to get the doors open and hoping the vision would come together,” says store owner Marie Bolton. This vision began when Marie took a trip to Bend, Oregon in the summer of 2014 and stumbled across a local athletic store that was owned by a nearby running store. She immediately began to think about filling the same need for women looking for athletic leisure wear in the Baltimore area.
When Marie shared her thoughts a few weeks later, Charm City Run store owner Kara Levinson revealed that she had pocketed a similar idea a few years back. “It was kind of an ‘ah ha’ moment for both of us. The timing was right and the rest is history,” Marie says.
Prepping VITA for opening weekend in 2015.
The plan for VITA continued to evolve with the development of its name. After brainstorming a couple of options, “we knew it was the right name the second we said it.” When the definition of the word matched her vision for the store, Marie knew that it was meant to be. Vita means “life or the happy life. Vita is an amazing mother, beautiful, intelligent, sexy and fun person that you can't help but want to be around all the time.”
Although VITA has now evolved greatly from the initial idea to fill a need and a perfect name, the purpose of the store has remained true to its roots. “We really wanted it to be about the local community and supporting people to be active. I think we are headed in the right direction,” Marie says.
The store has joined forces with numerous community partners over the course of its first year in order to offer unique events to customers and build a presence in the area. Marie shares that working with the local community partners has been the most rewarding part of VITA’s first year. She explains, “Belvedere Square, local businesses and the fitness community have been amazing. Everyone has been super supportive and really just wants to see everyone succeed.”
One of many yoga classes hosted outside of VITA's doors on the square.
Help VITA celebrate its success by participating in the birthday activities held at the store this weekend. On Saturday, August 6, enjoy a 3-5 mile fun run followed by a CX Works class and on Sunday, August 7, roll out your mat for yoga outside on the square. After the events, shop birthday sales while enjoying breakfast samples. Click here for more information about VITA’s birthday weekend.
Congratulations, Marie and the entire VITA team on a successful first year! We are excited to continue to find unique athletic leisure wear looks and attend community events at VITA in the years to come.
About the Author: Lizzy Peper
Lizzy is the Marketing Coordinator for Charm City Run. She has also worked as a Sales Associate in the Timonium store since 2014. Lizzy ran competitively as a member of the cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field teams at Towson High School and Marist College. She co-captained the Marist women's cross country team in 2015 and graduated in 2016 with a degree in Communication and a concentration in Public Relations.
