Sometimes to keep dancing, you need to pivot.
That’s what Ginger and Scott Knapp have done with their Rochester store at 1624 US 52 North in the Hillcrest Shopping Center.
They have revamped and renamed their Blades to Ballet store to become Ama La Vita with a focus on women’s fashion as well as continuing to sell ballet and figure skating gear.
Ginger Knapp explained that they had added fashion wear to the store in 2018. While closed during the early days of the pandemic, they found that fashion clothing was outselling their core products online.
"The name Blades to Ballet was limiting our ability to sell women’s fashion, so we changed it," she said. "And we also did a complete remodel of the store during that time. A lot of pivoting.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Ama La Vita hosted a grand opening under the new name to show off the new look last weekend. In addition to Ginger Knapp, the store has a team of three employees on staff and is currently looking to hire an additional worker.
While ballet and skating outfits will remain on the shelves as part of the store’s offerings, Knapp added that the store is selling out of all of its gymnastic gear to keep the focus on fashion, dance and skating.
The previous store name was self-explanatory. Why change it to Ama La Vita?
“It means ‘Love Life’ in Italian,” said Knapp. “It's because my parents taught me to embrace life to go and enjoy it … to do those spur-of-the-moment things instead of just sitting there watching things go by.”
The Knapps acquired the store from Cris Fischer , who started the store, in 2008.
ADVERTISEMENT
