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‘I’d stare at the waves dreaming of fashion’: Boho Beach builds a Jersey Shore empire

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‘I’d stare at the waves dreaming of fashion’: Boho Beach builds a Jersey Shore empire

Six-minute read

Susan Bloom
 |  Special to the Asbury Park Press

TOMS RIVER – Growing up in the Forked River section of Lacey, Gina La Morte loved both the beach and fashion apparel.

And in 2020, she successfully combined those two passions by launching Boho Beach, a retail shop with locations in the Ocean County Mall in Toms River, Long Beach Island and Sea Girt that provides comfy and cozy beach fashions and home décor for those who love the beach lifestyle.

As a kid, “I surfed and was in the water my whole life, but I’d stare at the waves dreaming of fashion,” said La Morte, an Ocean County resident whose first job involved working at the Gap at the Ocean County Mall when she was 16.

Following high school, she attended New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology with a goal of styling models and celebrities for magazines, TV and runways. After graduation, she successfully worked her way up to the position of East Coast Fashion Stylist for Nordstrom and collaborated with the likes of Betsy Johnson, Zac Posen, Dolce & Gabbana and other major luxury designers for spreads in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and many other print and broadcast media.

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“In 2008, I opened my own styling company and that’s when my career really took off,” said La Morte, who became a celebrity stylist for People Magazine, traveled the world styling for major TV networks, publications such as O the Oprah Magazine, and celebrities like Katy Perry, walked the red carpet at the Academy Awards, and worked at live events with major retailers helping to translate celebrity styles to everyday people.

From 2008 to 2013, La Morte also published her own sustainable fashion magazine called Boho, which won Aveda’s Award for the Best New Magazine of the Year, was sold in major retail outlets in 37 countries, and helped make the term “boho” — short for “bohemian” and associated with a certain hippie chic — a household name.

But wanting to return to the beach setting she called home and be closer to her parents, La Morte ultimately left New York City during the pandemic and moved back to the Jersey Shore to begin her next adventure.

“I had a dream one night that I opened a retail store,” she recalled. “And that’s how Boho Beach began.”

“I opened Boho Beach in Forked River in 2020 and the team from the Ocean County Mall saw the store and asked if I‘d be interested in opening a location in their mall,” said La Morte, who jumped at the chance. “To have gone from working at the Ocean County Mall as a teenager to now owning a store there was a total full-circle, ‘wow’ moment for me, and I opened a location of Boho Beach there in 2020,” she said.

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Beachy clothing, boho vibe

Today, with her current 2,000-square-foot location at the Ocean County Mall, a 1,000-square-foot location in Beach Haven that she opened in 2021, and a 3,000-square-foot location in Sea Girt that she opened in 2022, “we offer women’s beachy clothing with a boho vibe — easy, light, soft textures that are comfortable and look beautiful,” La Morte said of products that include tees, sweaters, dresses, jeans, pants, skirts and more.

“We also carry shoes, bags, accessories and some home décor (such as blankets, artwork, picture frames and other tabletop items), but clothing is my passion and background and I love to style people. That’s our point of difference,” she said. “I work with customers to understand their event, timing and location so that I can style them in something that makes them look and feel beautiful.”

Along with featuring local artisans and fashion designers from throughout the world and pieces that customers can’t get anywhere else, Boho Beach prides itself on being an accessible destination that offers items at all price points.

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For example, “you can get earrings or a bracelet here for $20, the majority of our tops are in the $50 to $70 range, and most dresses range from $98 to $128,” she said. “We carry brands like Free People, Elan and POL, and on the higher end, we’re one of the only shops in the area to feature the collection from popular brand Magnolia Pearl, which includes their signature broken-in denim or overalls for $650 and T-shirts for $95.”

“Dressing mothers and daughters” ages 20 to 70, La Morte said that demand for the coastal bohemian vibe has never been stronger.

“Soft tones and heavy neutral palettes — including layers of white, cream and sand colors mixed together — are extremely popular,” she said.

“And the ‘coastal cowgirl’ look is also really big, perhaps as a function of the growing popularity of country music in our area. We sell white cowboy boots all the time, which pair well with short denim skirts, cute tops with little flowers and ruffles, and short dresses with a little flounce,” she said. “To complete the look, we also offer a beach-inspired cowgirl hat with seashells around the rim.”

But La Morte is quick to note that personal style should always take precedence over trends. Regardless of what’s in vogue, she explained, “everyone should feel comfortable telling their story and who they are through their clothes.”

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‘A warm hug’

While La Morte confirmed that it can be challenging to find great help long-term, “our team of nearly two dozen employees across our three stores is extremely well-trained, has a tremendous work ethic, and is like family,” she said.

Among other industry challenges, La Morte said that she’d love to see women be braver with their fashion choices. “It can sometimes be a struggle to help women get out of their own heads and trust a professional who’s styled some interesting people,” she said. “But when they do, they often come back and tell me that everybody loved what they were wearing and that they received so many compliments on the outfits we styled.”

With three stores to oversee, “I should try to be more hands-off in the everyday business,” La Morte laughed, “but I can’t because I love the interaction. I visit all of our stores at least once a week, am constantly ordering new stock and moving merchandise around, and love to meet and style customers because that’s what I enjoy.

“On their own, many of our customers might never put on the things I encourage them to try because people can get set in their ways when it comes to what they wear or think looks good on them,” she noted, “but they’re surprised at how good they look and feel in the cozy pieces we style them in.”

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“We know our customers by name and build strong relationships with them,” La Morte said of the experience at Boho Beach, which was recently recognized by Ocean County Mall owner Simon Property Group as one of the top women-owned stores in their network.

“I see the beauty in clothes and people,” La Morte concluded, “and our stores aim to create the ambiance of being at a beach house and feeling peaceful, like a warm hug.”

Boho Beach

Locations: Toms River (Ocean County Mall, 1201 Hooper Ave.), Beach Haven (Schooners Wharf, 325 Ninth St.) and Sea Girt (Brook 35 Plaza, 2157 Route 35)

Phone: 609-286-3498 (Ocean County Mall)

Opened: 2020

Owner: Gina La Morte

Website: bohobeachshop.com

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