The Roundstone - About Us - Fancy That Group in the News

Inger, Maria and Dan are the team behind Fancy That Group of stores.

Owner fancies her fourth outlet

Gary Lupton
Whig-Standard Staff Writer
The Kingston Whig-Standard
from April 21, 1998

Local businesswoman Inger Sparring believes there's always room for one more when it comes to her high-quality stores.

Although she already has three outlets operating in Kingston, she's decided to open a fourth.

"I was thinking about retiring, but since I still have lots of energy I decided to expand," said the vibrant owner of the Fancy That Group, who was in her work clothes yesterday helping put the final touches on her latest venture.

At the beginning of May, she'll open The Round Stone at the corner of King and Princess streets, the former home of Printed Passage Books.

The store will carry a large selection of designer clothes - by luminaries such as Linda Lundstrom, Robert Kitchen and Tommy Hilfiger - for women and children. The emphasis will be on comfort and color.

The new store will be situated beside another of her stores, Fancy That, which carries a wide selection of high fashion footwear and apparel for women.

"We thought about joining the two stores, but decided against it," the owner said. "We'd prefer to run them in a more intimate, boutique style.

"They'll be good competition for each other."

Sparring's downtown interests will now mirror her Frontenac Mall holdings, where she also has outlets called The Round Stone and Fancy That.

The Kingston stores will employ a total staff of 26 after the downtown location opens.

Sparring also has a fifth store, located in Brockville.

Called Limestone & Ivy, it carries a combination of high-quality footwear and clothing and is managed by Inger's son, Dan Sparring.

Family members are also heavily involved in the Kingston stores.

Inger's husband, Bill Barraclough, takes care of the daily accounting chores, daughter Maria Cronk managers both Fancy That stores and son-in-law Cory Cronk works on a part-time basis to handle the monthly statements.

The only non-family store manager is Janice McLaughlin, who will oversee both Round Stone locations.

Although most store employees aren't direct family members, Sparring says there is a family feeling in all of her outlets.

"You can feel the warm atmosphere," she said. "We're very, very dependent on all of our people and they all help to run the business.

"The girls on the staff are involved in the buying because they're on the floor, I'm not," she said. "Everyone has to listen to the customer and learn what is good."

Sparring, who moved to Canada from Stockholm in 1973, opened her first store a year later, after her former husband returned to Sweden, leaving her with three young children.

"I had to do something to support my family, so I decided to go into business for myself," she said.

Since she couldn't find any shoes to fit her in Brockville, she decided on a high-quality shoe store carrying the more expensive European lines.

After having a request for a $15,000 bank loan approved, she was on her way.

"The banker told me that if I was crazy enough to ask for a loan, he was going to be crazy enough to give it to me," she said.

The business prospered and Sparring expanded to the Frontenac Mall in 1979 and moved to Kingston a year later. She now lives on Bath Road in Amherstview.