Ashley Clark has always been interested in creatively mixing the old with the new, which is what you’ll find at Charming North, a boutique in downtown Cadillac.
The historic building itself reflects this, with exposed brick and unique wood floors brought to life by the Clarks’ renovations.
“The building was built in 1897. It has a lot of really pretty historic character. It’s mixing the new with the old — having a really neat classic, vintage vibe,” Clark says.
Charming North offers a wide variety of products — home decor, furnishings, men’s and women’s clothing, casual and formal wear, and locally made goods.
After first opening in April 2019 as a home decor and furnishings store, Ashley Clark and her husband Ted Clark bought an existing clothing store in January 2022 and expanded into clothing retail, additionally creating an event space, the North Room, in the third unit of the building.
The retail store’s recent expansion into fashion has suited Ashley’s long-standing interests.
“I’ve always been interested in home decor and design, and fashion, too. My degree is in interior design. I’ve always been more of a creative. I did photography for a long time — all sorts of creative things,” she says. “Having the store is my ability to bring in products that I really love, to get to display them, and to inspire people that way.”
Ashley’s diverse style interests drive the selection of goods at Charming North. “I love a really wide variety of things, which is probably why we have such a wide variety in here!”
Although the goods she chooses are diverse, Ashley typically works within a more neutral color palette. “I’m more drawn to muted colors and color tones. There are some vibrant, colorful things in here, too, but overall, I really like neutrals,” she says. “I’m looking for a little bit more muted color tones. Subtle, simple, classic.”
Her style time-travels between eras, while keeping the goal of offering subtle, simple, and classic pieces. “I love to mix new and old,” Ashely says. “I love vintage pieces: authentic vintage. There’s definitely a market for reproductions, but I love to mix the pieces that have stories with newer, more modern pieces.”
Ashley aims for her shoppers to have a fresh perspective on vintage goods through these modern combinations. “(It’ll) hopefully inspire people to look at those pieces with new eyes. Where something might look dated, to be able to go ‘no; I could mix it with these new pieces.’”
Among brand-new pieces, such as their clothing selection, Ashley still takes inspiration from vintage styles.
“I think everybody’s definition of classic is different — but we try to stick with classic versus what’s trending,” she says. “Not to say that somebody couldn’t walk in here, and look at things, and think some of it is trendy — but going with classic, and just really mixing the new with the old, even through our clothing. Even though our clothing is all new, a lot of it is vintage-inspired.”
Although a classic style is more important than being trendy at Charming North, trends guide Ashley’s purchases for the store in the kinds of antique and vintage items they offer.
“I’m looking for pieces that I know are popular. We’ve sold a lot of vintage brass pieces — that might be something that some people go, ‘oh, that’s really dated,’ but you’d think it was modern. It’s actually quite popular right now. (And) vintage art — landscape art in particular.”
Many of the goods in Charming North are from local artisans, sourced through Ashley and Ted’s connections to vendors. Ashley recommends any of the locally-made items as a gift option.
“We have handcrafted greeting cards, lots of different mediums of artwork; we have leather goods, Petoskey stone jewelry and knives. We have hand-turned, handmade wood bowls, which we just started carrying last year.”
Ashley additionally finds that their wool blankets serve as popular gifts. “They’re not local — we have two main companies that we use for those. The Pendleton blankets are one of them, and the other is the Tartan Blanket Company. Both nice quality.”
Overall, Ashely aims to ensure that the selection of clothing, home goods and wares at Charming North remains unique — and that the shopping experience can’t be found anywhere else.
“We try to bring in a variety of home goods, and clothing… trying to fill the gaps. We don’t want to duplicate what’s already here,” Ashley says.