Local retailer adds a splash of color to King Street with Charleston location

The Charleston Place has added a new pop of color to its King Street reputation and the addition is already a Lowcountry staple.

Marking a little more than five years in business, Estelle Colored Glass has chosen The Charleston Place to be the first brick-and-mortar location designed exclusively for the brand.

Growing up, Stephanie Hall considered it an honor to tag along with her grandmother to go antiquing. The trips had one main goal: glassware. As she got older, it became part of her own weekend routines.

As Hall began trying to find pieces to decorate a table that mimicked those of her Sunday night dinners with her grandmother, she said it was difficult to find an option that was consistent in style. To solve the dilemma, she decided to be the solution.

“I am a serial entrepreneur, so it really has been an abnormal experience from my other ventures,” Hall said. “I am really thankful that this has been the one to have this success because it does have a sentimental element to it, so it doesn’t even really feel like work.”

Hall spent 10 years practicing law before beginning to test her strengths in the business world. She started with event space rentals, giving her a base to begin the colored glass business.

The initial investment for Estelle Colored Glass was $500,000. Boxes for packaging come from New York and the glassware comes from Poland, but the 50-person team assembling the orders work from a warehouse in Holly Hill, where Hall grew up.

“That is the thing I am most proud of — creating local jobs,” Hall said.

Hall and her team formulate all of her designs and colors which get shipped around the world.

“I was always a kid in the candy store when they sent me samples,” Hall said. “It was very detail oriented. This part of the project I really hold dear because I spent a lot of time getting the right colors … and putting the whole collection together.”

Today, Estelle Colored Glass products are sold in about 250 wholesaler stores across the United States, including Anthropologie, Saks and Nordstrom, Hall said. Even so, the brand relies heavily on their direct consumer business which makes up roughly 70% of the sales.

Of the 250 stores, Hall said the first 100 came to her organically. Estelle Colored Glass took off during COVID-19 and Hall said they never needed to go to a trade show; the product sold itself.

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“We have never taken a color out of production,” Hall said. “There is somebody out there that wants every color we’ve got.”

The Charleston Place storefront will include 10 glassware styles and over 250 pieces of color combinations from Estelle Colored Glass’ collections. As shoppers browse The Charleston Place storefront, they will have the option to taste mocktails in the glasses to “experience the brand,” Hall said.

“One of the things that really made me want to be a part of what they are doing is the whole notion that they want to make the hotel ‘Charleston’s living room,’” Hall said. “I thought that was so profound.”

The location in The Charleston Place opens Feb. 14. Hall said when their new space in The Charleston Place is running steady, her next move will be to aim for space in New York.