A large, white house just off an Alabaster freeway hosts Frou Frou Boutique, a retail store for women’s clothing and jewelry.

Its bubblegum pink door squeaks a greeting at customers while the inside bursts with color and light. Pink posters lining the walls, a velvet green couch sitting in the entrance and a multitude of disco balls, crystal chandeliers, spotted wallpaper and neon signs are all almost as dazzling as their owner, Brigelle Oden.

Oden’s voice rings throughout the store with the accent of a southern belle.

She warmly asks about her customers’ children, providing updates about her own three kids. She smiles and offers advice in a casual conversation about young adult children and gives praises and compliments in another discussion about a new fashion trend.

“Being in a small town, I have some loyal customers, a loyal following. This small town has really just shown my business a lot of love. I am really grateful and thankful for that. Alabaster has just shown Frou Frou a lot of love. I can’t do it without the support of the community,” Oden said.

According to a recent Brookings Institution study, Black women owned over 19% of all women-owned businesses in the U.S. in 2017, higher than their proportion in the population. However, representation lags in the Birmingham metro, according to a report from Prosper.

In 2019, there were 19,077 African American-owned businesses across Alabama, according to a study by the Alabama State Data Center at the University of Alabama.

Oden said when she first opened her business, customers walked in, looking for the owner, and were surprised to see the shop was run by a Black woman.

“Being a Black woman, I want to be inclusive to everyone. I want everyone to feel welcome. Like me, being a minority, I know that I have gone into spaces and businesses before where I didn’t feel quite so welcome. And so in my space, in my business, I do like to take that into consideration; I want my space to feel inclusive and welcoming,” Oden said.

Oden grew up in a small town, Hayneville, in Lowndes County with a population of just under 800 people. When she was 14, Oden moved to Montgomery.

She studied business at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she met her husband, Desmond Oden. While in school, Oden worked at a boutique. She said she remembers enjoying working at the boutique more than she enjoyed school, and chose to drop out.

Oden said she did not graduate college because school simply was not the right path for her. She said she wanted to “be her own boss,” and have the freedom to pursue her dreams in a creative field.

She and her husband moved from Hoover to Alabaster 20 years ago with the hope of starting a family. She was hesitant at first, seeing as Alabaster was a small, quiet town. But once they moved, Oden said she had no regrets having kids and growing her business in her new hometown.

She said she remembers spending Saturday mornings shopping with her mother as a child.

“I think that’s where it started, watching the women in my family. Me, my sisters, my aunts, my cousins, everytime I see them, they’re dressed so cute, so well dressed,” Oden said.

When Oden’s children were in elementary school, 12 years ago, she contemplated starting her own business.

“My kids and my husband, my family, they know that I love what I do. And I think that’s important to them, so they have always been supportive,” Oden said.

She started selling clothing online from her home office. From there, her business grew. She began doing pop-ups and shows in the homes of her family and close friends.

“I had the first show at my house, which wasn’t a great turn out,” Oden said, laughing as she told the story of her humble beginnings. “I thought, ‘do I stop, do I keep going? But that’s how it started, and it just grew and grew and grew.”

At one point, she converted an old flower truck into a traveling boutique. She drove the truck to private parties hosted by her friends and family to show off her clothing and jewelry.

“I kept going because of my love for what I was doing, it just felt like something that was meant for me to do, honestly.”

After five years of traveling and hosting pop-up shows, she opened her first brick-and-mortar in Alabaster.

Last year, Oden opened another brick-and-mortar in Birmingham called FLOW BHM, which catered more toward streetwear and offered men’s, women’s and unisex clothing.

After a while, though, Oden said driving from Alabaster to downtown Birmingham became a hassle. She also feared missing out on her children’s big senior year basketball games and dance recitals. She decided to move the collection online.

“It was new. I went into it thinking it would have the following Frou Frou had. Frou Frou has been around for a long time and I did work up to the place I am now. At the end of the day, I made the decision that right now, I want to spend more time being closer to home, more time with my kids,” Oden said.

“I figure [FLOW BHM] is something I can revisit later. It’s kind of bittersweet. I don’t regret doing it, but I’m at peace with pivoting and putting it online. For the time being, I’m going to focus on Frou Frou, what I know for sure has been working for me.”

On an average day, Oden is placing orders and buying the clothes from her vendors, advertising clothing on Facebook and Instagram, planning social media posts that are relevant to her audience, restocking the racks, tracking her sales, reorganizing and redecorating the store.

To help her stay up to date, Oden has recruited a few young women to help her identify what is most trendy, like quilted puffer jackets, vests and bags, fuzzy sweaters and red accessories.

“It is a lot of work,” she said. “Sometimes it does get tiring, it gets old and the energy that I once had starts to dwindle down.”

Oden said what keeps her going is knowing that she has created a place where people can relax and feel at home.

“The thing about Frou Frou is it’s an experience. It’s not just about passing through. I like to hear about what your kids are doing, tell you about what my kids are doing, we can relate,” Oden said. “We actually have relationships. We watch each other’s kids grow up.”

She said Frou Frou is a special place, where people do not simply come in to buy clothes, but they stop by to talk, laugh and connect.

“Frou Frou is a safe place for people, we have some young people that come in, not necessarily to shop, but sometimes they just need a person to listen. Even when I’m not here, I try to have a person in here that has that listening ear, that welcoming mentality,” Oden said.

“You don’t have to come in here just to shop, you can come in here just to sit on my couch and we’ll offer you a soda or water. We’ll listen to you, pray with you. That’s what we’re here for. I want it to feel like a second home for people.”