Villager owner grooming daughter to run downtown bridal shop

When Michele Cropp moved to Columbia in 1991 to run The Villager on Broadway, she and her baby daughter lived for a time in the apartment above the downtown bridal and formalwear store.
“Rendi practically grew up in the business,” Cropp said.
Flash forward 19 years. Cropp is back at The Villager as the owner, making widespread changes and grooming Rendi to manage the business.
She had been working at the 8th Avenue Villager in Quincy, IL, when the owners asked her to move to Columbia and open The Villager on Broadway.  Cropp took the opportunity and stayed on as manager until 1998, when she made a career change and went to work for the radio stations then owned by Premier Marketing Group.
In 2001, Jefferson City resident Vern Kelsey purchased the store and its building at 916 E. Broadway, and in January Cropp bought the business from him. Kelsey continues to own the building and rents the space to the store.
Cropp said this is a good time for her to make the move because her daughter, Rendi Banta, is graduating this year from Columbia College with her business degree and is ready to run the day-to-day operation while Cropp keeps her full-time job as general manager of OnMedia in the Columbia-Jefferson City market.
Cropp said many changes have been made with the new ownership.
“We added a lot of merchandise and different companies that we carry,” she said. They have also expanded their prom dress business and their tuxedo business.
The biggest difference, Cropp said, is a new focus on professional staffing. In addition to Banta, the store has added a second full-time manager and employs two part-time sales women.

The mother-daughter team admits that the wedding and formalwear industries have changed in recent years, especially with the advent of the Internet. To adapt to the times, The Villager is advertising on the Web, using social networking sites such as Facebook, linking their website to other vendors and utilizing e-mail marketing.
“And we have to make sure we really impress customers when they come in, or they might come in, take their measurements, try on dresses and then buy online,” Banta said. “If we impress them here, then they’ll buy here.”