Fay Yamada opened Yu Fashion as a jewelry kiosk in Edmonton Centre Mall in 1988, and after a long successful run, she saw a bigger opportunity. “There was a huge group of women who wanted to dress stylishly, but not look too young. They wanted well-made clothes that fit their body, but there was nowhere you could go to buy them.”

In 2004, she set out to fulfill that niche with an expanded Yu Fashion boutique in Crestwood that included a collection of quality casual clothing that customers could wear everyday, yet still look very current. “With a boutique, we’ve had a chance to create great ongoing relationships with our customers – they keep telling us how great it is to come to a store where you really know the people serving you!” 

Diane Do has become a huge part of the Yu Fashion experience. Her innate fashion sense has created a great sense of trust with the customers.

“Women call us all the time, asking us all kinds of fashion questions – even on items we don’t carry. They are going out somewhere and they want to know that they are put together really well. Its like the regular customers are all girlfriends of mine – creating ongoing relationships with everyone has been great!”

Diane originally went into retail as a part-job while finishing her arts degree, but has just loved it so much she stayed to make a career out of it. “I never thought I’d make retail a career – but I love the store, I love the customers and talking about fashion all the time. Its like I get to dress dolls all day!”