Step into Elizabeth Lee Shop and into owner Ava Reed’s second home. Literally: the storefront, which carries a variety of “Grandmillennial” goods, is thoughtfully themed and decorated like a house.
“So we have a little lobby area, when you enter the ‘house,’” Ava said. “Then you have the apothecary and the bath and body products. Then you go into the true home section — the kitchen, tableware and dinner section. In the back, you’ll find pajamas and hobby items, which are things that people usually would keep in their room or kind of tucked away. That’s how we have our store laid out and it was intentional that we did it that way.”
“Grandmillennial” can be described as someone in their 20s to late 30s who loves traditional, classic styles or hobbies. Elizabeth Lee is a lifestyle brand and store born from the 23-year-old’s “lifelong love of timeless style, thoughtful living and the charm of classic traditions.” The slogan- “Grandmillennial goods for a leisurely life,” ties everything together.
At Elizabeth Lee, you can expect to find everything from “grandma hobbies” like mahjong and needlepoint to anything Carolyn Bessette Kennedy would’ve worn or had in her home.
The business started in 2025 as an online shop, then a pop-up shop, and is now located in the Elk City section of Charleston, WV, as of June 2026.
“We had people who had traveled from out of town,” Ava said. “We had people wrapped around our tables and out the door. I mean, it was truly like eight hours of nonstop. It’s just any store owner’s dream to have such a successful opening day. We’re open every day, so it was nonstop all summer… I can’t believe it’s gone by so fast, but that’s good because it means you’re busy.”
Elizabeth Lee carries a mix of local and luxury brands, like pieces from Charleston jewelry designer Baubles on Abney, stationary from Taylor Paladino, among other kitchen and house items. The shop pays homage to the building’s roots, the former location of Thaxton Drug Company, an apothecary, by carrying C.O. Bigelow items, America’s oldest apothecary. Weekly, Elizabeth Lee hosts a beginner needlepoint class, which is announced on the first of every month and sells out within 10 to 15 minutes, Ava said.
“We get a small group together, in a little room in the store called our ‘stitch room,’ with a long table and seats around it. We give them everything they need, from a beginner canvas to thread, scissors, needle, needle threaders, instructions. We spend about an hour teaching the basics to needlepoint. Then at the end of class, they can find their own project,” Ava said.
Because Ava kickstarted her business doing pop-up shops, the storefront hosts a monthly pop-up shop with another local business. July featured Sunshine Stitchery, an embroidery shop based out of Scott Depot, WV. September featured a mahjong pop-up, where customers created mahjong bags, racks, tile bags and the like. In October, a cinema will be rented out for participants to stitch needlepoint while watching a movie.
“I know when I had a pop-up shop, the number one thing that I looked for was just anybody who had any space where you could host pop-up shops for just a few hours to meet people and to meet your customers,” Ava said. “So, I want to give small business owners a chance to do the same.”
She said a large portion of her customer base primarily shops for needlepoint items, so she tries to host interactive events for needlepointers to connect and updates her social media with a “WIP” Wednesday, where she showcases her current “Work In Project” or needlepoint canvases new to the store.
“There hasn’t been a needlepoint store in quite a while, so I didn’t know if it was something that would be well received here,” Ava said. “The classes just keep selling so fast and so I’m glad that people want to learn. It’s such a fun hobby. It’s getting you off your phone. I feel like everyone needs to disconnect a little bit, so it’s really nice to see that people want to learn a hobby where you can do that.”
“I got a younger girl in the store yesterday, I think she was in middle school, and she was like, ‘I really want to learn to needlepoint.’ So, we got her a beginner canvas and the instructions. I helped her get started and she kind of went to town with it. I love when young girls come in,” Ava said.
Ava said she really is immersed in needlepoint all day. After a day at the shop, she will come home and needlepoint, read and just enjoy time at home with her boyfriend and family by being present and living a quiet life.
“I am, at heart, an introvert,” Ava said. “It’s been crazier now that I’m at the store almost every day, surrounded by so many people, but it’s important to take time for yourself, spend time with yourself and do things that you love… People will always say, ‘I bet you’re so sick of needlepointing; that’s all you talk about, that’s all you do.’ But truly, these are hobbies that you know you don’t get tired of and they bring you peace. So, I’m constantly searching for more of that.”
Ava, the lifelong Charleston resident, said the city is somewhere she loves and sees potential in. She is close with her family and always has been. The name Elizabeth Lee is a special tribute to her family’s legacy: Ava and her mom share Elizabeth as their middle name, and her sister and dad share Lee. She said she has always known that would be her store’s name.
The University of Charleston graduate stayed at home during college and received her degree in communications and digital media design with a full ride under a presidential scholarship.
“[The scholarship] was probably one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever been given because it was such a relief in college, but also, opening a store was something I knew I always wanted to do, and it would help me get to that goal a little bit quicker,” Ava said.
“I had a great four years at UC, and then after graduation, I knew I still wanted to stay because I felt like Charleston had still been so good to me, and there was more that I wanted to do here,”
she said. “I wasn’t ready to leave, and I knew kind of deep down that I didn’t want to leave because it is a special place.”
By the time she graduated, Ava had already spent eight years working in retail at Yarid’s Shoes, a local business with four locations, one being in Charleston on Bridge Road. Working under boss, mentor and somewhat of a second mom, Emily Yarid Couch, Ava mastered the ins-and-outs of retail in high school and college on weekends.
“I wanted at least to have the experience of retail before opening a business because the idea of it sounds nice, but until you really get into it, you don’t realize if you love it or you hate it,” Ava said.
After graduating college, she stayed at Yarid’s, but focused more on their social media and website because she wanted to specialize in that part of her degree. She worked there for around a year while growing her clientele.
“For all of 2025, I had actually technically had my first small business, which was my media company,” Ava said. “I was doing social media for Yarid’s and other retail brands. I realized I was doing what I wanted to do for everybody else and I was doing a pretty good job at it. I kind of came to the realization where: ‘If I can do this for everybody else, why not just start now for me?’”
“Owning a store, that was my dream, but it was something that I felt was so far away. The thought of it can be so scary — the money that’s involved, finding a place, how to get inventory and how to get people to know about it.”
With saved money originally intended for college, untouched Yarid’s paychecks and money raked in from her media company, she had a healthy start for her first batch of inventory purchased.
Last fall, she seriously started scoping out a brick-and-mortar location. On days off and during her lunch break, with her mom, she checked out storefront after storefront across South Hills, Kanawha City, South Charleston and beyond.
“I mean, truly any open retail space we toured,” Ava said. “Around April, I was eating in Elk City, at a restaurant called Kel’s Tavern, and I was talking to some people, like, ‘I’m just really upset. I cannot find a retail space’… And as I’m saying it, I look across the way and there is a beautiful historic building with for rent signs in the window… It looked perfect.”
The landlord for the building and Ava’s current landlord, Tighe Bullock, was eating in the restaurant at the same time and her friend encouraged her to introduce herself.
“So I introduced myself to him and I think maybe three days later, I had toured the space,” Ava said. “I toured it at 9 a.m. and by 2 p.m. I was signing the lease, then two months later we opened, so it happened so fast. But the minute I walked into the space, it was everything I had imagined my storefront to be.”
Ava said the community she moved into in Elk City has been fantastic. She said she has the best customers, and with neighbors like Golden Rod Kitchen (YNST Issue 12), Kinship Goods and the new Elk City Popcorn Shop next door, she’s got someone she can talk to when she needs business owner advice or just a friend.
She’s looking forward to the quickly-approaching holiday season and ready for gift shopping, which takes much more thought and prep work than some may realize. Elizabeth Lee is something that Ava said she is almost constantly thinking about.
“When you have a small business, you truly live and breathe every single part of it,” Ava said. “Even when you’re not open, you’re still thinking about it. Even when you’ve closed for the day, it’s still on your mind… I’m so protective and obsessed with it, which is what I think you should be. I love it! I love every part of it. So, if it wakes me up at night, it’s okay. My mind is always going; it’s always worrying, and I’m always having different ideas for the store… I’m surrounded by beautiful things. I’m introducing people to my favorite things and hoping that they’ll love it. So far, this summer has proved that, and I can’t wait to keep going and see what’s next.”
Ava plans to continue growing the store with new inventory and ideas and does not intend to stop anytime soon. Elizabeth Lee is located at 301 Washington Street in West Charleston, WV and is open every day Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays 12:30 to 4 p.m. Shop in store or online at shopelizabethlee.com
This series is presented by Oglebay Institute and supported by the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation’s Narrative Change Collaborative.
