After her daughter’s birth, Rogers knew she did not want to return to her nursing career, but she was unsure about staying home full-time.
While driving around New Braunfels, Rogers said she noticed a lack of shopping options downtown and decided to open her shop on Castell Avenue.
“I went and wrote a business plan and went to the bank and did a presentation and got a business loan,” Rogers said. “I went to the market with my first little check and counted all my receipts. I was very scared.”
Since opening the store, Rogers has expanded her offerings from about 20 styles of clothing and accessories to nearly 300, she said.
One of the key ways she finds new designs and offerings is through her travels with her husband, Randy, of the Randy Rogers Band, she said.
“Going different places kind of just gives you a different perspective and changes it up, keeps it fresh,” Rogers said. “I buy not only for myself but for my customers or for my sister who’s a teacher or for my mom, who is older ... so I feel like my buying style has evolved.”In 2016, Rogers opened a second location in San Marcos, which was followed by a store in Lubbock in 2018, not far from her hometown of Plainview.
After sales began dropping at the San Marcos store and business slowed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Rogers decided to close the location in August in order to focus more on the other two boutiques.
When the coronavirus pandemic led to stay-at-home orders and businesses closed temporarily, River Rose shifted its focus to updating the website and engaging with customers virtually through a weekly “Prosecco Pong” livestream on Instagram, where 24-hour discounts for different items were announced. It is an event Rogers said she hopes to continue.
“New Braunfels as a whole is so supportive, and they’re supportive of downtown,” she said.
