Andree's and Alta Moda Plan Grand Opening in Five Points

The 1910 Milledge Avenue building that houses two businesses, Andree’s Essential Soaps and Alta Moda, is so freshly white it almost shines.

There’s a front porch with plants and rockers that’s perfect for sitting and watching passersby. Inside, the walls are painted a soothing color. The floors are lovely, and the displays—with clothes, jewelry and shoes on one side of the first floor and soaps, scents, salts, jewelry and other items on the other—are interesting.

Everything smells good. No wonder: Andree Terry makes her fabulous therapeutic soap products in the small kitchen at the back of the building.

Terry has moved her business from a space in Normaltown to a larger one in Five Points. She’s been making special soaps and skin care products for more than 15 years. That’s when she learned that regular soap irritated her mother’s skin while her mother was undergoing cancer treatment. She decided to learn how to make soap that would sooth her mom’s skin. 

From such tenderness has come a cottage industry that continues to evolve. Last year, Terry created 1,200 gift bags for those attending the Emmy Awards. And then 2,000 more bags for customers who wanted the same products. Terry has thousands of regular customers, including hospitals and cancer treatment centers, who either walk into her store or shop through her website.

Alta Moda owner Lindsey McKinney, an Athens native, had never worked in retail, never owned a women’s boutique.  She was a marketing supervisor for an insurance company. Regardless, she decided to follow her dream and open a small, select store filled with women’s clothes, shoes, scents and jewelry. She figured that buying for a business would slake her thirst for shopping. While that hasn't happened, she has had fun creating her retail space and stocking it. Her market is younger women, but customers of all ages have left with purchases.

Though she and Terry chatter and joke like long-time friends, they met only a few months ago, when they were each considering renting the same building in Five Points. They got on so well they decided to share a larger space than either could afford on her own. When the house at 688 South Milledge became available, they saw through the grime and grit just how great it could be.

After a few months of planning, working and designing, here they are. The house looks lovely.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday, they’re holding their grand opening. Terry has long given away a portion of her earnings to charity, and it's no different now. They are  planning to give 20% of their proceeds to St. Mary’s Foundation on Thursday; In Their Shoes and the Mary Allen Locher Foundation on Friday; and the Cancer Foundation of Northeast Georgia on Saturday.

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