Meet Melanie Paddock | Founder of Augusta Twenty and A20 Market and Cafe

We had the good fortune of connecting with Melanie Paddock and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Melanie, what makes you happy? Why?
Connection. Specifically, connecting with people and creating a community for other people to connect with each other. It brings me so much personal joy to make those connections and facilitate them for our evolving and diverse community of customers.

At home, I’m happiest connecting with my kids and loving on my kids, and that desire is similar across my home and work environments. The shop is an extension of who I am, my family, my home life, and even my aesthetic. By founding Augusta Twenty 22 years ago, I was creating a space that I want to be in personally.

Part of that happiness also comes from creating a warm environment, an aesthetically pleasing environment and a comfortable environment for everyone who comes either into my home or my shop.

The clothing side of Augusta Twenty is about the power of fashion and cultivating the opportunity for our customers to experience happiness through what they wear. Fashion can make people feel good about themselves because it’s an extension of themselves, and with the right pieces can be a very powerful way of making people feel like their best selves and also communicate to others who they are.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
In the beginning, the concept of Augusta Twenty was to bring something new to Greenville and push fashion boundaries. It was not easy. The local fashion options and overall looks at the time were cookie cutter, and I wanted to open eyes to new things and new looks. Without pushing customers too far out of their comfort zones, I wanted to help them update their aesthetic. At first, people didn’t understand the concept, but slowly we were able to push people and help them realize a new way of dressing and feeling comfortable in the fashion choices they hadn’t even realized were an option. As Greenville’s grown and diversified, the clothing store has become successful.

When we expanded and added the new concept with the cafe and market, the goals were similar. We wanted to help people find unique gifts for the person who’s tough to buy for, that had everything but maybe not a unique piece sourced from a European maker we discovered on a sourcing trip.

The cafe piece has been a dream of mine for nearly 15 years—to create a space for people to experience community and meet new people in the same way they may find a new and unique gift items.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
With the store’s location in Greenville’s West End, there are so many wonderful shops, restaurants, and artists’ studios within short walking distance. There’s little opportunity to get it wrong if you set out walking in any direction.

I’d, of course, take my friend to Falls Park on the Reedy to walk across Greenville’s iconic Liberty Bridge. Our first destination would be the Grand Bohemian Lodge, which has easily become one of my favorite destinations in the city for the view of the river and the falls and the art collection.

Restaurants we’d definitely add to the itinerary would be Scoundrel, for the design aesthetic and incredible French-inspired dining experience that makes you feel like you’re in a much larger city. O-ku for the best sushi in town; Coastal Crust for woodfired, creative pizzas; Sum Bar for dim sum and unique cocktails; and my go-to lunch and early evening dinner spot is Papi’s Tacos on Augusta, which just so happens to be conveniently location across from Augusta Twenty.

Several weekends a year, Greenville hosts festivals that would be ideal to really show off the city and my favorite parts of living here. In particular, Artisphere in May and Open Studios in November showcase the incredible arts community and the draw this area has on creatives.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I don’t have a single mentor, but people in my life and people I come in contact with—I feed off their energy and learn from them. And it doesn’t have to be someone who might traditionally be thought of as a teacher or otherwise impactful. It could be anyone—a customer and her fashion sense or a child’s creativity or an artist friend’s personal aesthetic and artistic point of view. As cliche as it sounds, I’m truly a student of life.

Website: https://augustatwenty.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/augustatwenty/ https://www.instagram.com/a20marketandcafe/

Image Credits
Jenna Carney Photography

Christian Crocker, Citizen Media