Real West Virginian of the Week: Ava Reed proves big dreams can grow close to home

By Hannah Yost, RealWV

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Ava Reed was 14 years old when she first imagined owning a store of her own.

At the time, she had just watched the classic Nora Ephron film “You’ve Got Mail” and found herself drawn to Meg Ryan’s character, Kathleen Kelly, the owner of a charming children’s bookstore tucked into a neighborhood.

Reed wanted that kind of life. She wanted a store filled with things she loved, a place where people could gather, browse and feel inspired.

Years later, that dream has taken shape in Charleston’s Elk City district through Elizabeth Lee, Reed’s lifestyle shop built around timeless style, thoughtful living, and a slower way of moving through the world.

“Now, I am living it,” Reed said.

Reed has lived in Charleston her entire life. She grew up in the Fort Hill neighborhood and graduated from George Washington High School with highest honors in 2021. When it came time for college, she chose to stay in her hometown and attend the University of Charleston.

At UC, Reed received the Presidential Scholarship, which covered the cost of her four-year education. She was part of the Honors College, majored in communication, minored in digital media design and developed a specialized interest in social media marketing.

She also served as a teaching assistant in the communication program, a peer educator for incoming freshmen and president of UC’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America.

While Reed was studying communication, the idea of owning a store never left her.

Throughout high school and college, she also worked at Yarid’s Shoes, one of Charleston’s well-known retail businesses. She started working for owner Emilie Yarid Couch when she was 15 years old and eventually became a sales associate and social media content creator for the business.

At Yarid’s, Reed said she learned retail from the inside out. She watched how products were purchased and received, learned how to upload inventory to a website and helped create content for social media.

She also studied the way Couch and her sister, Katherine Juker, approached business.

“I watched every move Emilie and her sister, Katherine Juker, made as entrepreneurs, and they taught me everything I know about business,” Reed said.

In 2024, Reed graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree. During her first year after college, she took on more marketing responsibilities at Yarid’s as an e-commerce coordinator. She also started Ava Reed Media, a small social media marketing agency focused on brand development and social media management for retail businesses.

That work helped her understand what it takes to bring a business idea to life.

By the end of 2025, Reed had started putting the first pieces of Elizabeth Lee together.

The shop’s name is personal. Elizabeth is the middle name Reed shares with her mother, while Lee is the middle name shared by her father and sister.

“I wanted my store’s name to be very meaningful,” Reed said.

The style of Elizabeth Lee is also personal. Reed’s interest in retail, style and hobbies grew through a blog she created in high school and college called “The Ava Styles Blog.” It gave her a space to explore fashion, travel and lifestyle trends.

Blogging helped Reed develop her own style and introduced her to the grandmillennial lifestyle, which became a major influence on Elizabeth Lee.

To Reed, grandmillennial style means honoring the past in a fresh way. It celebrates classic apparel, small gatherings, traditional hobbies and attention to social graces.

That influence can be seen throughout Elizabeth Lee, where Reed hopes customers feel like they can step away from the noise of everyday life.

“When people walk into my shop, I want them to feel like they can leave everything at the door and just be,” Reed said.

She wants the store to be a place where people surround themselves with favorite things, discover a hobby or feel inspired to host a dinner party.

“I think the best stores are the ones where you don’t need anything, but you want everything,” Reed said.

Elizabeth Lee carries that idea into its tagline, “A Leisurely Life.”

Reed believes people are drawn to activities such as needlepoint and mahjong because life has become loud. Much of the day is spent online, and she said people are constantly surrounded by difficult headlines, social media and the pressure to stay connected.

“People are craving peace and normalcy more than ever,” Reed said.

For her, those slower activities offer a break from screens and a chance to spend time with people in a more intentional way. She needlepoints before bed, reads on her days off and prefers meeting a friend for lunch over a quick call.

That longing for a slower way of living became part of the foundation of Elizabeth Lee.

Before opening the storefront, Reed launched Elizabeth Lee online. The support came quickly.

From the first day, people followed the store on social media and placed orders through the website. Within a week, Reed was shipping packages out of state. Her first pop-up shop at Capitol Market introduced her to customers who now shop at the store regularly.

That early response showed Reed that people were ready for something new in Charleston.

“So many people followed the store on social media platforms and placed orders on our launch day,” Reed said. “This experience taught me that people are eager to support new, small businesses, especially something that hasn’t existed in Charleston for a while.”

When Reed began looking for a brick-and-mortar space, Charleston felt like the natural choice.

“Charleston has always been very good to me, and I wanted to give back to my hometown in an important way,” Reed said.

She had worried that getting started as a young entrepreneur would be difficult, but found West Virginia’s small-business start-up process to be more accessible than she expected. The leasing process also moved smoothly.

Elk City, with its growing mix of restaurants, shops and professional services, felt like the right fit.

Reed credits Tighe Bullock, a real estate developer working to preserve historic buildings and restore storefronts in Elk City, with giving her the chance to open in the Ort Building.

“I am so grateful that Elizabeth Lee anchors the 300 block of Washington Street West and Tennessee Avenue,” Reed said. “It truly is the ‘Little Shop Around the Corner.’”

Opening in a historic building has allowed Reed to connect the shop’s future to the neighborhood’s past.

The space once served as a dry goods and drugstore in the early 1900s. Inside Elizabeth Lee, one of the original apothecary cabinets remains as a display piece. Today, it holds products from C.O. Bigelow, the oldest apothecary in the United States.

Reed said she is proud to bring the building’s history into the store through the products she carries and the way the space is designed.

“It feels like the West Village of New York City has found a new address on the West Side of Charleston,” Reed said.

The Charleston community has embraced Reed as a young business owner. From opening day, she said the encouragement gave her confidence to keep going. She has also found support from other local business owners.

“There is no one more gracious than a Charlestonian,” Reed said.

One of the most exciting moments so far was the opening day ceremony. Reed said she will never forget the people who showed up for the ribbon cutting, including friends and family who traveled to be there.

The mayor of Charleston became the shop’s first customer.

Reed said she was overwhelmed by the line of people who came into the store, excited to find products and brands they had long wanted to try.

Still, starting a business in her early 20s has come with challenges.

For Reed, one of the biggest has been learning how to create a healthier balance between work and the rest of her life. As a store owner, there is always something that needs attention. Early on, she found herself working all day at the shop, then going home and continuing late into the night.

She worried she was heading toward burnout.

Within the first month, Reed hired four team members to help manage the sales floor so she could focus on the back end of the business. That support has helped her end the workday at a more reasonable time and even take an occasional day off.

“My brain never shuts down, but I am learning how to save tasks for the next day,” Reed said.

Reed hopes Elizabeth Lee becomes more than a shop.

Through needlepoint classes, stitch nights, special events and collaborations with other local businesses, she wants to create experiences that help people connect through shared interests.

“I hope Elizabeth Lee becomes a place where people can discover new hobbies, build friendships and feel a sense of belonging,” Reed said.

She also hopes the store continues to contribute to the growth of Charleston, especially in Elk City.

“I want to help make Charleston a place where people are excited to live, work and spend their time,” Reed said.

To Reed, small businesses are central to that kind of energy. They bring personality to neighborhoods and give people a reason to explore their own city. Each new storefront adds to the life of a place and encourages people to visit nearby businesses.

“Small businesses are what build a community,” Reed said.

Building something creative in West Virginia has been especially meaningful for Reed because she believes the state offers more opportunity than people sometimes realize.

She knows West Virginia is often criticized as a place where there is nothing to do. She disagrees.

Through Elizabeth Lee, Reed hopes to show that people do not have to live in a major city to enjoy beautiful spaces, exciting retail, interesting restaurants or cultural events.

“There is so much potential in our state,” Reed said. “I hope that Elizabeth Lee can encourage other young people to invest their creativity, ideas and talents in their small towns.”

Reed has learned that being part of a smaller community can be an advantage. In Charleston, she said, young people have access to others who want to help make their ideas happen.

Charleston is large enough to offer opportunity, but small enough to feel connected.

“Young people want to live in an energetic place where they can find their people in every circle — personal and professional,” Reed said.

Her advice to young West Virginians with a business idea is to take the leap, even if they do not feel fully ready.

Reed said it is easy to talk yourself out of starting something while waiting for the perfect time or more experience. But entrepreneurship, she said, often means learning as you go.

Starting a business at 22 was intimidating, but she knew she would regret not giving herself the chance to try.

“You don’t have to move to a bigger city to pursue an ambitious idea,” Reed said. “Give West Virginia the chance it deserves.”

Looking ahead, Reed hopes Elizabeth Lee grows into more than a store. She would like to build it into a lifestyle brand with custom apparel, accessories, needlepoint canvases, home goods, and gift items.

“I have so many ideas for the future of the store that it keeps me up at night,” Reed said.

For Reed, the larger message of her story is simple. She did not have to leave Charleston to build something ambitious. She created the job she wanted in the place she already called home.

“I hope people take away the awareness that you can stay in the same place and still go far,” Reed said. “I created the job I needed so that I could have the life I wanted. Your dreams do not have to be carried somewhere else to come true. Why not achieve them here?”

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