Crossing Continents, a Bridal Business Blossoms in Parsippany

, a shop on Route 46 West in Parsippany, has its roots in “Lisa’s” native Thailand, where the young Narisa Pongklang watched her mother make bridal gowns for private clients. Lingerie? Lisa had no idea what that was.

The 45-year-old didn’t directly follow her mother’s footsteps into the specialty clothing business. She went about it indirectly on a path that took her through several careers and countries.

Her first stop was a college degree to pave the way for her future. Diploma in hand, she began working as a teacher  and bookkeeper in Thailand. Her mother eventually introduced her to a woman who needed an English speaker to travel to Saudi Arabia to help establish a bridal business.

A few years after that, her Saudi Arabian boss suggested she spend three months in the oil rich country of Bahrain acting as a translator for a group of Thai tailors that had been hired to work in the Persian Gulf country. 

Three months turned into seven years, during which Pongklang met her husband, Stewart Fried, on the beach in Bahrain. Stewart and Ponglkang became friends over the course of a year until finally they sat down “like for a business and decided to get married,” she explains.

By 1999, Stewart was ready to go back to Parsippany where he grew up. Pongklang arrived in January of that year in the midst of an epic snowstorm, found a tiny space on North Beverwyck Road to rent as a tailor shop and started her newest endeavor, first designing and then altering bridal gowns.

There was another stop a year later for a bigger workspace, until finally she moved into the store that was known as Katherine’s Lingerie on Route 46. Katherine was eager to sell the business and soon Pongklang and Stewart used their savings to close the deal.

“I knew nothing about lingerie, but I learned,” she said and after a few years started adding bridal collections to expand the store’s offerings. She also became accredited in mastectomy lingerie fittings as a sideline to intimate apparel.

Today, the store is a one-stop shop for all things bridal and prom, from gowns, tiaras and handbags to seductive bustiers, negligees and more. Major collections for brides include Paloma Blanca, an all silk line from Canada, Maggie Sottera  and Private Label by G. Prices for bridal gowns start as low as $500 and reach $3,000 for the all silk Paloma Blanca line. Bridesmaids dresses are by Jordan and Bill Levkoff.

Styles for Mother-of-the-bride and mother-of-the-groom are also available. Intimate apparel lines include Chantelle, Freya, Betsey Johnson and Hanky Panky.Today, Pongklang  has a staff of five employees, and a back room where she can do alterations.

But as determined as she is to run a successful business, this immaculately groomed woman with the patience of Mother Theresa (it’s a bridal business after all) wants to make her store something of a family-centered environment for her customers and employees. Every customer is greeted upon entering with a friendly hello and the offer to help shoppers go through the assortments.

First floor displays include sets of matching lingerie, delicate footwear, beaded purses and the accoutrements to transform a woman from everyday ordinary to once in a lifetime beautiful.

The staff is well-versed in all that’s available and a specialist will work one-on-one with brides to sort through the second floor collections to find the right dress.  So careful are they in going about their business that visitors looking to peruse the racks upstairs must remove their shoes to avoid scuffing and damaging the finery.

While Pongklang can’t afford to hire fulltime workers, her employees have remained so loyal to her over the years that as their lives evolve and change, they come back from time to time to help her out when the pressure is on.

“People come to me and they have a story. They work for one year or five years but we always remain friends,” said Pongklang. “I learned from my father who had a construction business in Thailand. It’s the Asian way that if you work for a company, you remain part of that company for life.”

In fact, since she came to the U.S. with no family outside her husband, it seems perfectly natural that employees and customers have become a kind of surrogate family. “If I have a feeling about a person, I will give them a job. I believe in karma,” she said with a smile.

Lingerie and Bridal by Lisa 1220 Route 46 West Parsippany, NJ 07054 Phone 973-299-1110 www.bridalbylisa.com and BridalbyLisa@yahoo.com. Hours Tuesday and Friday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Wednesday and Thursday Noon to 8 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday by appointment only; closed Monday.