Killeen entrepreneur finds business home in Copperas Cove

By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press 

Katie Ramlo has always loved fashion and has taken that love to a new level by opening the doors to her own business, K’s Curvy Closet, located at 1312 Georgetown Rd. 
Ramlo has had an online clothing resale shop, offering plus-size fashions, but it has outgrown her garage, where she would package as many as 50 orders per day. 
Now, she can do that with plenty of room in her storefront shop space she found in Copperas Cove. 
K’s Curvy Closet opened its doors on September 9 and had been in the works for several months, Ramlo said. 
She receives weekly shipments of apparel to include pants, tops, blouses, dresses, jeans, shoes and more—all in plus sizes. 
“I’m a plus size girl, and I know how hard it is to shop around here. My favorite store is Torrid, but sometimes the prices are too high for women,” Ramlo said. She wanted to offer a physical brick-and-mortar store to offer local women an affordable option. She purchases her clothing from a resale distributor, making her own markup but turning a profit for herself and giving her customers deep saves. 
Often, Ramlo will leave the tags on clothing so customers can see the bargains they’re getting. 
She said she has always been an avid shopper and because of the limited options locally, has shopped extensively online herself. 
“I love shopping online, but online it’s hard because everything fits differently and I’ve had to return a lot of stuff,” Ramlo said. She knows her customers face the same challenges, no matter what their size. 
K’s Curvy Closet has a spacious dressing room with a sparkling chandelier and full-length mirror for customers to try before they buy. 
Ramlo talked about how she got started in the plus-size fashion sales business. 
“I was working for Visiting Angels and had a client who ran a clothing business out of her home for years. Sometimes, she would have me help her with her clients who came through to shop for clothing. I thought it would be a dream come true, to own my own business and storefront,” Ramlo said. “She was the one who told me, ‘I think you’ll do really well with it.’” 
Ramlo said she started out by selling a vital article of clothing for most women—bras.
“I found a distributor here in Texas and was successful in that. I was running it out of my garage. Shipping is a lot, so you’ve got 30, 40, or 50 orders per day. It was overwhelming. So I knew I needed a bigger space to help sell clothes.”
Ramlo also sells brand-new boots in a variety of sizes for $30 per pair, all with the original price tags as much as $90 still attached. 
K’s Curvy carries skirts, dress pants, belts and more, with clothing separated by size such as 1x, 2x and 3x. The store also offers layaway for customers and sells gift certificates. 
In addition to clothing and shoes, K’s Curvy has several vendors which sell jewelry, and more recently, a vendor has come on board selling vinyl printed items. 
K’s Curvy is open Monday-Friday 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and Saturday from noon until 6 p.m.