With a love for the eclectic and offbeat, Laura Croft fits right into the Five Points community, where she and her mother, Cheryl Croft, are the new owners at Edge City boutique.
The mother-daughter duo stepped in at the neighborhood’s iconic boutique when the equally iconic Gunnel Humphreys decided it was time to retire and pass the baton to someone new. Humphreys had owned Edge City with her partner, Tom McCleery, for nearly 50 years. Croft recalled shopping at Edge City as a teenager and later, as a young adult in her 20s. Edge City was the spot to shop if you wanted to find something fun and different that not everyone else would have, she said.
Despite being born and raised in Jacksonville, Croft’s path to small business ownership led to places beyond the Bold City and through several different careers along the way, from modeling to law school.
“I must be a cat,” Croft joked. “I don’t know what life I’m on.”
Croft attended Flagler College after graduating from Ed White High School. The moment she finished her last college final, Croft said, she hopped on a plane to Las Vegas, where she lived for seven years. It was in Las Vegas that she completed a prep course and took her LSAT exam for law school and scored high enough to apply to several law schools.
In 2015, she decided it was time to come home and live with family in Jacksonville while she took courses at Florida Coastal School of Law. Croft quickly realized, however, that a career as a lawyer was not where her passion lay, though she did obtain a paralegal certification to work as a legal assistant. Throughout that time, Croft continued to visit and shop at Edge City.
“I had mentioned to Gunnel that if she was ever going to sell or something to please let me know,” Croft said.
Indeed, one day the former boutique owner inquired after Croft with her mother to see how she was doing. She wanted to know if Croft was happy.
“My mom said no, and we were in talks about [taking over ownership of Edge City] and then it was presented to me,” Croft said. “And of course I wanted to do it.”
Croft works at Edge City five days a week and explores the other Five Points businesses when she has time. Brew Five Points is her go-to coffee spot, just across the street from Edge City. Working with her mother has been a good experience.
“We kind of balance each other out,” Croft said.
While the store caters to a broad spectrum of clientele, Croft is also working to incorporate more youthful items at a slightly lower price point for young women who are searching for unique outfits but may not have the expendable income to spend on high-end fashion. Through all of this, Croft said, Edge City will maintain its dedication to offering quality, well-made items that look good and will hold up over time. Croft still has items she purchased from Edge City when she was in high school.
“I would see Gunnel and be wearing something from [Edge City] and she’d be like, ‘Where did you get that?’ And I’d say, ‘From you.’”
Today, Croft’s life is more slow-paced than it was in Las Vegas or Los Angeles, where she’d done modeling work and filmed stints on a few reality TV shows. A true crime fan, Croft said she leans more old school than the plethora of true crime podcasts online and prefers the classics, like “Dateline.” She said she often has Dateline 24/7 playing on her TV at her Deerwood home.
“Sometimes [Dateline 24/7] plays on a loop, so if I know that an episode I’ve seen earlier that day comes on, I need to get up,” Croft said.
Croft said she’s drawn to the weird and the strange.
“I would entertain people, now I like to be entertained,” Croft said.
