Sister 2 Sister - March 2005

   

Bow Wow's mom has Taste

While in Georgia, I visited Taste, the boutique opened by Teresa Caldwell, mother of multimillionaire rapper Bow Wow. The Duluth location has only been open 5 months and Teresa is already working on a second store. That one will be in downtown Atlanta in the Atlantic Station area. It opens in October. Boy is she ever a dynamic lady!

I brought my sons Randy and Russell with me, so Teresa showed them all the great things that they could buy for the ladies in their lives. Taste sells the hottest women's fashions (from designers like Da Nang, Cris Cashmere, and Joe's Jeans), accessories, and even scented candles to spice up your boudoir. The items are a mix of prices - everything from $20 on up to $300-plus. I did pick up some hair baubles - four of them - that ran about $24 each. I've been wearing them all the time with my easy-life braids. Teresa tried to show me some lovely earrings but I couldn't try them on because I don't have my ears pierced. I love all the holes God gave me; I don't need to add any more. No manholes, please! (hahaha)

Taste is absolutely cool. It has a very contemporary decor: white walls and floors (except for a single red wall behind the sales counter and a red rug underneath a white couch), clean lives, items lined up along the wals and under clear glass cases, and old school music playing over the sound system.

But with a successful career as an artist manager and personal stylist to athletes like Vince Carter (not to mention a rich son who can indulge her whims), why would Teresa want to enter the retail business? "Because I love to shop and I wanted to do my own thing," she said, adding that she just felt like stepping out of the music scene. And Teresa does know a little something about buying professionally: she managed buyers for a computer company in Columbus, Ohio, but that was way back before Bow Wow made it big.

Bow Wow was supposed to be at the store, too, but he skipped out and went to a basketball game instead. Can you believe him? He stood me up! Teresa called him on her cell phone and he tried to sweet talk me but I let him have it. Then when I got back home to Maryland, he sent flowers to my office, trying to make up with me. How about that, he just a young dog but he's already learned some old tricks...I'm just playing, Bow. The flowers were beautiful but you still owe me more, more, more!

We went to Teresa and Bow's home, which is not far from the boutique. It's lovely. Teresa is funny. She has a British butler who serviced Princess Di for four years. Jolly good, girl!

Teresa lives on a golf course and she goes running on a trail around it...at least, she did before the day she was running and heard some serious loud rumbling behind her. At first, she didn't know what the heck it was or where it was coming from. But she turned around and saw a herd of deer bearing down strong on her. Lordy! That was some kind of scary. She quickly figured she'd better veer off the road and hide behind a tree. That was the end of her and that jogging trail.

By the way, for the same boutique tour that Teresa gave my sons, drop onto our website, www.s2smagazine.com. If you see anything you like, you can call Taste, 770-495-7895, to order it. Or visit the shop at 6590 Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. It's open Monday-Friday from 11-7, Saturdays from 10-5, and closed on Sundays because Teresa has to go to church. She never wants to miss Bishop Eddie Long.