For Karen Jackson, It was Love Middleburg Style

For Karen Jackson, It was Love Middleburg Style

By Leslie VanSant

Karen Jackson landed in Middleburg nearly 35 years ago. In the years since, her shop, Tully Rector has become a go-to destination on Washington Street for locals and visitors alike.

In the late 1980s, she was working as a flight attendant and living in Annapolis. “My flight schedule was only six or seven days a month, which left a lot of time available,” she explained. “I have always been interested in clothes, so getting a second job in a clothing store seemed like a good idea.”

Karen Jackson welcomes fashionable shoppers from all around.

Along the way she worked at small private boutiques as well as brandname, big box stores including Lord & Taylor and Neiman Marcus. She got valuable experience working with customers and honing her own tastes and sense of style.

When she first visited Middleburg, she quickly fell in love. As an equestrian, the horses, history and beautiful countryside made her feel at ease. But it was true love that won the day. Karen met Middleburg resident Tully Rector on that first visit, and he became her life partner from then until his death in 2014.

“Tully had a little shop selling his luggage, and I started to have fun bringing in accessories first—scarves—and then it just developed into more.”

Tully, the clothing shop, opened officially in 1990. In the years since, it has become a Middleburg mainstay for women’s fashion.

From the earliest days, Jackson did it all: buying, unpacking new arrivals, the window displays. Though she continued flying each month for the first 11 years, the business steadily grew thanks to her carefully curated eye for fashion.

On her twice-yearly buying trips, the first thing she asks herself is “do I like it?’ Then, “will someone wear it?”

“I always try to buy with our customers in mind,” she said. “Classic and something fun.”

Her personal style is influenced by her busy schedule. She tends to dogs and horses before she gets to the shop, with some of her day filled with boxes and unpacking. She has a collection of coats she’s kept “forever. You can wear something simple underneath and then put on a fabulous coat and you’re ready to go anywhere.”

She’s been supported, or, as she would say blessed, by long-time staff. Darlene Weeks has been greeting and dressing customers for nearly 25 years. Marilyn Bigelow worked for more than 20 years until she passed away earlier this year. Now, those classic black flats she left behind are being filled by Suzanne Aton.

A long-time favorite for locals, the shop also has been attracting a devoted following of women in the greater Washington metropolitan area, thanks in part to the pandemic, Salamander Resort and social media.

“When Salamander became one of the first places to open during the pandemic, people from the city just came here for a few days to get away for a change,” she said. “Walking around town they would find the shop and buy a few things. They fell in love with the charm of the town, just like I did, and realized it was not so far that they couldn’t come back easily for visits.”

“I don’t have a website, but I do post on Instagram,” she said. Customers follow her account where she posts photos of new arrivals and looks. Clients then call or come back to Middleburg for the day to shop.