Melissa Gorga’s New Boutique: Did Joe Gorga Work For Free To Help His Wife?

Melissa Gorga and her husband, Joe Gorga, are back for another season of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, and it sounds like they have been busy since the show wrapped almost two years ago. Bravo didn’t want to pursue another season without Teresa Giudice, so the camera crew didn’t work on the show while Teresa was serving her time. And the first episode of this new season showed her returning home from the Danbury Correctional Facility after having spent 11 months behind bars. But Melissa has also been busy throughout the year, as she’s planning on opening up her own retail store.

According to a new Bravo report, Melissa Gorga shared her journey to open this new retail store on the premiere episode, as the episode revealed that her husband and his team worked on the space. During the episode, Gorga explained that she wanted her children to look up to her and be proud of her the way they were proud of their father. She didn’t want to be a stay-at-home mother who only cooks, cleans, and takes care of the children.

“For me, Envy was a natural progression after having success with my jewelry line. With the kids all in school, I really felt like it was time for me to take the plunge. Joe didn’t hide the fact that he wasn’t into the idea of me opening up a clothing store. He felt that retail was down and that it would be too time consuming. He didn’t want to invest money into the store, so I decided to figure it out on my own,” Melissa Gorga writes on her blog for The Real Housewives of New Jersey according to Bravo.

Joe was very skeptical of her starting a store. Even though Melissa has found great success with her jewelry line, opening a store was a whole new battle. Retail is a lot more expensive, as she has to pay for the space, organize the shipments, and orders from designers and she has to pay any workers she hires. Having an online store is definitely cheaper, but it may be harder to market. Her celebrity status with The Real Housewives of New Jersey may help her get people into the store. But Melissa isn’t opening up her store on her own.

“I found a great partner, Jackie Robinson, who already owns a boutique in Florida and decided to make it happen on my own. Of course the location I found was a hair salon, so I needed to turn it into my vision. I asked Joe if I could hire his company to do the remodeling. He accepted, and yes, I paid him! I can’t wait for you to see how we got the boutique ready because it was not an easy road working together!” Melissa Gorga reveals on her Bravo blog.

According to Bustle, Melissa Gorga’s store is located in Montclair, New Jersey. She built the store in an old hair salon space. The website is up and running, and Melissa is focusing on selling clothes and accessories.

“I’m a small business owner now, which is kind of crazy,” Melissa recently revealed, according to Bustle. “Every time I walk up I go, ‘This is crazy. I like this.'”

No word on when the store opened or how it is going, but it sounds like Gorga really likes running her own business and having her own store. She’s not the first housewife to open her own store, as Kyle Richards has opened her own fashion store in Beverly Hills. And Kyle is also working with someone else on this venture.

What do you think of Melissa Gorga opening up her own store?

[Photo by Thos Robinson/Getty Images]