ON a corner of Luke Lane in downtown Kingston, a mother and daughter once sold bras and panties from a sidewalk stall. Today that stall has grown into a formal retail operation, catering to one of the most underserved segments of the market — plus-size and full-busted women.

Andrea Jackson-Robinson, co-founder of Valentine’s Intimates & More, now operates a store on Harbour Street in downtown Kingston, just steps from where her mother, Pauline Valentine, started it all more than two decades ago. The idea for the business came not from a business plan but from the sidewalk conversations Pauline had every day with passersby.

“I don’t know where to find my size. I’m struggling to find my bra size,” Jackson-Robinson said were the common complaints among bigger-busted women. “So when they came up to her [mother], when she was on the sidewalk, they would actually say, ‘Do you have any bras to fit me?’ ”

An outside view of Valentine’s Intimates & More on the corner of Harbour street in downtown Kingston — just a stone’s throw away from where Pauline Valentine started selling undergarments on Luke Lane. (Karl Mclarty)

Andrea Jackson-Robinson, co-founder of Valentine’s Intimates & More, shares the story of her mother’s journey that led to the business being formalised in 2019. (Karl Mclarty)

While seated in the modest Harbour Street store, surrounded by racks of plus-size intimate bras, Andrea Jackson-Robinson explained that despite being an everyday necessity, bras for fuller-busted women have long been difficult to source. It’s a gap her mother began addressing on the streets of downtown Kingston. She described the early days at Luke Lane as a full takeover of the sidewalk, where the entire stretch was lined with bras and panties catering to women often overlooked by mainstream retailers.

“All my life I used to sell on the sidewalk with my mother,” she began telling her story to the Jamaica Observer in an interview.

As a high school student Jackson-Robinson was no stranger to the hustle, often shouting in the infamous downtown Kingston style to draw customers — a sales tactic known to cut through the noise and grab attention in the bustling streets.

“I used to say, ‘Panty and brassiere, hundred dollar; panty and brassiere,” she reenacted.

Though vending was her mother’s lifelong trade, Jackson-Robinson initially pursued a corporate path. After graduating she interned at Red Stripe, where she later spent 12 years before moving on to Digicel.

“I had a drive; I wanted to get my mother off the sidewalk,” she told the Sunday Finance.

JACKSON-ROBINSON…I had a drive; I wanted to get my mother off the sidewalk (Karl Mclarty)

In 2019, the same year the business was formally registered, she was able to open their first retail location on Harbour Street — a modest, 300-square-foot space next door to the store’s current footprint. By 2023 the business had expanded with the launch of a second branch in Montego Bay. That same year, Jackson-Robinson left her corporate job to join the company full-time. The reality, Jackson-Robinson explained, is that long before the shopfront opened, her mother had already built a loyal customer base from her sidewalk stall. While Pauline Valentine herself is plus-sized, many of the women seeking help wore much larger sizes. Operating in one of downtown Kingston’s busiest areas, what set her mother apart was not just the product offering but her warmth and approachability. Her gentle and friendly nature helped convert casual passersby into loyal customers, many of whom followed her from the street to the retail store. Others were introduced through strong word-of-mouth referrals.

“I had a customer that came in recently. That customer used to shop with my mother from downtown, and my mother, she saw her passing and said, ‘Come here, come here, come take this bra.’ And the lady said that she didn’t have any money. My mother said, ‘Take the bra. When you have money, you come pay me back for it.’ My mother is grass roots so she said, ‘Take the bra; when you have the money, come.’ And since then, that customer continues to come and get her right size,” Jackson-Robinson recalled

Andrea Jackson-Robinson, co-founder of Valentine’s Intimates & More, shows the Jamaica Observer team the largest support garment she could find in her store on Harbour Street in downtown Kingston. (Karl Mclarty)

Valentine’s Intimates & More continues to expand its customer-focused offerings with the launch of a bra-size calculator in 2024, built on five years of fitting data and supported by a step-by-step video guide. Alongside its strong emphasis on bra education and proper care, the company is also preparing to launch a new product targeting comfort issues faced by heavy-busted women. Through the CEI Jamaica Innovation Program the brand is developing the Comfort Underwire Bra Shield (CUBS) — a padded insert designed to reduce pressure from underwire bras on women with full busts and high stomach areas. The product will be pitched to investors in June. If successful, Jackson-Robinson aims to bring it to market before the end of the year.

“Our vision is to make Valentine’s Intimates a leader in lingerie innovation, not just in the Caribbean but internationally,” she said. “We want to see this product available in boutique stores overseas and on the shelves of major retailers like Macy’s, Target, or Burlington.”