Appointments at Five

By Ashlee Duren  |  Photos by of Amy J. Owen

Jarrett Kemp is hitting her stride with her newest venture.

Six months ago, the Athens native bought Appointments at Five, a boutique for the home that specializes in English and French antiques along with a variety of home décor accessories and gifts. Kitty Culpepper and Jenny Sligh opened the store in the Five Points neighborhood in 1987. 

A former schoolteacher, Kemp knew she wanted a change of pace after helping an acquaintance decorate her Airbnb. “I absolutely loved it,” she says. She then considered why she wasn’t doing this fulltime. She knew the owners of Appointments at Five and decided to approach them about buying their business. It took roughly eight months to finalize the deal once Culpepper and Sligh agreed to sell the store. “I didn’t want to see Appointments at Five not be here,” Kemp explains.

Making the store her own, however, took a moment. “I’m honored to get to carry on the tradition. I know I have really big shoes to fill,” she says. Admittedly one of the biggest challenges was acquiring a well-loved store with an established and loyal clientele, while embracing and incorporating her style at the same time. Kemp wants Appointments at Five to remain the place couples come to register for their wedding china as well as the shop people stop in to grab a gift.

“I’m blessed to get to come to work every day and love it, not everybody gets to do that,” Kemp says. “I’m just really grateful to be in the position that I’m in.”