IT ALL STARTED WHEN...

A girl decided to move back east from Seattle. Calling Wilmington home from her childhood, Catherine Hawksworth decided she wanted to merge a lot of different parts of her world together. After eight years in retail, a degree in Music Business through Berklee College of Music, and many experiences traveling and living all throughout the country, she decided to come back into her roots and start her own company. With a history involved with brands like Urban Outfitters and Pac Sun and a love for music, she has always had a creative side to the retail world and wanted to do something outside of the everyday. So, she came up with the idea to put all of that together and make a store out of it back home in the place where all of her adventures began. 

 

"Modern Legend is kind of my little dream. I came up with the name because of the inspiration I've always gained from David Bowie's music, and the song "Modern Love" is an all-time favorite of mine. I was sitting in my room of my apartment in Seattle at 2am going crazy over this idea, and Bowie was the thing on repeat. And then I wanted to find another word to play off of "modern", something that essentially means the opposite, you know, and as I'm thinking that - Neil Young's "Unknown Legend" comes on. And it was just like a lightbulb went off. "That's it," I thought to myself. It was like my creative, adventurous side finally became friends with my cool, collected side and it was a beautiful thing. And then it was sleepless nights and planning for months. The best kind of sleepless nights. The kind where every yawn comes with a sense of accomplishment.

And I remember it, you know, all of it. I remember people being supportive even though they thought it was a crazy idea. Starting a business is a beast of its own, and doing it alone as a 23 year old girl just added to that. I guess the point I'm trying to get to is - this store is what I wished for deep down all along but I guess never really knew I wanted. I've always loved managing stores, but I had also always done it for corporations. I spent years and years moving around all over the place, going out west for a long time for inspiration, and it's cool to see it come full circle and create something like this. And you know, Wilmington is such a great spot. I absolutely love it here. It's on the upswing with trends and I love the idea of being a part of that. This is a store meant for any creative type person - someone who wants to have a good laugh, hear that new Radiohead record, look into some new scarves or jewelry for the changing of seasons, or check out that new art print. Style is who you are, in my opinion. Modern Legend wears a lot of hats, a lot of really really cool hats, and I'm so excited to see where it goes."

- Catherine Hawksworth, Owner