The Story of DART Boutique - Ch.3

Chapter 3: The Bridges

While we were confident in the future and how things were going, we decided to open a 2nd location in Sioux Falls to expand our reach.  The original plan was to keep the Tea store open but start to transition it to a different model.  We were going to use that store location as primarily a clearance and consignment shop.  New merchandise would start in the Sioux Falls store and after a season, we would mark it down and move it to the Tea store.  We researched and created a plan to start a consignment division for half of the space.

We spent many late nights preparing every detail of our new Sioux Falls location.  It was so much fun to bring our plans to life!  I personally hand cut every strip of denim that’s on our Jeans Come True wall (and sustained many blisters because of it…)  Just like when we set up the Tea store, this was a labor of love with help from family and friends.  We had some crazy adventures and headaches with getting the larger items moved into the shop and refinished.  Also, attaching a bike to a wall and installing a huge stoplight?  Yeah….crazy times.  

My vision was to decorate the space with a heavy vintage feel. I love records, collecting antiques, and giving new life to old treasures.  If you walk into our store, you can see the eclectic mix of my favorite things.  As much as I loved the Tea store, this new shop felt different.  It was a chance to create a space that was unique and vibrant.  Even with all the late nights and blisters, I was so incredibly happy with the progress.

Right before we opened the new location, many unexpected changes happened.  I lost my two full-time employees who were going to run each store.  I also began the separation process from my husband of 18 years.  It was too much change to happen all at once.  I didn’t know what to do.  Since I had just signed the lease and we put in SO much effort to get it ready, I knew that I had to move forward with our new Sioux Falls store.  I could have hired new employees and trained them to run each location.  However, mentally with everything I had going on in my personal life, I couldn’t handle it.  Something had to give.  I reluctantly decided to close the Tea store (and the studio) so I could give 100% of my time to our new location.  

We’ve been tucked in the corner of The Bridges at 57th since January of 2022.  It’s been more challenging than I expected because we essentially had to start over with our client base. Most of our regular Tea customers stopped shopping with us.  I know the Tea community was disappointed that we closed that store. I understand. But, I wasn’t prepared to build the business yet again from scratch.  

We started doing everything we could to raise awareness for our new Sioux Falls store.  [Side Note: Unless you have tons of money to throw into marketing, spreading awareness is quite difficult.  Even if you pay for advertising, it’s a gamble as to what people will see or if the content resonates with them.]  Luckily, we started meeting people who became our new regulars.  Slowly but surely, word of mouth was working!  

My favorite part about our current location is the camaraderie between neighboring small businesses in The Bridges.  We have made wonderful connections with the other business owners.  We are not here to compete with each other, but to build each other up so that our entire complex can thrive.  Things like annual events and crazy days are a wonderful tool that we have now.  We also have each other to lean on when times are tough. (I’m looking at you, volatile economy…)  Sometimes just venting to someone in a similar situation can be cathartic.  I have made so many good friends-–both customers and fellow business owners.  I am so grateful for that!

Over the past 3.5 years in this space, we have weathered many ups and downs.  We have tried to be innovative to help us stay in business.  We’ve done Shop for a Cause events, live videos, Weekly Top 10 picks, pop-up shops, daily deals, collaborations, events, and most recently the addition of local vendor items to our product mix.  As I look back on our journey of how we got here, I can’t help but wonder how I survived all the challenges thrown at me over the years. I guess when your dream is strong enough and you have a stubborn nature like me, you just keep moving forward.  That’s all for now.  Thanks for reading The Story of DART Boutique in 3 chapters.