About Us

 

It all started in 2006, when pop-up parties were popular. At the time, it was hard to find products without going to market which was not in the budget at the time. I finally found a website to get some wholesale products. I decided to take the plunge and get my retailers license in the state of North Dakota and registered my trade name.

I started out selling purses, handbags and accessories at friend's homes on the side while I was selling insurance for Aflac. Then in 2008, I decided to start to sell products on Ebay. I started going to auction sales and finding things in my family's barn to sell. I mainly sold vintage jewelry, clothing, pottery and glassware.

In 2011, I saw an ad in the paper that a storefront was available for rent. It was on a side street, not the main street, so the rent was more reasonable. I decided to go take a look at it. It was a small office space that had a bunch of rooms. I thought it would be perfect to rent out spaces to consignors and then I could have my own space to sell my products. I called friends and asked if they would like a space. I had enough interest from others so that we could open a storefront.

We opened on the side street location. It was so fun. I had always dreamed of having my own store. I had some retail experience from working at my mom's store as a kid, working at J.C. Penney in college, and at retailers while working abroad in Scotland. I had never managed a store before though. It was a big learning curve. We were doing good enough that we could move into a store six months later when the opportunity presented itself on the main street in Grafton, ND. It was a former J.C. Penney store.

We filled up the front of the store with antiques, vintage items and crafts. I eventually started to get in new clothing. I had a section that kept growing bigger in store. As people slowly decided they didn't want a space anymore, I started to put more of my own merchandise into the spaces. As antiques slowly started to trend down, I eventually sold all of my antiques and carried clothing & accessories.

I wanted to make the store a destination spot. We got a food license. We started to have a small bakery and coffee spot in the store. It was a bit of a learning curve trying to figure out what the menu should be. We finally figured it out and started developing the back of the store. So we had a restaurant and a boutique together.

In the Summer of 2019, I woke up one morning and had the thought that I should open a spot in the Columbia Mall. I signed on the dotted line for the smallest space available for rent in the mall. The small spot needed lots of renovations. I was able to work on the spot slowly

We opened the Grand Forks location on May 29, 2020. We were supposed to open in March, but the pandemic pushed that back. It was hard and exciting all at the same time. We had really slow days and really good days. There was much more traffic coming in and out of the store. It was definitely a change from having a small town store.

In February of 2021, we decided to close the Grafton location because baby #4 was about to arrive. Baby Henry arrived safe and sound. Things were going well at our small Grand Forks shop. Then I got the idea that we should open a second location in the mall in former Francesca's location. I had always admired that space. The second location, we opened was called Love Heart Boutique. It was a fun little store. It was interesting trying to staff and manage two locations in the mall. After much consideration, I decided we needed to put the 2 stores together into a bigger storefront.

In February 2023 we opened in our curent location after a huge renovation. Daily, we are adding new products and designing the store so it is even better than before. We love finding new products for the store and displaying them. I am so thankful you are here and supporting this crazy dream of mine. 

Sincerely,

Mary Kippen-Morgan, owner