Clothing boutique fills vacant building

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During the Christmas shopping season last year, the owners of a women’s clothing store in Seymour realized their business had outgrown their small shop.

Around the same time, a local jeweler announced he would be retiring and closing his jewelry store in downtown Seymour.

The loss of one longtime local business paved the way for the relocation and expansion of another that hopes to be around for many years to come.

On March 10, Dragonfly Boutique, owned by Seymour residents Monica Stuckwisch and Jill Christopher, opened in the former Welmer Jewelers at 106 S. Chestnut St.

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Thanks to the handiwork of Stuckwisch’s husband, Kyle Stuckwisch, and his employees at Stuckwisch Heating and Air, the inside of the building has been completely renovated and modernized to create an upscale and chic environment for women to shop for trendy clothing and accessories.

Originally, it wasn’t the plan for Dragonfly to move into the building because it was going to need a new roof and a lot of interior work. It was just going to be a project for Kyle and his crew to work on during the winter months.

“There’s a lot of layers to this building,” Monica said. They had to peel through plaster, stripping, corkboard and panels to reveal brick walls. They also tore out several drop-down ceilings to uncover the original stamped steel ceiling.”

Some of the counters and tables left over from Welmer Jewelers were painted and reused to retain that part of the building’s history.

Becky Schepman, executive director of Seymour Main Street, said she wasn’t surprised to find out the building had sold so quickly and a new store was planning to open. Interest in the downtown is at an all-time high, she said.

“I am getting calls about building availability daily,” she said. “I think that everyone is excited about the momentum that we are seeing in the downtown and that the community wants to be part of it.”

Schepman said to have a thriving and successful downtown, it will take people willing to invest in buildings and support the businesses in them.

“Dragonfly is exactly what we want to see happen in these buildings,” she said. “They see the potential of the downtown, and they are going for it, and we are excited about more to follow.”

More restaurants and possibly a drugstore are businesses Seymour Main Street would like to help attract to the downtown, Schepman said.

Bevers Family Pharmacy used to be located downtown but closed in March 2016.

“I think that Seymour would really support something like that, and we all are missing Bevers immensely,” Schepman said.

The Dragonfly building, which also has an upstairs apartment, is now owned by the Stuckwisches, who are renting the second floor to one of Dragonfly’s employees, adding another downtown residential tenant.

Dragonfly had operated in a 400-square-foot space inside Exist Salon and Spa on West Second Street since opening in May 2016. Before that, Stuckwisch and Christopher had sold for three years through fashion and shopping websites such as Zulily and Jane.com.

Neither dreamed their business would grow to the point where they needed and could support their own storefront with 1,700 square feet of space.

“Whenever we would go shopping in bigger cities, we would go in to places like Urban Outfitters, and we would just stand in there and look around and think, ‘Wow! We really, really want this,’” Stuckwisch said.

“It’s nothing we thought was going to happen though,” Christopher added.

But the boutique kept getting busier and busier.

It was two Christmases ago when Christopher started thinking they might need a bigger space. They didn’t really want to leave Exist because they liked the other women who worked there and were able to share customers.

“That definitely helped grow our business,” Christopher said.

There also was a sense of being comfortable where they were and not wanting to step out of that comfort zone.

“It’s scary to go from, ‘We’re doing well in this 400-square-foot space. Are we going to do well if we triple our inventory and triple in size?’” Christopher said.

But they realized the Welmer Jewelers building was an opportunity that came knocking at the right time.

“We said, ‘If we’re going to do it, let’s just go for it,’” Christopher said.

Open six days a week, the store has five regular employees and two that fill in when needed.

The addition of Dragonfly Boutique brings the number of women’s clothing stores in the downtown to three. The other two are Lea Boutique at 114 N. Chestnut St. and Threads Fashion Boutique at 208 W. Second St.

Schepman said the downtown is a good location for retail businesses, especially women’s boutiques, because shopping is about more than just picking out some clothes.

“It is about spending time with your friends and enjoying a day together. It is something special,” she said. “That is what the downtown offers, something special. Our unique architecture and our stores offer something different than the traditional big box stores.”

Most people prefer to shop local if they can, she added.

“I believe at the core of every person, we love to shop and buy from people we know,” she said. “We love to know we are supporting someone’s dream of being a business owner. It just feels good.”

Christopher said the reason Dragonfly has been so successful over the years is because of the variety and uniqueness of their merchandise.

“I think we bring products and items that are different than most places in town,” she said.

In fact, Dragonfly orders only a limited number of each item to put on the shelves.

“All of our customers don’t always like this, but we try to have an extremely small amount of each item so that you don’t see your neighbor wearing the same thing,” Christopher said. “That makes it more work for us because we are constantly having to get new things in.”

And it means you’re always going to see new items when you shop.

“I think people like that, and you never know what you’re going to see,” Christopher said. “We have shipments coming in every single day, and we restock every single day.”

They also try to keep prices as low as possible, she said.

“I don’t ever bring in anything that I would have to price at a price that I wouldn’t pay myself,” Christopher said. “I like to keep reasonable prices.”

One service they plan to continue to offer is allowing people to put items on hold if they see them posted on Dragonfly’s Facebook page.

“We have a lot of people say they appreciate that because they can just run in and pick it up,” Christopher said.

Because of the additional space to fill, Dragonfly is adding several new lines of products, including Pura Vida handmade bracelets and jewelry, Natural Life inspirational gifts and small town T-shirts. The store also offers plus sizes and personalized shopping assistance.

“We’ve always wanted to have more things. We just didn’t have the space to display it,” Christopher said. “Now, we do.”

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What: Dragonfly Boutique

Owners: Jill Christopher and Monica Stuckwisch

Where: 106 S. Chestnut St. in downtown Seymour

Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays

On Facebook: Dragonfly Boutique ~ Seymour

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