Over the past year, several new boutiques have popped up in Dixieland and downtown Lakeland. Many of the owners started their stores online and decided to open storefronts, banking on shoppers wanting an authentic in-person shopping experience again.
National trends suggest they’re right, especially when it comes to young adults ages 18 to 29. While e-commerce boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a social and experiential element missing. Online styling services have been struggling — like Stitch Fix, which lost more than half of its stock value and laid off 15% of its workforce.
The new boutiques all offer elevated in-person shopping, with goods that feel special and unique. They say people want to touch things, try them on and take them home the same day.
Downtown: Tennessee Jane
That authentic experience is why Hanna Sampson, 31, of Lakeland, opened Tennessee Jane downtown just before Thanksgiving.
“People think we’re a western boutique but I would classify us as trendy, casual, everyday wear,” Sampson said, adding that she named the store after her favorite childhood horse.
“People were tired of online shopping. They craved experiences.”
Hanna sampson, owner of Tennessee Jane
Sampson is surprised by how many tourists have stopped by. “The store has been incredible. Things are turning around financially. We’ve had a great experience from downtown Lakeland,” she said.
Sampson opened her first storefront in Christina Commons on South Florida Avenue toward the end of 2017. Then, she developed an app in 2018 and said online and in-store sales skyrocketed, so she opened a second store in downtown Plant City in 2019.
“Our online business was just going crazy. We were shipping off hundreds of packages a day from the back of the store,” Sampson recalled.
So much so, she leased a warehouse in March 2020 to handle the online demand. Then the COVID-19 shutdown hit and she had to close her two storefronts temporarily. She and her ten employees carried on, going live from the warehouse on Facebook all day selling clothes.
“We had better days than we ever had before just going online,” Sampson said.
By the end of 2020, she reopened her stores but said sales were lagging. She decided to not renew her lease for the south Lakeland store and in early 2021, to close the Plant City store, due to staffing issues.
“With the economy and aftermath of COVID, after a few years online, we really started to struggle. No one was seeing our stuff on Facebook anymore. Facebook lives weren’t doing anything for us anymore,” Sampson said. “We tried all of the things to get our business back to what it was and nothing was working. It was nothing like what our business was before.”
The rest of 2021 and 2022, Sampson said she operated out of the warehouse with just one employee, selling clothes online to stay afloat. Then, in early 2023, her manager returned after having a child and she said things started to turn around. Sampson decided she wanted a storefront in downtown Lakeland and found the location at 117 S. Kentucky Ave.
“I was very nervous. The sales were in the tank and we were not turning a profit. I prayed about it a lot so I just kept pushing on,” Sampson said.
She invested all of her money in remodeling it and said, so far, it’s been worth the gamble.
“People were tired of online shopping. They craved experiences,” Sampson said.
She came up with ways to make those experiences memorable. In her store now, she offers a trucker hat bar, where shoppers can combine their own patches to make a custom trucker hat.
Shoppers can also purchase custom permanent jewelry, such as sterling silver or gold-filled bracelets, necklaces and rings, that are hand-welded to fit them. Sampson said bridal parties, couples, and mother-daughter duos typically partake in it.
“It’s a huge trend right now that people are loving. It’s a fun experience that people love to do,” Sampson said.
Sampson, who said she is now a single mother of three, is glad she did not give up on her dream, which she started as a hobby when she was 23, as a stay-at-home mom.
“I grew up very poor with parents who always struggled. I knew I wanted a different life for me and my children. I don’t have a family to fall back on. I have a lot of faith in God. I truly believe that there’s nothing I can’t do without hard work and dedication. I didn’t want to go into the corporate world. I dropped out of college with no degree. I had no choice but to make it work. I wasn’t ready to let it go or see it die. We have very loyal customers,” Sampson said.
The boutique is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Dixieland: Elope Bride
Dixieland is also seeing a revival of boutiques. Elope Bride opened there in May. The owner, Shantel Griffin, also owns “Bearer of the Bling Bridal” in St. Petersburg, Fl., where she was born and raised.
“I always had a vision to open a store in Lakeland,” said Griffin, who added she often would receive brides in her St. Petersburg store from Lakeland.
Elope Bride, located at 947 S. Florida Ave., isn’t your typical bridal shop where brides try on dresses, order one, and wait for months for it to arrive. At Elope Bride, which is open Wednesday to Sunday each week, Griffin said the brides can take home most of the dresses the same day they try them on. She carries sizes 6 to 26 and said her prices range from $800 to $2,000.
“The moms look forward to this experience… it’s something you can’t get online.”
shantel griffin, owner of elope bride
“There was a need for something more affordable in the area,” Griffin said.“Lakeland has been overwhelmingly accepting of us. It’s been a successful seven months so far.”
Griffin said younger brides sometimes order dresses online but she’s banking on the moms to keep her business afloat, saying they crave the opportunity to see their daughters go to the store and find their dream gown.
“The online world is a scary thing,” Griffin said. “I’m very appreciative of the moms… the moms look forward to this experience. It’s the moms that keep us alive and Instagram. Having that experience, it’s something you can’t get online.”
Along with bridal gowns, Griffin said Elope Bride has accessories such as veils and a seamstress by appointment.
Griffin said she chose the Dixieland location because she found it to be “charming” and “up and coming.” Elope Bride accepts walk-ins but appointments are recommended.
“I can just feel the vibe…People drive by all day long pointing and then they come back around and say they saw the gowns, they’re beautiful,” Griffin said.
Dixieland: Social Threads
Eliska Poirier, 49, was also attracted to the Dixieland neighborhood and decided to open up a pop-up shop for her “Social Threads.” The Salt Lake City native said Social Threads started as a blog back in 2018 and it evolved into teaching women how to find high-quality clothing through thrift shopping.
“Very quickly women started buying the clothes off my back and then asking me to source clothes for them. I quickly built an inventory and would share the pieces on Instagram and women would come to my home and shop,” said Poirier.
“I love making women feel good and more confident about themselves when they shop and get styled by me.”
eliska poirier, owner of social threads
She eventually moved her business into the Curated Collective. As her business evolved to incorporate personal styling, she decided to move from there to her own office space, at 1723 S. Florida Ave, Suite 8, next to Moodie Skin and Beauty Studio.
“When I rented the office, it was with the idea that I would go back to my original way of running Social Threads, where women book appointments to shop, and every other month I host a pop-up,” Poirier explained.
Poirier shops at thrift stores across the nation and models her finds on social media. She goes to the West Palm Beach area once a month to find clothes in South Florida, but she said she’s also found some gems from local thrift stores in the Tampa area. The clothing in her store has come from places like Las Vegas, Austin, Nashville and Puerto Rico. She buys the items and then sells them in her store and during pop-ups.
“I am bringing in designer and higher-end clothing to Lakeland and making what is typically unaffordable, affordable,” Poirier explained, adding that she carries in her stores clothes from sizes 0-14.
While she finds some items from Goodwill and the Salvation Army, she said consignment shops and church thrift stores have been a gold mine.
“The ritzy neighbors don’t always have the best stuff. I have found great pieces in (neighborhood) thrift stores that most people would not consider going into. You don’t have to look at each piece. I scan the racks, and look at the fabric and prints. I have found Prada and Dolce & Gabbana by noticing the quality of the fabric,” Poirier said, adding that you should always inspect items carefully and know what can be fixed and what cannot.
She said the resale industry has gotten to be a bit more challenging lately.
“The resell market has continued to grow and sourcing and finding high quality and designer brands that I want to bring into the store has been much more challenging… It is getting harder to find great items because there are so many people out trying to source the same types of clothes that I am,” Poirier explained. “My prices are typically lower than resellers on sites like (Poshmark) & eBay.”
Poirier fell into personal styling because she’s always loved clothing and has been interested in fashion since she was a little girl.
“I’ve always loved clothing and the way it can impact our mood, posture, and overall well-being. I often joke that my mom was my first client. As a child I would always give her clothing recommendations,” Poirier said.
Her typical clients are those who’ve gone through a life change, weight loss, or divorce. She often dresses women for photo shoots, weddings, galas and public speaking.
“I help women save money by helping them understand their buying habits, body type and how they can shop more strategically when they understand their own personal style,” Poirier said. “I love making women feel good and more confident about themselves when they shop and get styled by me.”
South of Dixieland: 8.28 Boutique
Further south on S. Florida Ave., another boutique has opened, 8.28 Boutique. It’s located at 3139 S. Florida Ave. and is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The online store is open 24/7.
The owner, Lakeland native Caroline Davis, 30, started the business in May 2018 as an online boutique. On Aug. 28, 2023, she opened the storefront.
“It was just the right timing, the right center, the right space. I wanted to be able to reach more customers.”
caroline davis, owner of 8.28 boutique
“I am so appreciative that our Lakeland community and friends came and shopped in the store. And I’m equally thankful for all of our online customers and friends who’ve stuck with us as I’ve figured out how to have both an online store and storefront. This year, 8.28 hit record sales and I finally got 8.28 out of our house,” Davis told her Facebook followers on New Year’s Eve.
The name of the boutique, 8.28 Boutique, comes from the Bible verse, Romans 8:28, which says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Davis’ original career plan was to become a broadcaster. She was working as a news reporter for a radio station in Birmingham where she quickly realized that career path no longer suited her.
“I was tired of talking about people dying all of the time. I was not prepared for how much sadness there was,” Davis recalled, adding that beforehand, she had only interned in sports.
Her mother, Gina Saunders, co-owner of Gaines Jewelers, was sick and she wanted something more flexible, where she could return home more often. She quit the news job in 2017 and began working for a men’s wholesale clothing company, learning all of the aspects of the business from customer service to packing orders and selling orders online.
By 2018, her desire to become an entrepreneur led her to create her online boutique.
“I hired a website designer, went to market and bought pieces to sell and sold them,” Davis explained.
She said the hardest part about having an online boutique is making sure people see you. She believes it takes at least a year sometimes before strangers find your store.
“Google ads is the short avenue to that and SEO,” Davis said, adding it’s her secret sauce. “You got to spend money to make money. You have to put money into ads to get the return on them. Google ads has been one of the best resources for my business and I couldn’t recommend it enough to another small business (owner). It’s a way to make the internet smaller so people can find you.”
In 2019, she and her husband moved back to Lakeland. Opening a storefront was always a goal of hers but she struggled to find the right location. Her father, Dean Saunders, who is the founder of Saunders Ralston Dantzler, and his company helped her identify what would be a good fit. Davis wanted a place with ample parking and preferred a more central location closer to South Lakeland, which is why she landed where she did.
“I was getting my eyebrows done next door and saw the space for lease. This shopping center is amazing,” Davis said, adding that the plaza has a nail bar, eyelash studio, and eyebrow threading salon, all places that women frequent.
Davis felt it was a great time to open a storefront, considering she had been running the online boutique from her home, and people had started coming to the house to try things on. She wanted to use the space it was occupying in her home to create a playroom for her now 18-month-old daughter.
“It was just the right timing, the right center, the right space. I wanted to be able to reach more customers. I wanted to be able to have a lot of parking and really be in the dead center of town,” Davis recalled.
She opened on August 28, and as coincidence would have it, the space has 828 square feet.
“It’s been really great,” Davis said. “I have a very classic style. That’s what definitely sets me apart. I do all of my own buying. Everything that is in the store is handpicked by me. “
Her clothing prices range from $39 to $400 and she sells clothes that range from XS to XL. Along with women’s clothing, she also sells women’s shoes and accessories. She sources her clothes from the America’s Apparel Mart in Atlanta.
“The Lakeland community has really embraced 8.28. We really enjoy serving the women of Lakeland and helping them get dressed for all of life’s occasions.”
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You missed the best one of all! Monkees (2514 S Florida Ave) has gorgeous clothes, shoes and accessories; knowledgeable staff; and a convenient location! And great sales, too.