Local sisters open up fun, inexpensive shop in Marion

 

Sisters Megan and Grace opened a small boutique in Marion in November. They sell clothing and accessories as well as home goods.

 

New boutique West Main Company is bringing in business for Marion County and giving the community a fresh taste of fashion and an opportunity to buy great products at great prices. Sisters Megan Semer and Grace Overton are co-owners and are passionate about clothing and small-town business.

We both love clothes and have always wanted to do something with clothes. We do the Arts and Crafts Fair, and we make and hand paint signs, and we wanted to incorporate that into our business, too,” Semer said.

With the help of Semer’s husband and the sisters’ father, owner of next-door business Arlie’s Collision Specialists, the small building was turned into a clean, trendy, vibrant store full of clothes and jewelry.

We designed [the store] and picked out the flooring and the walls. The renovation was the hardest part of this whole process and took a lot of time,” Semer said.

Younger sister Grace, who is a senior in high school, is already involved in a huge way and plans to continue her education next year in business. With Semer not having any previous education or experience in business, either, the two plunged in headfirst and learned the ropes together.

Our dad has helped us a lot, but we are both still figuring things out, and we just jumped into it,” Semer said.

When deciding on what to fill their boutique with, there is a variety of styles that the sisters pick out and that will satisfy people of all ages and demographics because of the difference in age and experiences of Semer and Overton.

We both have a different sense of fashion, but I am a mom, so have a little bit of an older style, and [Grace] is more the young and hip. We try to hit many ages; our mom can come in and buy stuff, but there are things younger girls like as well,” Semer said.

Customers will be able to walk into the store and find something trendy that they enjoy right in their hometown and be able to support their local community at the same time.

People love the variety and also having somewhere they can buy presents for friends and family without going out of town,” Overton said.

Running a business with two people owning it can be difficult, especially for sisters, and agreeing on everything sometimes doesn’t happen.

Agreeing on what to do can be hard. We typically agree, but if we don’t, we just don’t go for whatever we were planning on doing,” Overton said.

Running a new business in a small town has had its ups and downs for North Main Company, such as getting customers in the door and spreading the word that they are open, but many great experiences and factors outweigh the negatives.

The community is great. They have been kind and super supportive about our business. It’s also nice that because of the small area, word of mouth spreads information well,” Overton said.

The co-owners are working on creating a website for online browsing and sales, but until then, people can stop into their shop at 126 W Main, Marion Kansas, give them a call at 620-957-4245, or message them on Facebook at West Main Company.

They offer gift cards. Their hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

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