It’s hard to turn a corner these days without bumping into a cute little boutique of some kind. They’re so common, I imagine it’s rather difficult for these shops to distinguish themselves from one another in a meaningful way.
That’s not the case for Holly-Wood Decorative Creations in BayTowne Plaza, where owner Holly Pearson has found a way to make her new boutique stand out from the crowd.
Holly proudly features only products created by women and minority-owned businesses, and an impressive variety of those products, to boot. While many boutiques focus on a particular kind of merchandise, like children’s or maternity items, Holly-Wood’s shelves are filled with something for all ages: wood products, artificial flowers, jewelry, drinkware, stuffed animals, bows and bags, signs and candies. Soon, she’ll be stocking even more food products, including baked goods and sauces.
And every single one of them is made by a woman or minority-owned business.
Another distinction Holly believes she has from similar shops is the close relationship she has with her vendors, which translates to more personalized service for her customers. For example, if a patron were to see an item they particularly liked but wanted in a different color, Holly said, “I can text (the vendor) with a special request and I’ll get a response, usually while they’re still in the store.”
Holly opened Holly-Wood Decorative Creations last May, after beginning her own online woodcraft and home decor business during the COVID shutdown. When the world began to open up again, she started showing her work at art and craft festivals. There, she got to know many of the other vendors, and they would talk about the difficulties of selling their products in local shops.
“I noticed that you’re either overly packed in a store or your items aren’t showcased,” Holly said.” So I wanted to have a store where I focused on displaying everybody else’s items.”
“I advertise everybody else’s stuff all the time,” she continued. “My husband yells at me because I don’t really advertise my stuff. But I think that it’s good to help everybody else. That’s what you need to do. If you help somebody else out, in the end it will help you out.”
So about a year ago, she decided to open her own shop. It took a long time to find a perfect place, not very big (“we weren’t sure it was going to be feasible”), and where the management would be willing to work with her as a new business owner (“a lot of them spit out business mumbo jumbo”). She found everything she needed at BayTowne.
“They were wonderful with me here,” she said. “I really enjoy being in this plaza.”
Clearly the decision to move into BayTowne was a wise one. Holly-Wood opened last May with just 17 vendors, and a lot of empty floor space. Since then, Holly said, “we’ve grown massively.” She now features 32 vendors, with more arriving soon. She can actually accommodate about 45 vendors, and envisions that kind of growth happening sooner rather than later.
Business has been so good, Holly and her husband have considered moving to a bigger space in BayTowne Plaza when their lease is up this spring. But that’s as far as she’d go; there’s no way she’ll be leaving the area anytime soon.
“I love this area,” she said. “Everyone has been wonderful, everybody is so happy and friendly. They love the products. They love hearing the story.”
Holly-Wood Decorative Creations is located at 1900 Empire Blvd., Webster, in BayTowne Plaza. Connect with Holly on Facebook here. She’s open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Take a peek inside the shop below:
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(posted 2/10/2023)
webster on the web 
Sounds like reverse discrimination only selling products from woman and minorities. Sad. If you want to be inclusive – BE ALL INCLUSIVE
Interesting perspective.