At the beginning of the Covid outbreak, Jessie Witte decided to shutter her vintage clothing business' physical studio space in the Northrup King Building and shuffled everything to her home in South Minneapolis where she focused solely on selling through her Instagram.
Witte began showcasing product via Instagram stories and making local, weekly deliveries to her loyal following—Witte reports she delivered to some reoccurring customers 10-15 times during the pandemic.
"I feel incredibly lucky and grateful that I was able to make a living during a global pandemic and actually have my business thrive," says Witte, who founded AudreyRose in 2009. "I am so grateful to the community for rallying behind small local businesses to keep us afloat during such uncertain times."
But despite a booming virtual model, she always dreamed of her own, standalone storefront, and in March she discovered just the space.
Located in Powderhorn's Standish neighborhood (2237 E. 38th St., across from Sister Sludge coffee shop), "the shop is truly a reflection of who I am and what interests me," she says. The cozy space is split into two parts: a sales floor (filled with charming, historic touches like original penny tile floors and a tin ceiling), and a dressing room lounge—AKA the "cloud lounge." The shop, whose name pays homage to Witte's grandmother, is stocked with clothing, jewelry, accessories, glassware, housewares, art and a smattering of furniture.
"I think people in the Twin Cities, now more than ever, are hungry to shop vintage, local, small & community conscious shops," says Witte. "We had a lot of time to be stuck at home and think about what is really important to us and who we wanted to see thriving when the world re-opened."
In other local vintage news, Yana Pietras and Ian O'Neill, partners and co-owners of Moth Oddities, opened their first brick-and-mortar space earlier this month. Tandem Vintage owner Amanda Baumann, who previously sold her collection inside a shared space within Northeast's FindFurnish, via an Etsy shop, and a robust Instagram story sale strategy, teased plans to open her own space earlier this month. And veteran vintage boutique Via's announced the closure of its Hennepin Ave. Uptown store after 17 years in business. "I've loved having the physical store, but for many reasons, it was time for me to make a change," says Via's owner Kellie Cameron in an Instagram post. "Via’s is not finished, or going away- we are just switching gears. I haven’t ruled out having another storefront in the future, or maybe a studio space where people can shop in person." Starting in July, Cameron will operate the vintage business online.
