Photos: Emily John Photography
Excelsior boutique expands its space and offerings.
“We started expansion in January,” says owner Connie Frederick. After knocking down the wall between the shop and an unoccupied neighboring space, Ooh La La Boutique now encompasses the whole building at 274 Water Street. “We’ve doubled in size,” Frederick continues. “We added two more dressing rooms, we’re adding a lot of new lines.”
Ooh La La’s inventory more than doubled too, with expanding selections from popular lines and more options to browse through overall. “We were already working with Free People, but we upped our inventory with them,” says Frederick. “Kut from the Kloth is also a huge line for us, and we tripled our inventory for the Sorel footwear.”
With inventory expanding, so too is the boutique’s clientele. “We’re going to add a lot of kid items, a lot of tween styles,” says Frederick. The idea behind this is crafting a boutique where anyone can come in and find something for themselves or a family member.
“Really anyone can come in here and shop and find something for anybody in the family,” Frederick says. “We want to accommodate everyone who walks through the front door.” To this end, Ooh La La also plans to introduce more menswear. “We’re adding a huge line of Lake Minnetonka Minnesota T-shirts for guys,” Frederick says, adding that there will be hats and sweatshirts for men as well.
“We will add quite a few gift items too; picture frames; handmade signs made by local artists,” says Frederick. “I also work really heavily with the local art community, so a lot of our jewelry is made by local artists. I want to continue adding locally made items too to support the art community.”
After over 23 years in downtown Excelsior, Frederick knows all about the importance of community. She says when it comes to other local business, everyone is supportive of one another. “We all work very well and very closely with one another because while it’s a small community, it’s an amazing community. The support is overwhelming.”
Ooh La La Boutique
274 Water St., Excelsior
Facebook: Ooh La La Boutique
Twitter: @Ooh_LaLaFashion
Instagram: @oohlalaboutiquemn
