When shopping at Always Indie, a boutique and artist collective, customers can browse clothing racks and merchandise tables full of products from more than 20 local female businesses or visit their design room to make personalized accessories.
Julia Hayes and Victoria Conrad, co-owners of the boutique, have expanded their Garrettsville-based business with the opening of a Kent location in Acorn Alley on June 1, spreading their message of female empowerment and love of crafts.
Their layout is meant for customers to experience buying “something that they can’t find anywhere else,” according to Hayes.
The creative partnership between the two friends and crafters started when both were laid off due to COVID-19 and decided to start their business adventure.
“We started … making bead bracelets at home,” Conrad said. “We started selling those on Etsy, and then we got into a few storefronts of local businesses. That’s what started us out to do pop-ups, then we started our t-shirts and cups.”
Before adventuring into physical locations, Hayes and Conrad rebranded their business in 2022 with a name to accommodate changing crafting pursuits.
“We are always changing and trying new things, and we wanted something that would be ever-changing with that business,” Hayes said. “We wanted something that was a play on being always being independent, always being ever-changing and always being unique to yourselves.”
In 2023, Hayes and Conrad soft-launched their first physical space in Garrettsville to work out of and make their products. They started out only being open on the weekends.
The space expanded to feature the shop’s Female Artist Collective, their in-house incubator space for fellow female business collaborations.
According to Hayes, a Garrettsville native, a fire in 2014 destroyed half of the town, so it was difficult for them to find a storefront when they initially searched for locations for their shop.
The duo was able to find a boutique space in Hayes’ hometown and opened their first one in August of 2024.
Hayes said Kent customer reactions have been positive, with many enjoying the brand’s female-forward angle.
“We know how hard it is to stand out in a community of makers and artists, especially as a young woman,” Hayes said. “We wanted to give them a space to do that and be seen and make their dreams come true while they’re working their day job or being a mom or whatever they are doing.”
Following their debut in Acorn Alley, Hayes and Conrad hope to collaborate with neighboring businesses with plans of sip and shop events.
Nikki Gasiewski is a reporter. Contact het at [email protected].
