May Lane Boutique of Madison celebrated its grand opening Sept. 17 at 202 W. Washington St. The Thursday morning event included a ribbon-cutting ceremony with multiple local representatives in attendance, along with friends and family of the business’s owners.
The small business initially operated online for three-and-a-half years before moving to a brick-and-mortar store in June earlier this year.
As a mother of four and a Morgan County resident, Alecxandra Hammond started the boutique as a longtime customer of such businesses. She said she wanted to find an interest to pursue outside her role as a stay-at-home mom.
“I was bored; I didn’t have anything to do, and needed something that was ‘me’ outside of the kids,” Hammond said. “So, May Lane started, and then we did live videos once a week, and it was like I was chatting with my friends online. I made so many friends from those who now come into the store and support me here.”
Hammond noted, when beginning her venture with the store, she wanted to provide more sizing options for fellow boutique shoppers. Therefore, she sells clothing in two categories: curvy and regular.
“We carry small through 3X, and we started that because I saw that it was an option,” Hammond said. “But there was more than what was being advertised from all the bigger boutiques that I shop with.”
Hammond said she began offering in-store sales in June, just weeks after signing the lease for the building space, which she describes “the best place to start” her in-store services.
“We’ve done more sales since June to now than we did almost all of last year,” Hammond said. “I do feel like we’ve met a new group of people. More teachers come in, and it’s just a lot more. It’s not even just our online customers anymore that come in.”
Overall, with three months running the store in downtown Madison, Hammond said her favorite part has been seeing customers in person and interacting with them. She hopes May Lane Boutique will continue to develop, as it isn’t always noticed, next to some of the older stores adjacent to the shop.
“I love being able to see the people in person, and they’ll take a bunch of stuff into the dressing rooms, and they come out and ask me if I think it looks good,” Hammond said. “I look forward to letting people know we’re here because we are kind of hidden by most of the traffic stops, such as Amici’s and the nail salon.”