Yellow Stitch Boutique is clothing with a cause. The amazing owner, Valerie, has a special story as to why she started her business, and the way her three daughters are so involved is amazing.
Valerie and I sat down so I could ask her a few questions about her boutique to share with all of you. I didn’t expect to leave so inspired and moved! This interview is a bit longer than I usually post, but it’s well worth the read. Please enjoy getting to know Valerie and the Yellow Stitch Boutique in Bismarck, ND.
Yellow Stitch Boutique
Can you share what your business is and how it started?
I started Yellow Stitch Boutique 4 years ago as hopefully a venue to give back to our community.
So, I grew up very much a tomboy. I was not a fashion person whatsoever. I was the girl who would wear gym shorts with red cowgirl boots to the farm.
What happened was we had somebody very close to us named Lynette in our life who said something that gave me an idea. After my three girls had gone school shopping with my mother, Lynette came over to see what my girls had gotten for back-to-school clothing. And they did a little fashion show for her.
And she told me, “Well, Valerie, you have three girls. You might as well just open up your own store.” And at the time, I didn’t think anything of it. It was just a comment she made. And then we actually lost her a couple of weeks after that day.
Lynette was very much a servant of God. She was a servant of all people. And she especially had a heart for children. She gave back to our community so much that after she passed away, I felt just a tug on my heart telling me that I needed to start doing more of what she did in her life. And so I wanted to find a way to give back and still be a busy mom. And so I thought about what she had said and looked more into what it would take to open up my own store. So, I got my business license, and I started applying to order clothes wholesale, and I did an online boutique.
And in an effort to carry on the legacy that she brought to our lives, the Yellow Stitch Boutique sponsors a different mission that helps children every single month.
And we give 10% of all of our proceeds to the monthly mission. And we also give our customers the opportunity to partake in the mission with us.
So that’s where I started. I’ve become a lover of fashion since I opened the boutique. But it really was started for me to use it as a vessel to give back and raise awareness of how much need there is in our community.
Who does your business serve?
We work directly with the schools. We work mostly with the social workers and counselors in our community. They pretty much tell us what classrooms need or what kids need, and we find a way to meet those needs.
For instance, I received an email from one of my daughters’ favorite teachers the very first month we were open and she was begging us as parents to remember to send warm winter clothing for our children. Some of the kids would come in from recess with hands as red as Santa’s hat and it would take them so long to warm up.
This inspired our first ever mission. It’s called Share the Warmth, and we do it in different communities in the state of North Dakota, where someone will nominate their school for Share the Warmth. With Share the Warmth, we create an event on Facebook that allows people to purchase hats and gloves on our website at our cost and those get donated to the schools.
But then we also allow people to purchase them for themselves and we directly match whatever they order, we forfeit all profit and donate that item to the school they are supporting. We have donated over 10,000 hats and gloves in the 4 years we have been open.
In November and December, we support something called Operation Christmas Magic.
We work with the social workers at the schools, and they give us wishlists of the kids in need. They work with the parents and get us the lists. We post these lists, and I’m not joking in a matter of five minutes of me posting every single list, my customers will say, I’m sponsoring this child. So essentially, it’s like an online angel tree.
Operation Christmas Magic is a little different than other giving trees because we’re going to get each child at least 3 or 4 things on their list. These kids are allowed to ask for anything that they want. Like they asked for it, they get it. Bikes, hoverboards, tablets, clothes, toys….if it’s a wish, we will find a way! And it’s grown so much, the very first year we did it, we sponsored 32 kids. And last year, we sponsored over 350 kids.
My customers bring these donated items either to my house or to the store. And then, the week before Christmas break, we have a huge wrapping party because we asked for them to come unwrapped so that I can make a very detailed list. So the parents know what their kids are opening.
And it is one of my favorite days of the whole year. I have just a couple of people who help me so that we can drop all these presents off in one day at the schools. And it’s just such a wonderful, feel good, heartwarming experience to be able to do it.
What products do you carry?
We are a women’s boutique. My teenage daughters are slowly creating a teenage section, like a more youthful section called Makenna and Lauren’s Picks, on the website.
And then I also have a 12-year-old who’s started her own little section of my business, too. So on the website, my youngest daughter’s name is Kate. There is a tab that’s called Kate’s Closet.
And so all of the items that she picks out and shop for are on the website.
What makes Yellow Stitch Boutique Special?
In the four years that we’ve been in business, we have become kind of a vessel for people to know how to give back. And so a way to support us, even if it’s not our current mission, even if it is, February, and it’s freezing cold out, you don’t have to wait for us to do a hat and glove drive to take hats and gloves to schools. Using what we have done every month, and knowing that it’s something you could do any month out of the year, and still support the schools.
Teaching has become one of the most thankless jobs. And that’s why we choose to support the teachers: there’s such a shortage, and we want the ones we have to stay. So, we want them to know that they feel supported. They just don’t always ask. We hope we can inspire people to give back locally and know that when they take things to the schools or donate things to the schools, it’s affecting children in your community directly, no matter what state you live in.
What is your business’s vision for the future?
Our physical store has only been open for a month. I’m very much looking forward to going to my first market in 2024 and expanding on our brands. One thing that has limited me in the past is being an online retailer. Most very well-known brands only let you carry their products if you have an actual physical store.
I’m looking forward to carrying some different brands and expanding a little bit of what my own daughters do in the business. Seriously, my 12-year-old could run my store. She knows how to put products out in the store, she knows how to price things, how to write descriptions, everything. She could do it all.
Watching the girls step into those leadership roles in my business would be amazing.
I don’t want to be known for the size of what I do. I want to be known for the significance of what I do. So, as far as growth, I don’t know that what I offer will get much bigger, but no matter how much I grow as a person or how much my business does grow, I don’t want to lose the significance that we have in our community.
We want to maintain the personal touch we put on our business because that makes us different from any other store.
How can readers support the Yellow Stitch Boutique and its missions?
Of course, shopping online or in the store will support our missions, but you don’t have to buy anything to support us.
In January and February, we work with locally-owned business restaurants that discount their their meals. And we buy gift cards that cover the cost of a meal. And instead of the elementary schools, then we give those to the middle and high school counselors. That way, if there’s a long weekend, and they know that there are going to be kids who don’t have a meal at home, they send home gift cards with these kids so that they know that these kids are at least going to get to eat something.
November and December are Operation Christmas Magic, as I mentioned before!
Besides that, the other months of the year depend on the needs of the community.
Follow Yellow Stitch Boutique on Facebook and Instagram or visit their website.
