June 29, 2021

A new boutique has taken over the downtown spot that previously housed Young & Richards Flowers. 

MK Threads Boutique opened late last week at 222 S. Phillips Ave., moving from its former location in the Jones421 Building. 

“Opening day went fabulous,” owner Kelly Grovijahn said. “People kept sticking their heads in and going, ‘What is this?’ And we kept telling them to ‘Come on in!’”

Moving into a larger location, the store is able to carry more items, she said. 

“We were able to add a moderately priced business casual line,” Grovijahn said. “We have three brands that we are really focusing on. They are very high quality, very stylish and can be worn to the office easily. One great aspect of these pieces is that they can also be worn into the night when paired with something else.”

The main goal of carrying this new line was to fill the gap of what was missing in the boutique market downtown, Grovijahn said.

“We shopped up and down the other boutiques and kept asking ourselves what is missing,” she said. “We feel like we found exactly what it was.”

MK Threads customers can find items that will fit an on-the-go lifestyle while still being trendy, Grovijhan said.

“We say that our shopper is a person that is on the go,” she said. “They want to look stylish but be comfortable at the same time. We look for super-soft fabrics and pockets in our garments.”

Shoppers also will be able to find handcrafted jewelry, signs and gifts by BluMoon Designs in the space. The store was located next to MK Threads at its previous location. 

“We played off of each other really well,” Grovijahn said. “It only made sense when we came here to have them come with us.” 

Grovijahn wanted the boutique to follow the coming trends, she said.

“Gold is one trend that keeps coming back, so we knew that we would need to switch out all of our racks from silver to gold,” she said.

MK Threads also wanted to offer something that other boutiques downtown did not have, she added.

“We added curved fitting rooms that are larger than 6 feet by 6 feet,” she said. “Also, two of our fitting rooms are designed in a way that when girlfriends go in, they can talk in between each other and show each other the outfits they are trying on because there is only a fabric curtain in between them that can be pulled to the side.”

Grovijahn wanted to design the space based on what she likes when she shops, she said.

“I want to go into a place that feels very elevated with a price point that is moderate or affordable,” she said. “I really feel like we hit the mark with this space.”

The boutique also has a sitting area for men that enter the store with their partner.

“We have a seating area for the men towards the back, so that they can be comfortable when they come in,” Grovjahn said. “We always try to offer them a beer, so they can hang out and let their wife shop.”

When it comes to sourcing the boutique’s items, Grovijahn has started traveling directly to brands’ showrooms.

“We used to go to market to source our items, which is what most boutiques do, but we recently found out that we can go to Los Angeles and shop directly from the company,” she said. “This allows us to skip the middleman. When companies go to market, they have to pay a ridiculous amount of money for their booth space, and that added cost gets passed on to the customer.” 

Grovijahn travels to Los Angeles twice a year to stock the store, she said.

“With our new location, we are planning on potentially having to go three times a year,” she said. “We try to buy for an entire season while we are there, and what really sells well we will reorder and stock more frequently.”

Hours are fluctuating as the boutique adjusts to its new space.

“We are figuring out our hours right now,” Grovijahn said. “We know that we will be open seven days a week starting on July 11.”