Friends launch online boutique with plan to grow

Oct. 9, 2020

Two longtime friends have started an online boutique with the hope of ultimately having a storefront.

Kelly Spielman, who lives in Tea, and Kristi Vondra, who lives in Sioux Falls, are friends and former co-workers who both work in the medical field.

“Kristi has always liked to shop and loves fashion in general, and anytime she purchases something for me, I get compliments,” Spielman said. “So it basically started as a way for us to do something we love.”

They decided to combine Vondra’s online shopping expertise with Spielman’s social media skills and launched the boutique, called Peplume, this summer.

“There definitely was a learning curve,” Vondra said. “My husband works in the IT industry, so I was fortunate to have his expertise from that side, and then it was a lot of online research, and we had ideas in our head, so it was a matter of researching those ideas and figuring out how to improve them.”

They sell through shoppeplume.com and are using Facebook and Instagram to build their customer base. The focus is on offering items that make women look and feel good at affordable prices, they said.

“We want to offer clothing for women of all ages, and we want options for both work and casual,” Spielman said. “Kristi has a knack for putting outfits together, so we’re’ trying to purchase clothes … you can mix and match and go out (in) after work.”

They hope to expand sizes and styles as they grow and add bags, shoes and gift items. For now, they sell apparel and jewelry.

They are considering doing some pop-up events, though many vendor fairs have been canceled because of the pandemic.

“Ultimately, our goal is to have a storefront and grow the business to the point we can partner with organizations to give back through monthly promotions,” Vondra said.

They have an offer for new customers to save 20 percent off a first purchase. Use the code SFBIZ20 when making a purchase.

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Friends launch online boutique with plan to grow

Two longtime friends have started an online boutique with the hope of ultimately having a storefront.

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