Bethel teen’s shop offers fashion and socializing

Kate McWilliams
Kate McWilliams is the founder of Arctic Belle Boutique. (Photo courtesy Arctic Belle Boutique)

A Bethel teen has started her own business, a women’s clothing consignment store. The 17-year-old senior at Bethel Regional High School opened ‘Arctic Belle Boutique’ in November, making her one of the community’s youngest entrepreneurs.

Kate McWilliams describes a new item that just arrived in her store as she displays it on a mannequin.

“She was sitting on a gold mine. This is a David Green Furriers Mouton fur jacket. There’s like patterns in cow fur, I’m not even sure – they must have dyed it. The lady bought it for $900 on clearance and I’m selling it for $500,” said McWilliams.

The 17-year-old also has more practical items to like sweaters, jeans and accessories. But she says it’s not just about business, in a town where there are few social venues, the boutique fills a void for women.

“What I like about when there are a bunch of customers at the same time, everyone acts like they know each other. Everyone’s like chatting like, ‘oh that’s cute! If you don’t like that, let me try it on. It’s like a social gathering. I like that this could be the place to escape and do something good for themselves,” said McWilliams.

Arctic Belle Boutique
The shop is mostly open on weekends. (Photo courtesy Arctic Belle Boutique)

Here’s how the shop works: people bring McWilliams their old clothes to sell. She gives them 40% and the store keeps 60%. McWilliams keeps track of the sales and clients can then use revenue from sales of their old clothes to buy new ones.

Her shop is in an unlikely location. A pink sandwich board at the turnoff to her store reads, ‘Arctic Belle Boutique,’ and little pink arrows guide customers down a dirt road to her shop. But the rustic retail locale, at the end of a dead-end road on the edge of town in an unfinished addition to her family’s home, “is really Bethel,” she says.

“I knew it would have to be rustic because the building isn’t finished and I have to work with drywall and plywood floors. It was hard cause I didn’t want it to look gross, I didn’t want it to look trashy. But I think with the peg board displays and the recycled furniture, I think it really comes off as, organic,” said McWilliams.

The boutique is sandwiched between a bed and breakfast, a dog yard and a mini-farm complete with a garden, high tunnel greenhouse and a chicken coop. Her family sells produce and eggs. Surrounded by entrepreneurship, McWilliams says it must have rubbed off on her. The idea for Arctic Belle Boutique started with a yard sale, this past summer, she says, where she was in charge of selling her family’s old clothes.

“I set up like a mini store in our porch and I put up displays and had everything organized. It was so much fun helping our customers find what they wanted,” said McWilliams.

She carefully merchandized sweaters and tops, accessorizing with scarves and jewelry and, to her surprise, they flew off the tables and shelves. The 17-year-old says she knew she was onto something.

McWilliams grew up in Bethel and is a 17-year-old senior at Bethel Regional High School. She balances schoolwork and sports with running her shop, so it’s mostly open on weekends. McWilliams’ success at the yard sale planted the seed for her business. It wasn’t long before she got a business plan together and got some training. She also got a boost from the ‘Best in the West’ small business competition, where she received more training and start-up funds.

“I won $3,000 in grant money, and that’s helped so much with starting the place up. I mean, before I got the money, I thought, I don’t need this money. I’m going to start it up no matter what. I’m so determined, but, wow, I don’t think I could have done this without ‘Best in the West’,” said McWilliams.

Officials say McWilliams is the youngest person ever to win a ‘Best in the West’ grant. Earnings from her shop are going into a college fund. McWilliams says she plans to start university in the fall. But until then, she’s open for business and socializing.

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