With the development of the business, and what she was seeing as the changes in people’s behaviors post-pandemic, Carey was looking for a storefront for her business. Owners of her current building, previously Soul Worx Yoga & Fitness, were gracious enough to rent her their building for Paisley Pockets.
In her clothing lines, there is a true taste of Europe, and it is certainly not the casual wear on the box store model. Carey said for women’s clothing she offers dresses, jeans, belts, shoes and other items in all sizes.
“It is mostly dress clothes,” Carey explained. “I want to stay away from casual clothes.”
Customers will be able to see England, France, Italy and other nations from the continent in the items. There is a company from Germany who makes couture wigs. There are linens from Spain. Carey said many of the products are ordered directly from the countries they are made in or sold from, which gives them a sort of exotic feel.
There are books in English and French, towels and dishcloths, candles, chocolates and lipstick from Morden, Manitoba.
“I think people are interested in variety, in something unique and different. A lot of women now are interested in wearing dresses, they are more interested in dressing up.”
Although the focus is on women, men are not completely left out in Paisley Pockets. Grooming and skin care products are available. The Duke Cannon men’s brand, famous for their Big Ass Brick soaps, are available, including body wash, cologne, skin cream and beard wash. There will also be gift sets with men’s products available.
Prior to opening, Carey said she had a fair bit of work to get ready, including pricing and displaying her wares. She gives a great deal of credit to her husband Lloyd, who helped her get the inside ready, doing the heavy lifting and installing the moveable change room.
Paisley Pockets will be open from 10:00am to 5:30pm Monday to Saturday. For now, she is the staff, with some help from Lloyd.
Carey is well known in Boissevain from her time at the Royal Bank. Due to her new venture, she has moved to casual there, so she can concentrate on her store. She added she started in retail 30 years ago right out of college before moving to finance. She can now shift back to where she started, and be her own boss.
She said her plans are to move completely over to her physical store. As Carey explained, the online business was great during COVID, but is surprisingly expensive to run. At this stage, with people becoming more confortable being out and about, the “bricks and mortar” is the direction she wants to move into. Carey feels her market area at this time is southwest Manitoba and into North Dakota.
Carey was looking forward to receiving more merchandise by the end of the week and showing off her unique vision to the communities in the area.
“Success for me would be to sell my stuff to people who would appreciate it,” Carey stated. “I would like to sell enough that I can continue to bring more and more unique things in.”
by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff