We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jillian Kotz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jillian , thanks for joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

I feel like business ownership in general is a whole lot of taking risks. Our story has a few and my sister and I have taken our turns pushing us toward taking them. Before we launched Chic Avenue Boutique in 2015, we went back and forth for quite some time on if we were going to do it. Did we have time? How will it go? Will anyone order from us? Those questions kept coming up but then finally, one day, Krista called me and said, “I filed with the Department of Revenue. We have a tax id. Let’s do this.” So, we took the plunge and launched Chic Avenue Boutique and haven’t looked back since. Fast forward to 2020. The pandemic sparked some risk-taking that we never would have dreamed. One being our Chic Avenue Boutique app which we took the risk of investing into and it is now our top digital sales channel. The other being Chicwood Candle Co. Krista had made some candles as gifts and then we made a few to sell at events through the boutique. I thought they were so good and pretty that if we were going to do this, let’s make it legit. Let’s give them a brand and go for it. So, Chicwood Candle Co. was born and it has really taken on a life of its own! We were lucky to be invited into a local boutique in 2020, The Charming Lily, that we still sell at! And since then we have expanded our candle line as a wholesale business and sell to businesses in 10 states. This was definitely a seemingly small risk we didn’t think would take us as far as it has. Which leads me to the next one which was purchasing the rights to Candleberry On The Lakes Boutique, an occasional shop in Edina, MN made up of over 60 local vendors and makers. We started there as makers with our candles and then were presented the opportunity to purchase the boutique in 2022. We ran into a lot of the same questions as before. Do we have time? Can we make this happen as moms of little kids? Can we afford to buy this boutique? Is this worth it? The risk has proven to have paid off and our families have been immensely blessed this year by the community we have both inherited and grown at Candleberry on the Lakes. The relationships we have made, the opportunity we have been able to foster a space for our makers and vendors to grow their businesses, and the ability to continue both our clothing boutique and candle business alongside this shop (while at times hectic) has been very rewarding. While these are all risks that have proven to be rewarding, there have been plenty that haven’t (ie. buying mystery boxes of inventory, investing in excess quantities of inventory in a post-pandemic climate, tying up product in places it wasn’t selling, and more I am sure). But in all, we’re not afraid to take risks (within reason) because even if we fail, there is always a lesson to be learned.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My sister and I are the owners and operators or Chic Avenue Boutique, a clothing and accessories boutique based in Apple Valley, MN whose mission is to create happiness and inspire confidence (CHIC) in women through style and community. We sell stylish and practical products that are approachable at most budgets. Since our inception in 2015 our business has evolved to offer not only just clothing. We launched Chicwood Candle Co. in 2020 as a retail brand and have since evolved into a wholesale candle line. Chicwood Candle Co. are a line of soy wax, woodwick candles in beautiful vessels hand-poured in small batches with love and style in Apple Valley. They provide ambience while being a beautiful piece of decor in your home. With small batches, we are able to tailor orders for our wholesale customers, offer low minimum orders and quick turnaround times. It’s such a joy to see so many people enjoying our candles from sight, smell and sound (the wood wicks crackle like tiny bonfires).

Beyond our clothing and candles, we recently acquired Candleberry on the Lakes Boutique in partnership with our mom, Pam as well. Candleberry on the Lakes Boutique is a long-standing occasional shop taking place in the spring and fall each year that brings together some of the most talented makers, businesses, artists and vendors in the Twin Cities under one roof. While the roots of this boutique are over 40 years deep, we are so honored to be the new owners and have breathed some new life into the space. We really wanted to bring the focus of the boutique back to handmade and local goods and we are so proud to say that 90% of the vendors that are part of the boutqiue are handmade vendors!

We are family business through and through! As sister-owned and family-owned businesses, all three of our brands are full of love and strength and support that we hope permiates into our communities and customers.

Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?

As mentioned in previous questions, we recently purchased the rights to Candleberry on the Lakes Boutique, an occasional shop made up of over 60 makers and vendors in the Twin Cities. We had been longtime fans of the boutique, visiting as customers over the years and then began selling our candles as vendors there in 2021. As part of being a vendor, there is an opportunity to work at the boutique and you get more commission for your sales, so throughout working there, we got to know the owner and ended up learning that she wanted to sell the boutique and she asked us if we would be interested in being the ones to take it over. This decision did not come lightly. Krista has three school-age children and I was pregnant with my first daughter at the time she was looking to sell. But in the end, we truly felt called to the boutique in a full circle type of way and eventually made the decision that we would make this happen and that it would be a really exciting journey for our family.

The acquisition process for this was probably not the most traditional, but it was simple. A contract between us and the former owner stating all that was being passed over, a couple of handshakes and a hug (and a check), and the deal was done. Just like that, Candleberry on the Lakes Boutique was ours.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Chic Avenue Boutique started as a side hustle for both Krista and I. We both had full-time jobs when we launched the boutique in 2015 and actually had them until 2019. That year, we had reached a point in our business where we needed to have more capacity if we wanted to see if this thing could grow. So, in September of 2019, I left my corporate job. We both kept part-time gigs as online stylists with a large styling company for about 6 or so months after that (just in case) but were able to leave those as well in 2020 after having the time to really scale our business. Having the capacity in 2020 to lean further into our digital presence with live selling on social media, more social media presence, and just showing up for our community in a fun and lighthearted way in a time when things were very scary and heavy, really gave us a boost and momentum to grow. 2020 and 2021 were two of our best years to date in business!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chicaveboutique.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/chicavenueboutique
• Facebook: facebook.com/chicavenueboutique

Image Credits
All images taken by me