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

Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

In high school, I started working at a women’s clothing boutique that I absolutely loved. The boutique, Pip’s, in Corning, NY is what introduced me to the fashion industry on an entirely different level. From there I knew that a career in fashion was in my future. After my graduation from Philadelphia University, majoring in Fashion Merchandising, I moved to NYC to work for a corporate fashion company. During this time my sister purchased Pips. After an amazing 10 years in NYC working for the same corporate fashion company and with my sister having her first child I decided it was time to finally come back home and grow the Pip’s name. At the time there were no stores in Corning that offered children’s clothing. and now that I had my niece to buy for, it seemed like the perfect path. So with my niece as my inspiration and a play on words incorporating Pip’s, the name Pip’s Squeak was created!

Ashley, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Pip’s Squeak strives on having an amazing reputation for quality items and great customer service. Offering high quality and unique products allows a little one to feel special in what they are wearing and to be able to wear the products until they no longer fit. Since I offer products that are not available on Amazon or in a major department store it has created a very unique assortment in Corning and the surrounding areas that customers have loved. Fashion to me has always been something that puts me in a better mood or makes me feel more confident in myself. My main goal for Pip’s Squeak was to create a place for children to find items that allowed them to express their true personalities through fashion. Children should be able to be who they want to be at any age and I want Pip’s Squeak to be the stepping stone in helping them achieve that.
Offering a unique assortment of quality products that a little one would love has become a part of my customer service as well. While friendly customer service is important and has continued to grow my business the absolute best feeling is when a photo is shared of a little one enjoying their life or making memories while wearing Pip’s Squeak. When you build a relationship with a customer and they want to share the happiness of their child in their purchase, there is no better feeling. The little smiles have always given me the biggest smile!

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

Making a reel this past holiday season with other business owners within our downtown. The holiday season can be a great time of the year for sales however, as a business owner it can also be very stressful! The idea started when I was on the Peloton for a holiday ride and the song “Put a little love in your heart” by Al Green & Annie Lennox came on. It made me start thinking that if I am this stressed out during the holidays I know that many other business owners must be too, so lets spread some cheer! I grabbed my sister, we took photos and videos of us going down the street paying a visit to various businesses. We had an amazing time . I thought that the businesses would enjoy it and appreciate some social media love. While that ended up being the case the reaction was much more than that. The amount of love from the community with shares, likes, and loves was a lot more than I expected. People continued to come up to me weeks later letting me know how the video changed their entire day and really put them in a better place going into the holidays. I opened a business to offer something different in the community and put a smile on little ones faces but, it has really shown me how amazing a small community is and supporting each other is just so important.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

I moved back to Corning NY in Oct 2019 and Pip’s Squeaks’ doors opened on Black Friday 2019. After a few successful months of being a new business the pandemic hit and I had to close my door in March of 2020. I just moved from a successful job in a big city to a small town taking a huge leap on a small business dream that seemed to be crashing down around me. I had to work through an emense amount of anxiety and uncertainty on a regular basis. To play a mind trick to get me through it I had to think about it as a long vacation after all the hard work of opening my store. I was very lucky retail was able to open back up after a few months. I worked as hard as I could to work through the new normal while still keeping my business afloat. The community was very supportive of our downtown and of Pip’s Squeak being a new business. I would not have survived if it wasn’t for the loyalty of my new customers as well as the small town support – also not to mention the little baby boom after the pandemic!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pipssqueakboutique.com
• Instagram: @pipssqueakboutique
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pipssqueakboutique