Faces & Places is a weekly series that profiles the people and places of Murray. Every person and every place has a story. Let us tell it.
With styles and trends constantly changing, Murray is lucky to have not only chain franchise stores available for the shopping needs of students, but also one-of-a-kind boutique shops as well.
One of the most prominent boutique shops in the community is Ribbon Chix. The store started out as an idea between two sisters in Murray, Krista Hatchett and Michelle Downey, and has been open since September 2008.
Ribbon Chix employees ringup a customer’s purchases after she finishes shopping.
The store offers everything from women’s tops and dresses to shoes and jewelry. The store even has a whole section dedicated to children’s clothes, which were the inspiration for the creation of the store.
“My sister and I started out making hair bows for little girls so we were surrounded by ribbon,” Hatchett said. “So that is why we decided to call the store Ribbon Chix.”
While the store’s clothes have a flare that can meet nearly any taste, Hatchett described the store’s general style as trendy and fun.
“Whatever is hot and fun we really try to grab ahold of it,” said Whitney Gardner, senior from Murray and employee at Ribbon Chix. “It’s like a mixture of the bohemian look and vintage and kind of classy and preppy.”
Hatchett said she describes her own style as more mixed-matched and fun and she never likes to wear the same outfit the same way twice, which is something she hopes to model the store around.
The biggest trend they have sold to students this semester is the mixture of leggings and tunics with scarves. Also, things like boots with oversized sweaters are very popular among students in the store. The most popular print sold, said Gardner, would be anything with an Aztec print.
With other boutiques in Murray, one might wonder if there would be any competition among them.
“I’m sure there is some competition,” Hatchett said. “But sometimes a little competition is never a bad thing.”
The number of students who frequent the store is constantly growing. The ratio of college students to community members who shop with Ribbon Chix per day is roughly around 25 to 50 percent, Gardner said.
Ribbon Chix also offers students the opportunity to receive 15 percent off their purchase by showing their student identification card.
“I was a student once,” Hatchett said. “I know incomes are not always high during that time of your life, so I just want to make it more available for people in that stage of their life to be able to shop here.”
While the sisters have found great success, the fashion industry was not always what they had planned for their future careers. They began making hair bows for their daughters as a hobby and then eventually made the bows and sold them as wholesale, which led them to start selling dresses and other children’s attire at wholesale.
“When we were at market for children’s clothes after the store had opened, we just began falling in love with the women’s clothes they had too,” Hatchett said. “So we just wanted to have those for ourselves and this is what it turned into.”
Hatchett said hiring students in the store is a priority.
“We are very blessed to have a college here in Murray,” she said. “The availability of help is great and the resources they can bring in and the people that they know and it’s definitely a great thing to tap into.”
Story by Breanna Sill, Staff writer
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