Business Spotlight: The Sass Boutique

The Sass Boutique is the newest boutique in town! You might have seen our storefront on Cloquet Avenue as you're passing through town. Or maybe you've seen us at a local vendor event. We've been working to grow our product lines and presence in town.

The Sass Boutique originally launched as an online boutique back in 2018. It was my dream for as long as I can remember. After graduating college with a marketing degree and working for years in retail, starting an online boutique felt like "the next step" and the perfect way to bring a passion for fashion and customer service to life.

In the years prior to opening the storefront, The Sass Boutique hosted pop-up events at our local workspace in Esko, and began joining local vendor events. These opportunities were a great way of connecting with our local community while offering a way for our customers to see our products in person. We definitely enjoyed each event and left feeling so grateful to connect with so many wonderful people. While we still enjoy the vendor events, we are honored to have a space to call home and to offer dedicated hours of being open each week.

One day last fall, I stumbled upon a storefront location in Cloquet and knew right away it would be the perfect space to call home for The Sass Boutique. After growing up in the community and graduating from Esko, it felt like home in this location.

In preparing hard to open our storefront, we were lucky to open just in time for the holidays last year. Our official opening was held on Black Friday. This past year has brought growth in our new space and an opportunity to provide quality clothing at an affordable price. We don't believe quality and style is defined by extreme pricing. We love being able to serve our local community by offering a variety of styles and sizes. The Sass Boutique carries sizes Small to 3X, with some styles exclusive to regular sizing and others exclusive to extended sizing. The beauty in shopping at our store is that we carry limited inventory in each item, so you're not going to be seeing it all over town.

The Sass Boutique wanted to create a new way of approaching shopping, since people often have a combination of styles in their personal wardrobe rather than just one.

We decided to offer Sass & Sweet Collections.

Our two collections offer various styles and products. Our Sass Collection includes all things edgy, bold and lively, while our Sweet Collection includes all things delicate, romantic and whimsical. Our storefront displays these styles together to show how the pieces can be mixed. If you browse our online store, you can see the items within each collection.

Our store carries women's clothing in a variety of styles, handmade faux leather earrings, purses, wood floral arrangements, self-care items, handmade wood art pieces by NI Designs (a local small business), Woodfire Candle Company candles, hats, mittens, hair accessories and more!

The Sass Boutique's storefront location will be celebrating its 1-year anniversary on Nov. 29, which is also Black Friday this year! The celebration event will continue into Small Business Saturday on Nov. 30. It will include a free gift with purchase, doorbuster items, giveaways and treats.

All are welcome to stop in and celebrate our anniversary with us! It's a great opportunity to come check out our products, receive a free gift with purchase, save with doorbuster deals and enjoy a sweet treat by Katie's Kupcakes (a local farmers market favorite).

We are able to continue serving our community with the community's support. Please remember to shop local and shop small this holiday season. We are thankful to every person who chooses to support us by spreading the word or by making a purchase. No gesture is too small when a new business is making a start.

Storefront address: 903 Cloquet Ave., Cloquet.

We'll be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for our Nov. 29th celebration and Black Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for Small Business Saturday on Nov. 30.

Our holiday season hours through December are 2-6 p.m. Wednesday, 12-6 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

For more details please visit The Sass Boutique on Facebook, or our website, http://www.thesassboutique.com. We hope to see you and meet new people in our local community. We are excited to be here and hope we can help you find your next outfit, gift, or home decor.

We wish you the happiest holiday season!

Emily Veno, Founder