Bittersweet Ivy is a women’s clothing & gift boutique in the heart of The Rail District in downtown Frisco, TX. Grab your girlfriends and come shop the latest trends while sipping on a glass of wine!
We are often asked, “What made you open a boutique?” That answer is always one we love to share. We are 2 women that have been best friends for over 10 years. Our story of Bittersweet Ivy began in 2014 after I (Chantal) had gone through a divorce and was left wondering what my next chapter would be. After many conversations with Kristen and my past experience in retail we started the discussions of opening our own boutique.
Our first goal was to find a name that represented us and our friendship. We started looking at OPI Nail color names. We all know there are some very creative names they give nail polish. But, none of them fit us. Kristen had the great idea of looking at flowers. So, I began searching flowers and their meanings. After, a few days we came up with Bittersweet Ivy, which means “Loyal Friendship”. This meaning could not be more perfect for the two of us. We have laughed, cried, sat in silence and argued together all through years and each time our friendship only grows stronger.
We wanted to create a boutique to fill the void for women’s shopping that we felt was needed. Women love to dress on trend but a lot of us don’t want to feel like we raided our daughters closet. So, we went to market and found clothing lines that were on trend but weren’t too short or too tight and more age appropriate for the clientele we wanted to attract. (women our age) We also wanted to find clothing lines that were cost friendly. We love to get a new outfit for “date night” or vacations but couldn’t justify $100 for a cute top. We knew there had to be other options and there were!
So, the buying began and Bittersweet Ivy started having “Pop-Up Shops” in our friends living rooms. We would travel to different events/festivals all over the DFW area every weekend creating a following and finding out what our customers were looking for. We had a booth at a local outdoor market every month as well so our followers could easily find us once a month. After 6 months of events and a lot of weekends away from our children we decided to open up a space in a local salon. We had 135 square feet! Yes, to say small is an understatement. It was tiny but we made it work and our customers we meet over the previous 6 months would come see us. After 6 months there we had outgrown that space and found our current home in the Rail District in downtown Frisco, TX.
Since moving to downtown our business is thriving, customers have turned into friends and we continue to grow with the downtown community. We have become very involved with all events in downtown Frisco from Sip-N-Shops to the StrEATS Food Truck & Music Festival. We hope to continue to expand our boutique and if you are ever in the area, stop by for a glass of wine with us, we would love to get to know you.
Proper Southern Welcomes Start Here.