Jane Anne welcomes women like family

MT. PLEASANT — For Kathy Brune running Jane Anne Boutique is not only an opportunity to work closely with her 84-year-old mother and live out her fashion styling dreams, but it is also an opportunity to provide a warm welcoming environment for all kinds of women.

Opening shop in February 2020, her little leap of faith into starting this new adventure turned into a much larger leap as everything shut down in response to the Pandemic the following month.

“All my clothes started coming in and nothing could be open,” she said. “Shoot, I just took a big, huge leap. I was like OK … I’m just going to go for it and then all … ‘What did I do?!’”

Brune found it worth the difficult start, though, as she transitioned from a photography business into this new adventure.

“I get to work with mom and my daughter and talk to women of all ages and different personalities and meet new people” Brune excitedly explained her joy for her job. “It is just a whole lot of fun!”

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Brune’s mother, Sara Weschler says her favorite part of working with her daughter is “just that I get to see her every day, because when we’re not working, we’re thrifting and just doing fun things together.”

Even at 84-years-old, Weschler happily puts in work at the shop as she pulls things for customers, suggests different outfit ideas and simply filling in wherever Brune directors her.

“It’s really crazy,” Weschler said. “I come in, in the mornings and ask her what she wants me to do. She’ll give me some ideas and then she will tell me that I know what needs to be done and just go ahead and do it.”

“I know right now what she wants done in the back and I’ll go take care of it,” she said.

Brune says the whole family pitches in to make Jane Anne a success.

Her husband Jason didn’t hesitate anytime Brune asked him to come in and remove bits and pieces of her former photography business from the space as she expanded the boutique.

Her sons Rex, 25, and Ryder, 22, are always willing to lend a hand with inventory and marketing, and her daughter Rylee, 23, happily helps stock the shelves and further create the welcoming atmosphere of Jane Anne.

With women in the business ranging from 84 to 23 years old, Jane Anne maintains a good variety of inventory for all those women of different ages and personalities that Brune likes so much.

“Everybody likes different things,” Brune said. “I have to order some things that I wouldn't wear, but other people are excited about it.”

She confidently says that her shop is designed to have something from every woman from age 10 to 110.

Brune keeps family at the center of everything from the boutique name to the hours the shop.

“My mom’s middle name is Jane and my daughter and I’s middle name is Anne,” Brune explained. “So, we decided to do Jane Anne Boutique, and it’s got a certain ring to it. I love it.”

While Jane Anne is usually open Wednesday through Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., times and days vary occasionally to accommodate for Brune’s love of family.

“When we first started, we always had the same hours, but then my mom would have doctor’s appointments on a Thursday, so we’d take off the Thursday and add a Tuesday.”

Brune maintains a flexible schedule which she then posts to social media monthly with any variations from the typically expected times, including some later evenings.

“So, my mom wanted to visit Nashville,” Brune said. “So, we took a quick two-day trip to spend there, and we just went and saw everything.”

Just like she gets around fine helping at the shop, Weschler thoroughly enjoyed her time in Nashville.

“We went to the Coyote Ugly bar,” Brune shared. “I told the bouncer that we would only be there for about 10 minutes, but my mom really wanted to dance on the bar.”

So, she did.

“I was talking to the bartender, and he was very kind. He held onto my hand the whole time going down,” Weschler shared with a large grin.

While the flexibility is nice, for Brune and her mother Sara enjoy working together as much as anything else.

For these ladies each day in Jane Anne is like going shopping with each other and a myriad other women every single day.

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Growing up Brune would shop with her mom and one of their regular spots would always encourage her to try on the new clothes that came in.

“I tried them on, and I just had so much fun,” she said.

As she became a mom herself, Brune began shopping with not only her mom but her daughter, as well. With that, the tradition of trying on things the other suggested and giving opinions continued through the generations.

Now that tradition translates into how they assist customers at Jane Anne Boutique.

As one customer wandered through the shop, Brune said she couldn’t help but wonder what she would pick for her to wear.

“She said she needed a dress for a wedding,” Brune said. “The very first one that I thought of and pulled for her she wasn’t sure about because it had fluffy arms.”

Brune couldn’t help but smile after seeing the woman wandering the shop with the dress in hand after trying it on.

“It looks like that’s the one she is picking out,” Brune said.

That atmosphere of a friendly shopping trip with your besties radiates from Jane Anne as each customer is always welcomed with a warm greeting, often a hug, and frequently a recollection of the last time they came by.

As Brune debated between two different sized tops with her mother, a young customer, Maddie Millard came barreling into the shop unapologetically and enthusiastically asking Brune to take a selfie with her for her BeReal, “Quick!”

With a big grin and laugh Brune welcomed the picture, “Wasn’t I in another one of these?”

Just as she does with all her other customers, Brune slowed down and talked with Millard like she has known her, her whole life.

“She comes in all the time and we try on jeans," Brune simply explained when asked if they were close.

The relationship with her customers is not one side, though.

Only moments before this young lady came rushing in, Brune stood in front of a mirror fixing her hair, and without hesitation Kim Davis, a customer and hairdresser from Columbus Junction, stepped in to help.

These moments of making everyone from family to friends to strangers feel welcome in her boutique are incredibly important to Brune.

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“I had feelings of being unwelcome before or whatever, and I don't want anybody to feel like that,” Brune said. “So, I just try to be welcoming to everybody and just know that behind the scenes, they've probably got something going on in their life that we know nothing about that they're struggling with.”

“And so, I just want it to be a positive environment where everybody is having a good time and doesn’t have to stress about the outside world,” she said. “I just want them to enjoy and have fun.”

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com