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‘Spur-of-the-moment’ thinking guided newest downtown store
The owner of Jane Anne Boutique went from a full-time photographer to a clothing store owner. In about a week.
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
Kathie Brune was a professional photographer for over 20 years. She had a studio in Mt. Pleasant built for backdrops, a healthy roster of clients, and a practiced eye for shot composition.
It was her career up until a fateful trip in February of 2020, when she traveled with a friend who owned a boutique, to a trade show in Las Vegas. Brune was hooked, almost instantly.
The day she got home, she pitched the plan to her family. The business existed on paper about a week later.
“She asked me if I would like to go to market with her, and help her shop for her store,” Brune said. “I came home with two bags of clothes on my shoulders and said, ‘Mom, daughter, I guess we’re starting a boutique’ … It just was an out-of-the blue dream I never knew I had.”
Within months, Brune’s husband had installed a few racks for clothes in her studio. A few racks grew to a few dozen, then more, taking up every available wall and corner until eventually, she found herself more focused on retail than pictures. The photography studio closed in 2022, freeing up more room for the newer boutique business.
While things moved at a breakneck pace, Brune was thrilled with the new line of work from day one, and found it deeply rewarding.
“If I feel good in my clothes, I’m going to have a better day,” she said. “You’re going to feel more confident, and your interactions with people will be more high-confidence … most women feel a little uncomfortable with parts of their body or all of their body, and we just want them to come in and go, ‘Don’t worry about that, we’re going to get you feeling good.’”
There is no “Jane Anne.” Brune named the brand after the middle names shared by her daughter, her mother and herself. She said the wanted to honor her family members who played a huge part in getting the store off the ground, and continue to help run it today.
The store has expanded beyond Mt. Pleasant in recent months, with a new Jane Anne Boutique popping up in Washington in mid-September. Brune said she knew the space - formerly occupied by Jaz It Up - was the perfect fit from the moment she first walked in.
It helped that several community members helped welcome the new business. Several store owners nearby stopped in to drop off flowers on the first day of business. Brune was especially charmed by one Ace Hardware employee’s decision to put a smiley face on the lid of every can ordered by the shop.
“I looked at other places, and nothing really sparked. I walked into this Washington location and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this feels right, it just feels like, me,’” she said. “It felt classy but casual that same time, and a storefront on the square, which we’ve never had before … I felt I could make it into another Jane Anne Boutique, where women could come in and just relax for a while.”
That’s not to say the storefront was easy to set up. Brune came up to Washington one Saturday night, after a day’s work in Mt. Pleasant to start painting, but only managed to coat one wall in about four and a half hours, without the trim. The high-traffic location has come with a learning curve of its own, compared to the Mt. Pleasant store, in the basement of a chiropractor’s office on Grand Avenue.
On top of that, Brune’s family had been occupied in the weeks leading up to their first day of business. The family was remodeling a home, setting up for and selling during Old Threshers, and attended a NASCAR race in Daytona Beach, fulfilling a longtime dream Brune’s mother.
Once everything was redecorated, the family hauled their inventory into town, and set it up over the course of about two days. The timing, for most business, would seem rushed. But it matched the speed that Brune tends to operate.
“I think you have to make spur-of-the moment decisions, in everything,” she said. “You can sit there and forever and ponder on it, and I’m like, ‘Well girl, you’ve got to make the decision at some point or another. Just decide.’ So I just make the decision. If I don’t, I’m not going to be moving anywhere.”
Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com
