Mane Street Salon Boutique opens

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX —  The Mane Street Salon Boutique is now open at the Mane Street Salon in the Village Pointe Mall on Bremer Avenue in Colfax.

The boutique officially opened November 7.

Mane Street Salon is owned by Gretchen Herrick, and the Mane Street Salon Boutique is owned and operated by Herrick and her friend, Darla Eilen.

Rather than occupying a separate space, boutique items are on display throughout the salon.

“I’ve been getting my hair cut here for the last five years. One day, I said, ‘Gretchen, why don’t you bring your own stuff into the salon?’ And she said, ‘I don’t want to do that. I don’t have time to do that. You have time, why don’t you do that,’” Eilen said.

“I said, you know what, you’re right. Why don’t I do that. And in doing that I wanted something that represented both of us,” she said.

“So we worked collaboratively to figure out what our whole mission and vision for this store would be. Initially, we were heading in one direction, just buying things from local wholesalers online,” Eilen said.

“Actually, we had picked out everything, but I could not force myself to order it. And one day I said to Gretchen, ‘I just can’t do it. I want to sell stuff that I feel good about, and I think we need to have a focus,’” she said.

“The focus of (what) we are selling here is, we are supporting women business owners, women designers. So here there are products that are either made by women or sold and repped by women. There is female component to everything, whether the woman that I am working with is a local business wholesale rep or a featured artist,” Eilen said.

“Anytime we can, we bring in items that are made in the United States, and we are keeping the price point lower than you would find anywhere else. So I do really try. Our Govino wine glasses, for example, which I absolutely love, and then try to beat the price point,” she said.

The Main Street Salon Boutique is “all about bringing business in and keeping people buying in Colfax,” Eilen said.

Shoppers will find “mostly things for women. Women to women gifts. Things women would want to buy for themselves, such as jewelry, ponchos, scarves, mugs … if a woman needs to buy something for a girlfriend or a daughter, you would hopefully find it here,” she said, noting that there are a few sweatshirts and other items that would be appropriate for men.

Among the items for sale are “sea salt” caramels made in Boston.

“A chef and his wife started the business. All the ingredients are organic and all from local farmers where they are at,” Eilen said.

Another item in the boutique is an organic lip repair product.

“Lip balms are always something people are asking if you have one. Now you’ll have three little minis that you can share,” she said.

The lip repair products come in sets of tiny tubes about an inch long.

“Everything you see here is giving back to charity, supporting a woman — things that I felt I could get behind,” Eilen said.

The boutique carries a variety of items, including soy candles, scented soap, bracelets, earrings, pins, coffee mugs, bath salts, ponchos and scarves.

The Govino wine glasses are made out of plastic and are crafted so they are easy to hold and rounded on the bottom so they are difficult to tip over.

Several women attending the boutique opening thought the wine glasses would be a great item to take camping with them because the glasses are made of tough plastic, which would be difficult to break if the glass were dropped.

The boutique carries Govino beer glasses as well.

Mane Street Salon is open Mondays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.