Seattle Boutique Spotlight: Peridot Boutique

I am so excited to announce the second installment of my Seattle boutique spotlight series! Today, I’m featuring the business-savvy, super fashionable Lindsey who owns Peridot Boutique in the Queen Anne neighborhood in Seattle. Peridot Boutiuqe is one of my favorite places to shop because of their range of trendy clothing and accessories paired with always stylish staples. Enjoy the journey of small business owner and entreprenuer Lindsey as she discusses the vision of Peridot Boutique, her thoughts on fast fashion, and her involvement in the Seattle community.

What is your background?

I grew up in Portland, OR, and moved to Seattle to attend Seattle Pacific University where I earned my degree in Business with an emphasis in Marketing. I’ve always loved fashion and knew I wanted to work in the fashion industry as a buyer or personal shopper – I even wrote my career paper on it when I was in middle school! I started out at SPU intending to double major in Business and Fashion Merchandising. However, I had a glamorous idea of what being a buyer entailed, and after taking an Intro to the Fashion Industry class, which explained buyers aren’t always attending fashion shows in Europe and a sewing class, which was one of the hardest classes of my life, I decided to drop the fashion major and focus on business and pursue fashion later.

During college I worked as a sales associate at Nordstrom, and in 2011 I started working at Peridot Boutique as an intern. I was still interested in pursuing a degree in fashion, so I applied to the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC, and I got accepted. However, at the same time I got asked to partner at Peridot upon my graduation in 2012. I fell in love with small business while working at Peridot, and most of the programs FIT offered seemed geared towards positions in corporate companies, so I very happily accepted partnership at Peridot!

What was your vision when you took an ownership role at Peridot Boutique?

Peridot was founded in 2004, and it specialized in being the go-to clothing store in Queen Anne for almost any occasion, particularly dresses and jewelry, and my vision remains the same! Seattle is a busy, congested city, and people like to be able to stay and have everything they need in their neighborhood, so our goal is to be able to provide clothing whether they are going to their kid’s sporting events or attending parties, and everything in between. We launched our website in the spring of 2017, and my goal is for that to continue to grow outside Queen Anne and Seattle, and at the same time we can continue to deepen our relationships within the community at our storefront.

How would you describe the customer who shops at Peridot Boutique?

Fun, edgy, and effortless! Seattle is a tricky city to dress for because it’s very laid back, but people definitely pay attention to trends and want to be in style. The weather also makes it complicated because the majority of the year you need to layer with a coat. We keep all this in mind when we buy and make sure we’re selecting pieces that are easily “layer-able” yet not totally boring. We also try to select styles that are versatile and can easily be dressed up or down with shoes and accessories. I love it when I can buy a dress or jumpsuit and wear it casually with sneakers during the day and then throw on heels or mules to go out!

How would you describe Peridot Boutique’s aesthetic?

Versatile, chic, and dynamic! The best thing about fashion is how expressive and fluid it is. One day you might wake up feeling like you want to wear a sweet, feminine outfit, and the next day you’re head-to-toe in all black, and our goal is to have clothing to fit those vibes and everything in between. Not only that, but we love mixing vibes and maybe pairing a sweet, gingham skirt with a graphic tee and sneakers. Fashion is supposed to be fun, and we try to embrace and embody it!

What advice would you give someone who wants to start an online or brick and mortar boutique?

Find a mentor and don’t be afraid to ask for advice! Be prepared to make mistakes and look at them as learning opportunities.
Figure out your niche and what makes you unique, and embrace it!
Find people you can trust to help you because you cannot do it by yourself, and learn to delegate.
Make time for self-care because, as a business owner, you aren’t “clocking out” at 5pm, and it’s important to have a balanced life.
Don’t be discouraged if things start out slow. For brick and mortar stores, take the time to find a good location and landlord! Have fun with it!

How has being a small business owner affected your outlook on shopping big brands and fast fashion?

On shopping big brands: There’s definitely a time and a place for it! As a Seattle resident I can’t stay away from Nordstrom, and there’s a convenience that big brands and places like Nordstrom provide that a small business can’t. They’re naturally going to have a much wider selection than we will have, and people who don’t have time to hop from boutique to boutique need a “one stop shop.” Plus they have a bar and we can’t compete with that, hahaha! Though, we do get our liquor license on occasion and carry some of the same brands.

On shopping fast fashion: Fast fashion is always going to be around because trends are always changing and people want to stay in style, but they can’t afford to do so with designer labels. People often associate “boutique” with “expensive,” and that’s not the case, at least not for us! Our tops range from $18-58, pants range from $48-78, and dresses range from $38-88 with some exceptions, but the majority of our styles are under $100. People naturally want new things, and clothing is no exception, so we make lower price points a priority. Though we do follow trends and try to have “on trend” clothing available, we do not cater to very fashion forward trends that they will only get a couple wears before the trend is over. We try to select trend pieces we feel will be around for a couple seasons in order to get a reasonable amount of wears out the item. We also carry a lot of basic, simple styles that are timeless and can remain in your closet for years. Fast fashion is a tricky thing to maneuver, but we try our best to pick styles from reputable brands that will stick around for a while.

What involvement does Peridot Boutique have in the Seattle community?

We love Seattle, and Queen Anne in particular because it’s so community oriented. Within Queen Anne we participate in most of the public school auctions, Chamber of Commerce events (Queen Anne Days, Christmas Tree lighting, etc.), and we have sales or refreshments during the Farmer’s Market on seasonal Thursdays. We’ve also participated in several fashion shows within the Seattle area supporting various causes and organizations. As an alumnus of Seattle Pacific University, I’m always open to partnering and supporting their students. The majority of our sales associates are students there, and we participate in their fashion show every year. We also enjoy working with classes on special projects. For example, every year we work with the Visual Merchandising class and they create store and window displays and can put what they’ve learned in the classroom into practice in a store setting. I had the privilege of working with Peridot Boutique on several projects and classes as a student, and it’s really special to be able to continue to give back that way.

How would you like to see Peridot Boutique progress in the next few years?

(I kind of mentioned this in the vision question) I would love to see our website grow and our customer base to expand outside Queen Anne and Seattle via online. For our Seattle storefront, we love the Queen Anne neighborhood and our community here, and I would love to continue to grow and deepen our relationships here. A lot of the time people are shopping for a vacation, event, or special occasion, and I love that we’re part of that person’s life even it’s something as small as a dress or new top, especially if that makes them feel special and confident. That’s the best part of fashion, especially for a small business, and any opportunity to continue to do that or even grow it is a privilege. Huge THANK YOU to our customers!

Shop the Look from Peridot Boutique!