From online sales to Main Street
VERMILION — What started as online clothing sales from a dining room table has grown into a nationwide customer community and a downtown Vermilion boutique focused on helping women feel confident, comfortable and included.
Kimberly Parsons, owner of Dollhouse Boutique at 630 Main St., said the business began in 2016 when she started selling clothing online from her home while raising her children.
“I was selling all over the country,” Parsons said. “I was shipping out of the kitchen and my kids were still in high school. They wanted their house back. They wanted their kitchen back.”
That growth eventually led Parsons to open her first brick-and-mortar storefront in Amherst before later moving the business to her hometown of Vermilion, where Dollhouse Boutique has now operated for roughly two and a half years.
“I graduated here. I wanted to be here,” Parsons said. “As soon as I was able to get a space here in downtown, I jumped right on it.”
While the downtown storefront has become increasingly recognizable to local shoppers, Parsons said many people are surprised to learn the business still operates primarily through online sales and live social media shopping events.
“My main business is online,” she said. “These women have supported me since 2016. Many of them have been with me that long.”
Parsons said customers shop through the business website and the Dollhouse Boutique app, where viewers can watch live clothing showcases, browse inventory and arrange either shipping or local pickup.
According to Parsons, orders regularly ship across the United States and into Canada.
Helping customers feel confident
Inside the boutique, Parsons said the focus is centered on stylish but comfortable clothing at a range of price points, allowing customers with different budgets to feel included.
“So many women have a hard time finding clothes that fit them and make them feel good,” Parsons said. “You can literally see a change in someone’s entire attitude when I put something on them that they feel great in.”
Parsons said helping customers build confidence has become one of the most rewarding parts of operating the business.
Some customers, she said, initially arrive wearing only loose-fitting dark clothing before gradually becoming more comfortable experimenting with brighter colors or different styles.
“If they like it and they feel good in it, then they can wear it,” Parsons said.
In addition to clothing, Dollhouse Boutique carries jewelry, accessories and a customizable charm collection featuring interchangeable gold-plated pieces designed to work with multiple necklaces and bracelets.
Parsons also emphasized affordability, saying she understands the financial challenges many families currently face.
“I only want people to feel included more than anything,” she said.
