Style

Holli Myers has had a love for fashion for as long as she can remember.

“When I was little and I would go to the grocery store with my mom, I would always be in the magazine section, flipping through the pages,” she said. “Then, as I got older, I started to discover boutiques and really loved shopping in them. I just loved the experience; I loved how curated and unique the items were.”

In 2016, Myers’ career dreams came true when she became owner of Village Collection, a long-standing clothing boutique in downtown Huntington.

“It still doesn’t seem real sometimes, and it’s been six years,” she said.

Prior to purchasing the business, Myers had been working at Village Collection for eight years — six as store manager — under the guidance of Vicki Rosenberg, the store’s founder.

“I really clicked with Vicki immediately, and I felt a mentor kind of aspect with her,” she said. “I had worked at other places, but she was the most seasoned person I’d worked for. And I felt like I could really learn from her. I was really grateful for that relationship. I highly recommend working with someone experienced and learning from them because it [retail] is a very unpredictable environment … but you still have to make your own path.”

And Myers was ready to do so, despite the expectations and challenges that came with assuming ownership of an established business.

“I do think working there for as long as I did helped me notice things that I would do differently, and I think that being a manager and cultivating the social media audience and developing relationships with the customers was what really helped me get through,” Myers said. “I felt really confident. That’s not to say I didn’t fall on my face, because I still had a lot to learn, but I kept going. I had to take a lot of chances to learn what worked and what didn’t.”

As with any entrepreneurial venture, Myers understood that change was something she couldn’t fear if she wanted to succeed.

“Passion requires you to reinvent yourself,” she said. “It helps keep you creative. Look at challenges and change as an opportunity to learn and grow, and don’t be afraid to fail.”

One chance she took was rebranding Village Collection to VC Boutique in a “nod to the past and the future.”

“I feel like a boutique is a little bit more curated, a little more specific — it targets a certain type of customer,” Myers said.

For Myers, that customer was the “VC Girl.”

“The VC Girl is a working woman who loves adventure, loves to stand out in a crowd, loves to take risks — to take chances — loves to dress up and try something new,” Myers said. “She is very inclusive, and she has a sense of confidence. She is not afraid to be unique. She’s knows who she is or is on her way to getting there.”

With the new brand in mind, Myers decided to also focus on better curating VC Boutique’s stock with stylish, high-quality staple and statement pieces that would last.

“At a certain age, you want longevity,” Myers said. “You want pieces you can wear over and over again.

Some of the brands VC Boutique carries include Steve Madden, Wildfox, Greylin and Heartland. Myers also mentioned that accessories like hobo handbags and Haute Shore handbags are big sellers.

“These are more of the affordable clothing brands, and then we have lux items [Johnny Was, Cleobella, Rails], which is something kind of rare in this area. A lot of the brands we carry are womenfocused and we also have a lot of sustainable or eco-conscious brands,” Myers said. “There’s just a big variety and something for everyone, I hope.”

After successful navigating through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic (“COVID really taught me about loyalty … we made it through the hardest thing”), Myers celebrated another business milestone in September when she moved VC Boutique to a new location a few blocks away.

“They say opportunities come when you least expect them, and that [relocating] had been in my mind for a while because I had heard the feedback about things like lack of parking, and I was also limited in what I could do in the other space. It felt like a pipe dream, though.”

Despite that feeling, Myers still had big hopes, so she didn’t turn down the chance when it arose.

“My desire to grow the business grew even more after my mom passed away. I felt that there was a change that needed to happen, and I was very motivated. I felt her throughout the whole process — she was the driving force — and I trusted my gut,” Myers said. “It was a really cool opportunity that I couldn’t pass up, and we’re just so happy to be here.”

At a recent symposium, Myers was inspired to think about what she would like the future of VC Boutique to be in the future, and it coincides with business’ tagline, “Be stylish and YOUnique.”

“More women and young kids are being encouraged to see individuality as an asset,” Myers said. “I hope that, in the future, I have the ability to leave VC having made some impressions on future females to not be afraid to be authentic.”

VC Boutique is located at 801 4th Ave. in Huntington. Current business hours are Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit shopvcboutique.com for more information. a