Maggie Anne’s: Downtown Landmark is Celebrating!

by Elyse Apel

Maggie Anne’s, located in downtown Hillsdale, is gearing up to celebrate its 30th year since it was bought by Patti Bailey, the current owner.

“It’s all the customers,” explains Patti. “We have such a loyal customer base, which I am grateful for, and my awesome staff has built relationships with them.” A Hillsdale-native, Patti says that fashion has always been a passion for her.

“After graduating from Hillsdale College, I went into the management training program at Jacobson’s Specialty Department Stores,” she says. “I learned everything about retail through that management training program, really from the ground up. I didn’t realize how much I was training myself to be a business owner someday!”

She worked for a few years as a department manager in Dearborn and Jackson, before returning to Hillsdale to start her family. When she heard that Maggie Anne’s was for sale, she knew that was her dream.

“It had already been in business for 17 years and I bought it in 1995,” Patti says. “So, next year will be 30 years that I have owned the store.”

She says she loves the ever-changing nature of fashion, which also meshes well with the skills she’s had to cultivate as a small business owner. “Every day is different,” Patti explains. “It feels like I wear a different hat every day. I might come in and do orders. I might come in and re-design the store or do displays.” She said one of her favorite parts are the buying trips, when she’ll travel to cities all over the nation to gather the hottest fashion trends to bring back to the store to share with the community.

Maggie Anne’s has become a staple in the community. “Sometimes owning a small business can be really stressful, but COVID was probably the most challenging time we’ve faced,” Patti says.

What was supposed to be just a few weeks of closure, quickly turned into three and a half months. To help keep the store running, Patti adapted and moved some of her business online.

“We started doing Facebook Live videos, and we would do them Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and I would come and fill orders on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and collapse on Sunday!,” she said. “Then, I would start all over again.”

She says that the community really rallied around Maggie Anne’s during that difficult time. “It was all a real testament to my customers, because they enjoyed the videos, shopped, and we survived.”

Patti says that she is excited to celebrate 30 years of providing the community with updated traditional clothing, accessories, and even gifts.

I’ve just started to have some anniversary thoughts going in my head,” she says. “I’ve really developed the store with brands like Brighton, Tribal, Habitat, Aventura and more, so I’m excited to get them involved in our celebration. We’ll do some things next summer, so definitely keep your eyes and ears open for news of that.”

Before anniversary celebrations though, the store will first celebrate the holiday season with everything from a Black Friday sale to the 12 Days of Christmas event.

“We’ll have a lot of fun things going on between our Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sales,” she says. “Then, we’ll have our 12 Days of Christmas sale. Each day, we’ll focus on a different category or product in the store and offer a discount on that particular product just for that one day.”

Maggie Anne’s also plans to offer regular Style and Color Analysis appointments to customers.

“Mindy Shoemaker, with Style by Color, has been holding events in the store, doing either body or color analysis. She did one in June and we were booked solid for the entire day, and we just had one in September, so she’ll be coming back by popular demand,” Patti explains. The store plans to make it a regular event every quarter, with the next one to be held next spring.

Patti says that she is excited to continue to share the latest women’s fashion trends with the community through the store. “There’s just so much different going on for women in fashion.”

Gone are the leggings and long tunics, in are wider pant legs. “I’m excited for the pants with wider legs, which helps to balance out most people better than the skinny leg,” she explains. “Life is also more casual, so casual dressing is really popular.”

“However, we’re also seeing the Ladylike trend with people starting to dress up a little bit, wearing dresses, pleat skirts, and ruffled blouses,” she says. “I’m just excited about everything. I love clothes, so I’m excited about all of the trends each season.”

Patti also loves to give back to the community that supports her.

“We do a lot of fashion shows for local organizations or clubs, and it’s our way of giving back to the community,” she says. “When we do the fashion show, we hand out our 10/10/10 coupons. The attendees have 10 days to use this coupon, they get 10% off, and at the end of that 10 days, I add up all the sales and give 10% back to the organization. So it’s a nice way to give back and also show off our fashions.”

Maggie Anne’s is located at 50 N. Howell St., downtown Hillsdale, and is open every day but Sunday. For more information about the store or the brands it offers, follow them on Facebook, visit maggieanneshoppe.com, or call (517) 439-1334.