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Melissa interviews Mandy Becker, owner of Swagger Boutique, a women’s style destination in Wake County with locations in Raleigh and Cary. Becker shares how a beloved South Georgia gift shop inspired her, how she earned an engineering degree at Georgia Tech, opened Swagger as a gift store in 2002, and expanded into clothing in 2011 after customer requests. She explains what boutique ownership is really like, including unexpected friendships and learning business without formal classes, with support from her husband. Becker breaks down how and where she shops markets (Atlanta for gifts; Dallas and Vegas for clothing), how delivery timing affects buying, and how she forecasts trends while selecting for Swagger’s broad age range. She highlights upcoming trends like butter yellow, chocolate brown, polka dots, stripes, zebra, scarves, brooches, chunky jewelry, and outerwear, plus how social media and live selling shape the business.
00:00 Meet Mandy and Swagger
02:17 Origins and Early Inspiration
03:41 Engineer to Gift Shop Owner
04:29 Pivot to Clothing Boutique
05:40 Retail Realities and Relationships
07:34 How Fashion Markets Work
10:45 Trend Forecasting and Customer Fit
16:22 Spring Summer Trend Report
18:45 Easy Closet Refresh Tips
20:07 Color Analysis and Teen Feedback
22:03 Passing Down the Boutique
22:43 Who Picks Trend Colors
24:04 Fall Outerwear Forecast
25:21 Swagger Vibe in 3 Words
26:20 Confidence and Body Positivity
27:08 Social Media and Live Shopping
32:15 Five-Year Vision for Swagger
33:37 Lightning Round Favorites
35:52 Where to Shop and Follow
37:24 Final Thanks and Wrap Up
Creators and Guests
What is What’s Up, Wake?
What’s Up, Wake covers the people, places, restaurants, and events of Wake County, North Carolina. Through conversations with local personalities from business owners to town staff and influencers to volunteers, we’ll take a closer look at what makes Wake County an outstanding place to live. Presented by Cherokee Media Group, the publishers of local lifestyle magazines Cary Magazine, Wake Living, and Main & Broad, What’s Up, Wake covers news and happenings in Raleigh, Cary, Morrisville, Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, and Wake Forest.
If your closet has ever stared back at you and said, girl, we need to talk, then today's guest might just be your fashion fairy godmother. I'm sitting down with the owner of Swagger Boutique, a shop that's become a go-to for women in Wake County. From scouting the trends before they're trending to curating pieces that'll put you on the best dressed list.
[00:01:36] Speaker 5: Mandy Becker has built more than just a boutique. She's built a style destination with locations in Raleigh and Carrie, Mandy has created a shopping experience that feels less like running errands and more like a confidence upgrade.
Today we're talking about how she stitched her business from the ground up, how she shops the fashion markets like a pro, and what looks she thinks will have us walking into work like Giselle this season.
So zip up something fabulous. Fluff your imaginary runway hair and get ready, because Mandy is here to help us all live life with a little more style, a little more confidence, and of course a lot more swagger.
[00:02:16] Melissa: Okay. I want to start way back before you opened swagger. Okay. I wanna know what inspired you to open a boutique?
Were you always into fashion? What kind of gumption did you have to even start something like this? Because I do feel like. It really does take a lot of, a lot of gumption. There was another word I was gonna use and I decided not to, yeah. To, to go for something like this. So, so tell us about the beginning.
[00:02:44] Mandy: Okay. So way back in the day. Mm-hmm. So probably when I was. 16. I was in high school, so I grew up in South Georgia and there was a store there and it was actually called Place on the Point. Shout out to them, they're still in in business. I mean, it's been a lot of years. I loved going into, mm-hmm. It was a gift store.
It was not closed. 'cause if you remember, okay, back in the day. This trendy, affordable clothing was not available. Yeah. Like you think about it, the targets of the world weren't available. Old Navy, like those things. I do remember the day that Old Navy opened, actually, yes, it was a big day, but I mean like so trendy, affordable.
There was, um, department stores like Belk, but a store like mine did not exist. Mm-hmm. And so all they sold was gifts. And I loved the feeling that I got when I went into that store and I was like, I want to do this when I grow up. I want this feeling. I loved the customers and the selling and I just loved everything about it.
Um, but I also loved math and science, so I went to Georgia Tech. I'm an engineer. Real No way. Yeah. Really. Yeah, I didn't know this about you. Mm-hmm. Um, so I have, um, I got a full scholarship and I was like, I have to do this. You were a smarty pants. Yeah, well, so I, well, I just loved math and science. That was my thing.
Yeah. English, not so much. Okay. But, okay. So that is like, so I got my engineering degree and then married my college sweetheart and we moved to Raleigh and I was like, I really don't wanna be an engineer. I really, really want to be a business owner. And he was like, well do it. So that was 2002 and I opened as a.
Gift store, so I don't even if you remember that. I don't remember that. We only, so from 2002 to 2011, we were a gift. I was a gift store. Only sold gifts. That's a long time. I actually don't remember that at all. Yeah. And then in 2011, there was a spa next door to me in lame pavilion. 'cause that was the original location and the spa closed.
And customers came to me and said, I want, we want closed. Can you open? Close? Close would be really great. Addition to swagger. And I was like. Because I never considered myself a fashionista. I was never wanted a clothing boutique. I wanted a gift boutique. And so I was like, oh, I don't know. Is this the right thing to do?
Obviously, that's what we ended up doing. So while I was like eight months pregnant, we built out the other side, um, and started the gift boutique in September of two, of 2000, um, and 11. My child was born January, 2012, and the rest is history. The gifts, the clothes have done. Very well. I mean, that's why now it's like 50 50 gifts to close, um, up Yeah.
Like what the sales are. Well, and now you are a fashionist. Yeah. Because we, we watch you on the, the live streams and we shop. I'm gonna get to that in a little bit because I, I wanna touch on how social media has, um, changed everything really. Yeah, it has changed everything. Yeah. But what is something about owning a boutique that.
[00:05:43] Melissa: Maybe no one would ever guess that you can tell us about. You know what I found, what I thought was interesting. So I actually never worked retail. I never worked retail. I just liked the feeling that I went into this store. Um, so when I opened my business, I had never worked retail and I. Just did not know that the friendships that you would make with people that shopped in the store.
Yeah. It's, it's very interesting. Like people, regular people come in, you know, about their lives. Mm-hmm. And then I'm fortunate that I have like a bunch of amazing employees. We've just had, I mean, over the years, hundreds of hundreds of people I've worked at. At least a hundred people have worked at Swagger.
[00:06:24] Mandy: I mean, it's been 24 years. Wow. So just the friendships there and the friendships that I made with other business owners, I've just learned a lot from other people as well as, you know, school of life, I guess I learned, learned about business because I never took a business class, ever. I mean, really?
Mm-hmm. Because Eng at Georgia Tech, if you're an engineer, you can't take business classes. At the time, they did not allow it. So you really just dove right in, jumped correct. And had no idea what you were doing? No idea what I was doing. You, you knew the feeling you were trying to recreate, but other than that, you really had no idea.
Nothing. Wow. If it wasn't for my husband, who knows where swagger would be? Right now He is the man, he's the business side. He's, he is. Okay. So he, he kind of knew how, at least how to guide you maybe? Well, I mean, he's also an engineer. We, that's how we met. Oh. But he just is really. Good at that part. Okay.
[00:07:20] Melissa: Good. Shout out to him. Good. Good. Hey, I, I always say that, you know, you, you really are who you marry. Yeah. Um, so if you've got, that's the, that's the most important decision of your life. I tell my daughter the same thing. Yes. So, I am fascinated by the fashion markets mm-hmm. That you go to, you generally go to Atlanta, is that right?
[00:07:42] Mandy: So we used to go to Atlanta a lot. Um, but it does matter, we found throughout the years because it's amazing, you know, you do the same thing over and over again, but every year you learn something new and, you wouldn't think, like, I've been going to market clothing market since 2012, but still last year we were learning things about where we should go, what we should do.
About two years ago, the Dallas market became the first market of the year, and it matters that we go to that one because then we get our clothes first and we don't get the second cut or the third cut. So if you're going to Dallas and you get the first. Cut of the clothes, then you get them first and you're not getting them in May, so you need that.
Gotcha. We need the clothes to be able to sell them when Yeah. You know, people are sick of winter and they want to buy spring clothes in February, even though. It's not gonna be warm for another month or whatever. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. Well that, that's actually my next question because I'm wondering when do you buy, say spring and summer close?
[00:08:40] Melissa: Is that back in December? I think it also depends, well, it depends on what type of store that you have. So we say, um, we're like trendy, affordable, and so the brands that we. Purchase from, and that we sell at Swagger. A lot of them, like if we're buying the items in that, the January market, those clothes are shipping to us February, March, April.
[00:09:04] Mandy: You know, like they'll, they'll do we, when you go, they separate them by this is the delivery date. And now if you have, um. Like a, maybe a more, um, expensive brand, like a, a z supply. Other brands that I don't care, there's other boutiques in the carry area that close that sell different types of vendors or that we don't.
Mm-hmm. And they have to buy six months in advance, so they only, those items are only cut for those. For what was purchased, if that makes sense. Okay. So they're doing those six months in advance. We are more like in January, things are shipping February, March, April, may, June, July, and then we go to the July market and then buy for the next six months.
Okay. So you go generally for the most part, twice a year. Well, we actually go four times a year, so. As I said that to you. Mm-hmm. Because I'm thinking, well, so we go to the first market of the year now. So now we're gonna Dallas. We really don't go to the Atlanta market for close anymore. I go to the Atlanta market for gifts.
[00:10:03] Melissa: Ah. So I start out the year and I go to the Atlanta gift market, which is all gifts. And then I turn around a week later and go to the Dallas market for close. And then I just got back two weeks ago from the Vegas market, which is also closed. But that's where we hit up our vendors that, um, are selling the brands that we carry that are.
[00:10:24] Mandy: For six months from now. Okay. So we will buy fall from some brands at that market, and they just have more vendors there because Dallas and Atlanta, New York, they're smaller niche markets kind of. They bring the stuff that they think is geared towards the people who are in that area. Mm-hmm. And then Vegas, they just have bigger booths and they carry more items.
[00:10:44] Melissa: Items. So as, as you're explaining this, I'm wondering. How, how do you even go about, is it, is it like a, a magic eight ball that you're looking into to know what the trends are going to be coming up since you are having to buy kind of, you know, further far ahead? Yeah, so we are always trying to do for.
[00:11:04] Mandy: Trend forecasting, but at the same time, I feel like the booths and the, the vendors, they kinda also tell you what is gonna trend, right? Mm-hmm. So if you see that on the mannequins when you walk into a booth, everybody has on polka dots or stripes or ah, okay. You know, they have, um, high waisted jeans all like, I remember when it went from low waist to high waist jeans all hallelujah, hallelujah.
Um where I was like, no, you noticed that? Mm-hmm. And then the. Flowy clothes or you just, you can see like what the booths are doing, what the vendors are doing, the the designers are doing, and you're like, okay, so you really walk in and then you're, you're seeing, okay, this is where we're going. Right?
'cause even we try to do the research beforehand mm-hmm. As well. Like, what is, what are we seeing on people? And it being in Raleigh, you also can see what people, yeah. What are people wearing in, in New York? What are they working in la What are they wearing? Um, in Paris. Mm-hmm. Which doesn't always translate to here right away.
It might be a year, year and a half later. And then we'll see those trends. We know that they're coming. Mm-hmm. Um, but kind of like, yeah. The designers and the brands that we have te us. Like they say, Hey, this is, this is the trend. Do you also go in and see what's on the mannequin and think, yeah, but my customers, yes.
[00:12:18] Melissa: I don't think this is gonna be really our, our type of look. Right. Okay. For sure. All the time. Like, mm. That's not like, I think that to be successful, 'cause of course you're walking, there's hundreds of booths in, each one has, I mean, it sounds like heaven to me, you know, gonna, well, it is, there's hundreds of booths and it sounds very dangerous.
[00:12:39] Mandy: Thousands of items in each booth. Wow. So you have the discernment of being like, okay, there's stuff that we think is cute all the time, but it's not for our customer. Yeah. Yeah. There might, there might be another boutique in this area that I'm like, oh, in my head I'm like, oh, that would be so cute in there, but it's just not gonna.
It's not going to work at swagger just 'cause we're, we do have a very broad, whenever you go into a booth and they don't really know who we are, they're like, well, who is your demographic? And it really is, I mean, like 16 year olds to, we have 85 9. I was working with a 90-year-old woman the other day, you know, like they, yeah, I believe it.
Yeah. So daughters of the moms that are shopping in there. Mm-hmm. We have the whole, the whole gamut. So we are looking for lots of different age groups. Mm-hmm. But I think we've honed in on what like our style is or what our people want to. I think you really embody what the overall style of swagger is.
[00:13:38] Melissa: Every time I see you, I think you're swagger. Thank you. And so I'm, I'm thinking you probably walk into market and think, would I wear this? And if the answer is no, you might not get it. Yes. Also, um, I bring a buyer with me. Her name's Elena. Mm-hmm. She's awesome. She's been with swagger almost 10 years. She has a very good, um, at.
[00:13:59] Mandy: Saying like, there's stuff that I'll be like, oh my gosh, I love this. She's like, Mandy, it's not right for our customer. Mm-hmm. And I'm like, but it's so cute. She's like. Redirection. Yes. Like look at her hair. Turn away. Walk away. Yeah. Mm-hmm. She does that. so what kind of trends are you seeing for this spring and summer?
So color trends, because there's both, there's like, you know, like trends of like the styles and the color trends. The color trends that we saw that actually I'm loving. So butter yellow, which I thought as a blonde, I love that. Okay. I love bl butter. It's like working on all the people. I didn't think it would.
Yes.
[00:16:41] Melissa: Yes.
[00:16:41] Mandy: Butter yellow. Chocolate brown for summer.
[00:16:44] Melissa: Love it too.
[00:16:45] Mandy: I love it. Me too. I'm, I hope
[00:16:46] Melissa: put them, put 'em together.
[00:16:48] Mandy: I hope. Yes. The
[00:16:48] Melissa: yellow with the brown. Yes.
[00:16:49] Mandy: I hope people. Buy into the chocolate brown for winter.
[00:16:53] Melissa: I wouldn't think for summer,
[00:16:54] Mandy: but it's so cute. Okay. With like the light blue. I don't know. We bought it.
I love it. Yeah. I'll be wearing, it's that mm-hmm.
[00:17:00] Melissa: And polka dots. That would be nice. With a polka dot. Right,
[00:17:03] Mandy: exactly. So polka dots, so like more of like a design polka. Dots are in, stripes are in, um, animal prints not going anywhere Good. And I know, I love, I think anal print's a neutral, but still with the leopard, um, we were seeing a lot of zebra actually.
Um, which I love. I mean, I, zebra was what I started for, from my brand. It was like our, it was on our bags. It was on our, um, wrapping paper. It was our logo. So I've just always loved Oh, that's right.
[00:17:28] Melissa: It's on your,
[00:17:29] Mandy: the tissue wrapped. I always loved Zebra, the tissue paper. Yes. Very excited that that's okay.
Trending again.
[00:17:34] Melissa: Mm-hmm.
[00:17:35] Mandy: And then we are seeing. Um, the genes are coming down a little bit to more of a mid-rise. We are still seeing a high rise. Don't say that mid-rise. Say that.
[00:17:44] Melissa: I don't even wanna hear it.
[00:17:45] Mandy: It's not going any lower than that. Hopefully right now,
[00:17:48] Melissa: I don't know how we've survived the low rise gene phase of life.
I mean, I luckily I was a long younger,
[00:17:54] Mandy: that's what I said too. But
[00:17:55] Melissa: if it comes back, it's, it's not coming back from me.
[00:17:57] Mandy: No, it's not gonna come back to swagger.
[00:17:59] Melissa: No. I mean, I, I, I want my rise to go as, as far up as possible. Yeah. Agreed. Yes. Cover as much as possible.
[00:18:06] Mandy: You know, one of the other things that I have loved, that I see is coming back as a trend, um, scarves.
So scarves tied around your waist, around your neck, on your purse, as well as broaches. I kind of feel like it's giving, um, you know, like kind of granny chic. I don't know. Like my grandma was so beautiful and all these pictures of where she had these scarves tied around, even her head and her neck, and then her she always had one tied on her bag, but then she always had beautiful broaches.
Mm. Both of those things are,
[00:18:33] Melissa: that is a very vintage Yeah. Thing to be coming back. I love that.
[00:18:36] Mandy: Yeah, me too.
[00:18:37] Melissa: My aunt has about a million and a half bros. Should, so I might have to go to her house. Yeah. And just feel like, I
[00:18:42] Mandy: just
[00:18:42] Melissa: wanna borrow it. Yeah. Real quick. Yep. What is, what would you say is one easy way women can refresh their current closet?
Bring in a little, maybe the brooches, like you said, and a scarf. Is there anything else that would just be a simple, quick, cheap refresh?
[00:19:00] Mandy: Refresh? Um. I do think adding accessories I always think is like an easy way. Mm-hmm. To refresh your wardrobe, like right now. Exactly. Scarves. We haven't gotten broaches in yet to swagger.
We're looking for some, but the scarves, um, you just need to go to
[00:19:19] Melissa: my aunt's house.
[00:19:20] Mandy: We, yeah. Right. We have a lot of those, but as well as chunky necklaces are back in. Ah, I think we've seen a lot of. Like, you know, that clean girl aesthetic or with the smaller jewelry. Right. But now bigger jewelry is coming back in and you've got 'em layered.
[00:19:33] Melissa: Layered
[00:19:33] Mandy: necklaces. Yeah. Layered. Yeah. Um, which I think you can add, I love a simple silhouette, so even it's like a white t-shirt or white button up with some jeans, but put on an awesome scarf or big jewelry and it just really freshens it up.
[00:19:47] Melissa: Yeah. Yeah. And I love that gold is back in style too. It was silver for so long, thank goodness.
And I, I love all the, the. Silver, gold, rose gold. But I do love gold. It just, it looks better on my skin tone too.
[00:20:00] Mandy: Me too.
[00:20:00] Melissa: Mm-hmm.
[00:20:00] Mandy: I hope no one ever tells me I should be wearing silver. I that's,
[00:20:03] Default_2026-03-02_2: no,
[00:20:04] Mandy: I'm not getting my colors done. 'cause what if they told me that? 'cause I'm just gonna
[00:20:06] Melissa: steal that
[00:20:06] Mandy: color.
[00:20:07] Melissa: Oh, I was going to ask you if you've done the color testing.
I want to, yeah. And for everybody listening, it's I guess. I don't know how they're trained, but they hold up a different,
[00:20:17] Mandy: I know
[00:20:18] Melissa: shade of, you know, colors, whether you're in the warm tones or the cool tones, and
[00:20:22] Mandy: whether you're a spring, a summer, a winter,
[00:20:25] Melissa: yes. Yeah. And
[00:20:26] Mandy: I, I have not done it yet. Okay. I would like to see
[00:20:28] Melissa: Yeah.
[00:20:29] Mandy: But they better not tell me I'm a silver. I should be wearing silver.
[00:20:31] Melissa: Well, and I think like with blondes, you're blonde, you look great and black, you're wearing black. Today I have a lot of black, but it doesn't necessarily look. Great. The best on me, I'm, I'm more jewel tones I think look best on me. Yes. So, honestly, whatever the, the color lady tells me, I'm just gonna do what I wanna do anyway.
It's not like I'm gonna change much, so, so why do it? Right. Okay. You've got a teenage daughter.
[00:20:56] Mandy: Yes.
[00:20:56] Melissa: And I can imagine that she's also a budding style icon. Does she ever tell you that one of your potential buys or something that you have already bought for the store is a no-go or as the, the kids say these days it's chopped it, it's no cap chopped six seven.
Right. I'm just gonna go ahead and throw 'em all out there all at once. But does, does she really give you a lot of her opinions on things?
[00:21:22] Mandy: Well, okay, so she's a teenager, but she's still in the eighth grade. Okay. So, you know, the eighth graders are still very much into the athleisure. More than true.
Anything else? Yeah. Um, it'll be interesting when she goes to high school next year, but she. She's actually pretty good. I think she understands that I need to be wearing one thing and what I, she'll be like, yes, that looks pretty on you. I wouldn't wear it. She'll say all the time, like, we'll go shopping.
Yeah. Like, and I'm like, what do you think of this? She goes, that is great for you.
[00:21:50] Melissa: Mm,
[00:21:50] Mandy: yes. Which I know means it's not. She hates. But,
[00:21:54] Melissa: but I will say, but you
[00:21:55] Mandy: do you girl,
[00:21:55] Melissa: but as the mom of a teenage daughter, that's a very nice way to say it. Yeah. Could be a lot. It
[00:22:01] Mandy: could. Yeah. So
[00:22:03] Melissa: do you think that she will want to, to get into the boutique life one day?
[00:22:08] Mandy: So we tell her she can buy it from me one day if she would like to. Mm-hmm. So we're not giving it to her. She has to purchase it. Um, 'cause it is my. Retirement, right? Yeah. It wasn't given to me. Yeah. So, um, she says that she wants to do that. So we'll see. I I don't wanna force her into that. Yeah. It was my dream and I always tell her it is, this was my dream.
It doesn't have to be your dream. If, if you want to do that, that is fantastic and you can purchase this for me one day, but if you want to, I would love for you to do that. So we'll see.
[00:22:41] Melissa: Yeah, I guess we'll see. Time will tell.
[00:22:42] Mandy: Time will tell.
[00:22:43] Melissa: So you mentioned the yellow and and chocolate brown for spring and summer.
Mm-hmm. Do you already know what colors are gonna be in for fall? And who is it? Who is it that's telling us? Thats what, who is telling everything? What colors? Because the color of the year is that, um, white?
[00:23:00] Mandy: Well, it's cloud dancer, which
[00:23:01] Melissa: cloud dancer. Other known, also known as White. White,
[00:23:05] Mandy: correct.
[00:23:05] Melissa: Yeah. So who is telling us
[00:23:08] Mandy: Pantone, but like who's telling them?
Like why did they get to decide? I don't know. Like, I would love to know, I
[00:23:13] Melissa: would like to know the person behind that. But
[00:23:14] Mandy: it's so funny because like clearly the designers are listening to whoever they are. Yeah. Because they all know it.
[00:23:21] Melissa: Yeah. Yeah. It's
[00:23:22] Mandy: like, oh, everybody got the memo. And, and
[00:23:24] Melissa: they must be told first because they're already coming out with their, their designs and they're ready to go.
[00:23:28] Mandy: Right. Yeah. I, I would like to know that side of the process. I don't know that side of the
[00:23:32] Melissa: process. You know how, um. Hurricanes are named like years in advance. I'm wondering if they just throw out colors years in advance and they're like, okay, well is it next, next, um, next year is going to be baby blue and, and they already have it planned.
We just don't know.
[00:23:48] Mandy: We just, I'm not, well, this goes back to the, I'm an engineer and not a fashion marketing. I bet some fashion market marketing major at NC State knows this, but I
[00:23:56] Melissa: maybe
[00:23:57] Mandy: do not know the answer to this.
[00:23:58] Melissa: Yeah.
[00:23:58] Mandy: Yeah.
[00:23:59] Melissa: So do you, what do you, what do you know about fall and even winter? Do we Yes.
Fall? Are we
[00:24:03] Mandy: Yes. Fall? Yes. Okay. So when we went to Vegas, we did some of the lines, had their fall and Vegas, and we looked through them and I am so excited 'cause more animal print, but also so outer wear is going to be. He, I love outerwear. Mm-hmm. I'm obsessed with outerwear and it's very sad that we live like that.
We don't have a whole lot of changing of the climates because I have so much outdoor, although this winter, winter has been crazy. I've
[00:24:26] Melissa: been getting out more coats than normal. I would agree. Yeah.
[00:24:28] Mandy: Um, but we, we saw fur and just different silhouettes. I mean, it's gone gonna be all about the jacket, leather, suede, um, like bomber jackets, leather jackets, long jackets, plaid.
I, we saw so much outerwear. Of course we see outerwear, but not outerwear as the. Outfit. I mean, it's going to be outerwear as the outfit look, as the look you're gonna be having on a white, black, plain ish, top, maybe, or even a, I love. Maybe a, you have a patterned shirt, but then you have some amazing jacket over it.
I think that's,
[00:25:03] Melissa: that's
[00:25:03] Mandy: what I love the most.
[00:25:03] Melissa: That is exactly when we're gonna have our warmest winter on record. We're gonna not need a jacket at all, Mandy.
[00:25:09] Mandy: I hope not. 'cause I already bought a lot of that. I bought a lot of outwear.
[00:25:13] Melissa: So
[00:25:13] Mandy: yeah.
[00:25:14] Melissa: Maybe it'll stay in for a couple seasons. So just in case we don't have another rough winter, we, we can save it.
Okay. Let's say you have to describe swagger in three words. What is, what is the vibe of swagger?
[00:25:28] Mandy: What is, okay. Let's see. Fun. Um, fun.
[00:25:37] Melissa: I think fun is a great one because honestly, every time I walk into the store, it seems like the employees are having fun. Everybody's smiling, everybody's cheery. So it does seem like the whole, the whole store is fun.
[00:25:50] Mandy: It is. It's. It's
[00:25:51] Melissa: of course fun to shop, so, right. Yeah.
[00:25:53] Mandy: It is, it's just like a fun, that's what I wanted the vibe to be. Yeah. Right. Fun. Um, and of course, hopefully this people say trendy. Mm-hmm. Because you want the, um, fun, trendy, and
uplifting.
[00:26:11] Melissa: That's a good one. Yeah. Because you want people leaving. I said this in my intro, you want people leaving with more confidence than they came in with. So uplifting is a very good one.
[00:26:20] Mandy: I think well with that, you know, you saying that like there are so many women that come in. We are hard on ourselves.
[00:26:27] Melissa: Very. Yeah.
[00:26:29] Mandy: And you know, like what one person might not like about themselves. Another person loves about this, it's, we're just really hard on ourselves. Mm-hmm. And I tell people all the time, I'm like, you like, don't treat yourselves that way. Don't say that about yourself. Mm-hmm. And you look amazing in this just like.
Do it. Like wear it, trust me, own it. Go. Yeah. Trust me. Look amazing in this. And I'm always like, I'm not saying that to make money 'cause I like, that's not worth it. I want you to feel good. Mm-hmm. When you leave here. 'cause
[00:26:56] Melissa: then they'll come back.
[00:26:57] Mandy: Yeah.
[00:26:57] Melissa: Yeah.
[00:26:57] Mandy: Exactly. But like, don't talk about yourself that way.
Mm-hmm. Like, you look amazing and you shouldn't, you should know that. And you should feel that when you leave.
[00:27:07] Melissa: Good.
[00:27:07] Mandy: Yeah.
[00:27:08] Melissa: Okay. I do want to touch on the, the social media aspect. You guys, um. I mean, I wouldn't say where I started to follow you from, but it, it certainly helped with the live videos that you do.
[00:27:23] Mandy: Mm-hmm.
[00:27:23] Melissa: And they're shop, shop with Mandy, is that what it's called? Um,
[00:27:26] Mandy: shopping with Mandy. Yeah,
[00:27:27] Melissa: shopping with Mandy. Um, you are personally modeling the clothes, you're showing items on the videos and people are, you know, kind of like buying them as you go. I, I wanna know how impactful you feel like social media has been on.
A boutique style industry? How it's changed.
[00:27:49] Mandy: Yeah.
[00:27:49] Melissa: How you run your business.
[00:27:50] Mandy: Well, let's just start with the fact that in 2002, we were entering our invoices over fax because they would say, oh, do you have an email? I'm like, I do.
[00:28:00] Melissa: Children don't even know what faxes. I know. Yeah,
[00:28:02] Mandy: we, and I don't even know how to describe it.
So there is that, and then you pan for it through all the things. And now we're at the social media. Um. I will say like when we first started even into 2011, 12, I can't even imagine having to have produced a magazine of our, you know, get those magazines from big brands. Like, oh, this is what we have portfolio.
We never would've had the means to be able to do that. So social media does give us that opportunity. But, you know, I all, I laugh all the time. I'm like, who thought at 50 I would be. Making tiktoks and reels Yeah. Of these clothes, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, yeah. So it is more difficult than it looks to come up with the ideas and do them and implement them.
Mm-hmm. Along with all of the other things that need to be done. But I do think in today's world that you have to, to do that, or people, that's how, that's how people find out about,
[00:29:01] Melissa: yeah.
[00:29:02] Mandy: Boutiques and trends. I'm trying, we're trying to be a little bit more educational recently too, about, Hey, this is how I just did a reel on, this is how you can wear a scarf.
Five ways.
[00:29:14] Melissa: I saw that. Yes. So when you mentioned scarfs a few minutes ago, that's it. It immediately went in my mind and now I wanna go out and buy all the scarves.
[00:29:22] Mandy: Yeah. Like I think education does It is helpful. Yeah. 'cause sometimes people don't know how to. Work in the new trend. Yeah.
[00:29:29] Melissa: How
[00:29:29] Mandy: to style
[00:29:30] Melissa: it,
[00:29:30] Mandy: right?
Mm-hmm. Or if they're like, I wanna buy this, but I, I need to be able to wear it more than one way. Like, I'm trying to do videos like that as well. So, hey, you can get this and this is how you can wear it differently. So, um,
[00:29:41] Melissa: so when you get in the broaches, you're gonna have to make a new video to show how wear this is what you're gonna do.
Yeah. You don't just plop it on your dress, right? Well, you can, but there are a lot of different ways because you can incorporate it with scarves and, and jackets and everything else. Maybe even a, you know, hair. Hair. Mm-hmm.
[00:29:56] Mandy: Yeah.
[00:29:57] Melissa: I'll look forward to that video. All right.
[00:29:58] Mandy: We'll see.
[00:29:59] Melissa: I also feel like. Social media has allowed us as customers to get to know you.
[00:30:06] Joe Woolworth: Mm-hmm.
[00:30:07] Melissa: Better and on a more personal basis. And it makes us feel like we're supporting a friend, if that makes sense. By shopping in your store.
[00:30:16] Mandy: Yeah. It is funny. People will come up to me all the time, like, I feel like I know you, but you
[00:30:19] Melissa: don't
[00:30:20] Mandy: know me. Mm-hmm. And I wish that it worked both ways. 'cause I'd love to be able to know all of.
The people who watch. I think when we started doing the lives, 'cause I'm sorry, that was the the other question. The lives, I started doing lives actually before COVID, which was very helpful that when COVID happened and we had to shut down, that I continued on with the lives. So we were just very lucky that we were doing that beforehand.
Before that we swagger was expanding and I was really in our warehouse more than the store. And so I really wasn't getting to talk to customers. And I was like, I want to. Interact with them somehow. And that's kind of how this live started. So people do text, you know, they'll text like, oh hey, or I love that, or, mm-hmm.
Or, um, and that's how I just became more connected with customers again, because I don't get to be in the stores as often as I would like. That's the part I love, but there's just so much other stuff happening now mm-hmm. That I don't get to. Um, so. I've really enjoyed the, I've enjoyed doing the lives. Um, I go live usually Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
And the, the other thing about that is I try on every single piece of clothing that comes into swagger. Every single piece, so I know how every single thing fits.
[00:31:33] Melissa: And as a, as a shopper, I appreciate that because I normally base what I buy on what size you're wearing.
[00:31:40] Mandy: People say that all the time. Yeah.
[00:31:41] Melissa: Even though you're a little tinier than I am. But I, I still base based on what you say,
[00:31:46] Mandy: I'm also not, um, well, I'm not a zero zero, so it's every small. Is it gonna fit me, right? Mm-hmm. So I need to, I can say, hey. I sized up here, I ized down here and I think it is helpful because every other, it's just a lot of work to try every single piece Sure.
Of clothing, onm and obviously every customer's not gonna do that 'cause it's not as fun as it would sound.
[00:32:07] Melissa: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
[00:32:08] Mandy: So,
[00:32:09] Melissa: yeah, I'm, I'm sure it's very time consuming, but it, it is certainly worthwhile as far as what I can say.
[00:32:14] Mandy: Yeah.
[00:32:15] Melissa: Okay. Where do you see swagger five years from now?
[00:32:19] Mandy: From now? Hmm.
Five years from now, I joke, I'm always like, I'm not opening another store. Just not happen. It's not like
[00:32:27] Melissa: I, yeah. 'cause you opened the Raleigh location
[00:32:30] Mandy: in 2017.
[00:32:31] Melissa: Okay. Okay. Mm-hmm. So
[00:32:33] Mandy: it
[00:32:33] Melissa: feels like two years ago.
[00:32:35] Mandy: Yeah, it does. And, and it also feels like 20 years ago, but yeah, the, it was a large gap between, it was 15 years between the opening of the two stores.
Mm-hmm. Um, I. I was like, oh, I love my life. I love the amount of time I get to spend with my family. And we travel a lot and I didn't know if I could do both, but it did. I mean, the sw, the Raleigh store is doing amazing. The staff there is amazing, customers are great and um, but the every store comes with more responsibility, et cetera.
Yeah. So, I don't know. I would like to be, have a bigger presence online. Okay. Bigger presents online. Yeah. Um, sell more online. Just so then the stores. I have both stores that I love so much. Mm-hmm. And my house is kind of in the middle of the two, so I can go between the two. Yeah. Um. And then about four years after that, my daughter's gonna take over hopefully, and then I can go travel the world and
[00:33:32] Melissa: Yeah.
[00:33:32] Mandy: Yeah.
[00:33:32] Melissa: Maybe consult with her. Yeah,
[00:33:34] Mandy: exactly.
[00:33:35] Melissa: Work for her. Okay. It's time for our, what's up, Roundup, where I ask a lightning round series of questions before you go.
[00:33:42] Mandy: Right.
[00:33:43] Melissa: And this kind of goes back to the whole low wasted genes. Mm-hmm. My question is, what is one trend you wish would disappear forever?
And that's mine.
[00:33:56] Mandy: I was about to say, I'm not saying this. 'cause you said that Lowrise jeans. Yeah. I've done it once.
[00:34:00] Melissa: Yeah.
[00:34:00] Mandy: I don't need my behind sticking out. No, I don't want, I don't need to see other peoples, my mom
[00:34:04] Melissa: pouch. Yeah,
[00:34:05] Mandy: not, I don't need that.
[00:34:06] Melissa: Yeah. Let's tuck it all in.
[00:34:07] Mandy: Lowrise jeans. Full stop. That's it.
That's what I would like. Yeah.
[00:34:11] Melissa: All right. We're on. We're on the same page. Okay. If Swagger had a theme song, what would you want the theme song to be?
[00:34:23] Mandy: Maybe, um, run the world, the, the Beyonce,
[00:34:28] Melissa: Carl.
[00:34:28] Mandy: Oh,
[00:34:29] Melissa: that's a good one.
[00:34:30] Mandy: Yeah.
[00:34:30] Melissa: Yes. That's a very good one. I mean, the one that comes to my mind, maybe it's because it rhymes with swagger. It's moves like Jagger, but, so maybe we could change it to moves like swagger. Okay. What is one item in your closet that you've had forever and you'll never get rid of it.
[00:34:51] Mandy: Back to my outerwear obsession.
[00:34:55] Melissa: Yes,
[00:34:55] Mandy: I have this one off-white winter jacket with a spur collar that I am obsessed with it. I love it so much.
[00:35:03] Melissa: How long have you had it?
[00:35:05] Mandy: For before I owned Swagger, so
[00:35:08] Melissa: Okay. So that's a
[00:35:09] Mandy: 25 or more years. Okay. It's classic shape. It's beautiful. Mm-hmm. And every single time I wear it, I feel beautiful and I bet that
[00:35:18] Melissa: color is nice on
[00:35:18] Mandy: YouTube.
It's, I love Winter White. Yeah. So, um, I love it. Never getting rid of it.
[00:35:23] Melissa: Going back to the, the Old Navy story, my oldest piece of clothing is a denim jacket that I got at Old Navy probably. No less than 25 whenever they first came, opened the store, I think in Durham. I remember driving out to Durham and I was a teenager and thinking that I'm gonna get lost and, and stolen.
Um, but the, the denim jacket from Old Navy, I'll never get rid of
[00:35:47] Mandy: it. Wouldn't you find a good denim jacket?
[00:35:48] Melissa: Yeah.
[00:35:49] Mandy: You better not get rid
[00:35:49] Melissa: of that. No, you can't. You can't. Okay. I would like for you to tell everyone. Where to shop Swagger online, where to watch these live videos that we mentioned and all the, the TikTok, tiktoks, and fun videos and stuff that you do.
[00:36:05] Mandy: Okay. So on our website it is shop swagger now NO w.com. So you can shop on our website and then that also tells like the information about our stores. You can find us. Um, you can download our app on the Google Play Store or the App store. You search Swagger Boutique on either one and you'll see it.
We have a cute little pink logo that has like a zebra background. We are on Instagram on shop swagger. Um, as well as that's our TikTok handle, um, and our Facebook handle. So on fa and we also have a Facebook VIP group where, um, it's just a smaller group. We share, like customers share pictures. Yes, we'll share pictures.
More like intimate group. But, and that one's shop Swagger, VIP. And then we have shop Swagger. That's our. Facebook.
[00:36:55] Melissa: So you can find swagger everywhere online.
[00:36:59] Mandy: Yes.
[00:36:59] Melissa: Yes. At all the, all the platforms.
[00:37:02] Mandy: Yes.
[00:37:02] Melissa: And I, I, I do recommend the VIP page because, um, that's another way that you can see what the clothes look like on somebody else.
For sure. A normal looking person. Yes. Yeah.
[00:37:11] Mandy: Yes. Mm-hmm. And I do go, so I go, the lives happen on our app, but they also, um. The way that the app works is they send it to Facebook as well. So you can see that. You can see the lives on, on Facebook.
[00:37:23] Melissa: Okay.
[00:37:23] Mandy: Yeah.
[00:37:23] Melissa: Perfect. Well thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for telling us what, what we're gonna be seeing this spring and summer in particular.
I can't wait to see the yellows and browns.
[00:37:32] Mandy: I know. I can't wait to see them on you.
[00:37:33] Melissa: Yes. Oh, you'll definitely see 'em on me 'cause that's two of my favorite colors. So thank you so much, Mandy.
[00:37:38] Mandy: Yeah, thank you for having me.