Today we’d like to introduce you to Diane Bowler. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Dawn and Diane were college roommates and have remained great friends for 37 years! Dawn was in pharmaceuticals, and Diane was in telecommunications. Dawn retired, and Diane was laid off (their loss). The opportunity came only a short time after both events. Dawn envisioned opening a store someday and loved the name Paws & Boots.
We both love dogs and have a passion for boots! Our husbands are instrumental in the business (That’s where And A Guy came from). Diane’s husband (Ralph) did the labor of love on the store’s interior and performs our maintenance for anything we can’t do ourselves; Dawn’s husband (Tim) has continued his career as our Sanitation Manager. We accumulate a lot of boxes! Tim breaks them down so we can recycle them! We opened our doors in February of 2022 without knowing anything about retail. We went to the apparel market, bought everything we loved, and hoped everyone else did too! Thank God they did! So we continued our buying in that manner. We have had the best of the Best employees working alongside us. Lisa Wetzel keeps us in line (Reels the squirrels in 😂)! Jaidyn Schwartz and Ava Turner were our first teenage employees and have set the bar very high! Mary Hampel – we call her beautiful Mary (A Wear of A Prayer).😍
There is nothing Mary cannot do, and everything she touches turns beautiful! Gracie Whalen is our “steady Eddie.” We also have Jill Bowler, who works whenever she can and keeps the store looking beautiful! Lisa Wilkinson – We stalker her for a year to come work for us…and we finally won! Gladys Stannard who we call our wing woman…she helps when we need it and always is a supporter. Mel Bausworth – Again we stalked her till she caved…what a treasure she has been! We have had a couple of others work with us, Diane Alonzo and Grace Wehmeyer, who have worked for us when they could! We could not do what we do without all of them! It truly does take a village! We also love to give back. We have adopted several organizations. We regularly donate clothing to The Women’s Safe House, Center For Specialized Services. We support Harvest Moon Run, Believe in G: Cure Sanfillippo, Second Chance Ranch for animals and Pawz for A Cause. Paws & Boots And A Guy just celebrated our second Birthday Party on 2/17 with a party for our customers! Best Day Ever! We will also be launching our website in the next 30 days! www.shoppawsandboots.com. We are very humbled that the Eureka community has been so wonderful to us! We have made many lifelong friends that we would never have met without Paws & Boots And A Guy! We look forward to many years of making women feel their very best when they leave our shop! We truly both love what we do!
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been bumpy! We feel blessed that it has been much smoother than we ever would have anticipated. As long as you stay in your lane and focus on what you do, making people happy 🙂, having fun, and enjoying what you do, it will reward you!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We curate the best clothing products for our customers. We do an excellent job picking out the best-fitting and most unique jeans. We have become known for being able to fit anyone. We carry sizes 00-22. We are one of the few, if not the only, boutique that cuts jeans for short girls and have learned how to re-fringe the bottom! This has set us apart from many other boutiques, and we have a lot of repeat customers due to being able to do this for them.
We also started Get L🙂🙂PED In The L🙂U in mid-2023. It is permanent jewelry consisting of bracelets, necklaces, and anklets. During our first year, we raised $2500 for Wreaths Across America by giving a wreath for every bracelet we made in November 2023. We placed 196 wreaths on veterans’ graves at Jefferson Barracks Cemetery thanking as many as we could for their service.
What makes you happy?
Making others happy makes us happy! We strive to make people feel comfortable and welcome in our store. We want them to feel better when they walk out than when they walk in. This makes us both very 🙂 ! It led to us being known for happy faces 🙂 all over St. Louis County! We always have something in our boutique with a happy face; it portrays how we want others to feel!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: pawsandboots_eureka
- Facebook: Paws&Boots-eureka
