A favorite shopping spot in Lanesboro, Minn., is open once again after moving to a new building right next door to their former location.
Barb Soma, owner of E2 Boutique, states that, “The opportunity to buy the building,” was a motivating factor.
By purchasing the building she could “make it the way we wanted to,” including adding “real dressing rooms,” she notes.
The new building is larger than the previous building and there is “more space with the upstairs especially,” says Soma, as she has utilized the upstairs for additional retail space.
Soma purchased the building in 2016 and began remodeling. Although it started out on a smaller scale, as with many projects, it quickly became more involved as one thing led to another, Soma explains.
“We really gutted it,” she says, and as they removed the false ceiling they discovered the original tin ceiling, which they left in place. They also found some original tin on the upper portion of the walls that remains, as Soma wanted to keep some of the historical charm of the building.
A new stairway to the upstairs was built where an old stairway used to be, except instead of the stairway going straight down it makes a turn and goes down into the retail area.
New wiring, plumbing, electrical, etc., was all installed, bringing the building up to date and the new lighting is warm and inviting to customers.
Many years ago the building was used as a buggy shop and most area residents can remember a buggy being rolled out of the second floor onto a large drop down door. Soma has repurposed that area with French doors and a very small patio area for flowerpots with a black wrought iron gate that looks amazing!
The majority of people will remember the building as Das Wurst Haus, which was owned by Arv and Jan Fabian and closed in 2011. Soma states that although she has now purchased the building, Arv still makes his mustard in a state certified kitchen area in the basement a couple times a week.
Since the project of remodeling the building became larger than first anticipated, the time to complete the renovation also took longer than Soma had originally planned on. She credits store manager Linda Egnash as being an integral part of the entire process from start to finish.
After many months of work on the building, the new E2 Boutique location opened its doors for Mother’s Day weekend 2017, which was also Girls Day Out in Lanesboro. Soma says, “We weren’t quite ready but we opened,” and as customers came in and commented on how nice the building and displays look, Soma realized all the hard work had created a unique shopping experience for area residents and tourists.
E2 Boutique offers mainly women’s clothing but there are a few clothing items for men. Trendy tops, blouses, sweaters, dresses, skirts, pants and more can be found at E2 Boutique, along with a vast amount of accessories.
Purses, shoes (including flip flops, sandles, and other types), jewelry, sunglasses, headbands and scarves are only a few of the goods that catch a shopper’s eye as they walk through the boutique.
Trust Your Journey items can be found in the boutique as well, which are very popular and include hats, shirts, jewelry, journals, coffee cups, water bottles and more.
One specific item that has been extremely popular are Brazilian bra straps which were sold out, but E2 Boutique recently received another shipment of them. Brazilian bra straps are jewelry-type straps with rhinestones and other embellishments that hook onto a bra that has removable straps. They can be worn under cold shoulder shirts, etc. to add a little more bling to your outfit.
The upstairs space holds boys and girls clothing from newborn to size 14, exceptional children’s gift items and a housewares area with rugs, towels, stemware, candles, platters, vases, bowls and others items which would make nice gifts for adults or useful items to take home yourself.
The original wood floor is still in place upstairs with scuffs and other marks and gouges acquired throughout the years of the buildings different uses.
Local residents and businesses where very curious as the remodeling was taking place and were also very anxious for the boutique to open in its new location so they could shop there again.
“The community has been so supportive,” states Soma, adding that, “the business community is just wonderful as well as the whole community of Lanesboro” and the surrounding area.
“It is a wonderful business climate here,” she notes and says there are “a lot of good local shoppers” that support the businesses in town.
E2 Boutique is located at 117 Parkway Ave. N. in Lanesboro. Days of operation vary by season and are as follows: April 15 – Dec. 31, open seven days a week; Jan. 1 – April 14, open Saturdays only.
For further information phone E2 Boutique at (507) 467-2994.
Kathy Young says
Sounds awesome! I bet it was fun to discover the original tin ceiling! And the updates sound nice as well. I felt like I had a tour of E2 Boutique after reading this. Fun article to read!