Business notebook: Woman, sister-in-law buy Perryville custom-wear shop

Tracy Hemmann saw an opportunity when her former boss, Cindy Kirn, decided to retire.

Hemmann had worked at the K&L Sports Locker custom-wear shop on the downtown square of Perryville, Missouri, for about 18 years, so she knew how to run the place.

But she couldn't do it alone, so she turned to her sister-in-law, Melissa Hemmann.

"Tracy approached me about going into buying it with her, and we did that in mid-February," Melissa said.

The Hemmanns now run H Squared Monograms and More.

"Since we're both married to Hemmann boys, we thought it was fitting," Melissa said. "Honestly, that was the hardest part -- figuring out what to call it."

H Squared offers full customization services, from monograms to logos and other personalization using transfer or embroidery.

Whether the order is for hundreds of T-shirts or a one-off, Melissa said their shop can supply.

"All the way down to one shirt," she said, nodding. "We just did a shirt for someone with the names of their grandchildren on it. ... We also just did shirts for a public-school camp -- 500 shirts."

They keep an array of uniform pieces compliant with local parochial schools, as well as premade fanwear, totes and even water bottles.

"Kind of a little bit of everything," Tracy said. "Soccer especially is a big thing in Perryville."

Melissa said they serve more than schoolchildren.

"We can also do embroidery on a polo shirt or another uniform shirt if you're a company," she said.

"And we have been really busy. Which is a good thing."

The Hemmanns said they're grateful for their shop's location, next to Villainous Grounds coffeehouse.

"We love being in the downtown area," Melissa said. "Just the hustle and bustle, there are a lot of towns that don't necessarily have that. We take great pride in being part of that. [The square] is the place to be."

Looking toward the future, the sisters-in-law plan to attend a conference for inspiration soon.

"We're hoping to come back completely full of ideas," Melissa said.

Business licenses

Terry Brewer-LaFont applied for a business license to operate a home business, Studio 402. The esthetics/facials, hot-stone therapy and aromatherapy business is scheduled to open June 15.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627