Jackson boutique born from online business

Megan Senciboy attended Southeast Missouri State University with a major in fashion merchandising. Three weeks after graduating, in June 2019, she started her own online business called Harper James Boutique.

On Friday, May 31, Senciboy will open up a physical storefront for the first time.

The boutique will be at 2008 W. Jackson Blvd. in Jackson.

"I've always loved shopping online for myself, so I decided to do it as my business and bring those items to other women in the area and throughout the country," she said.

Senciboy named her online store after her nieces Leah Harper and Madelyn James.

"All throughout high school and college, I worked retail, and by doing that became aware of my love for fashion. I actually had a blog back in the day called Harper James blog," she said.

The boutique sells women's apparel, shoes and accessories with the occasional kids items. It performed so well, Senciboy was able to leave her part-time job and devote her time to the boutique after just two months.

"I started out in the guest bedroom of our house, moved to the basement of our house ... and now I'm outgrowing the basement, so I moved out to this building," Senciboy said.

The front part of the store will have a retail section for visitors to shop in person.

For the local customers, the ability to try clothes on in person fulfills a common request.

Around half of Senciboy's orders are shipped locally, while the other half is shipped around the country and even to military bases overseas.

Senciboy will continue with her online storefront in addition to having the physical boutique. She said she is going to bring in a small selection of baby and toddler clothing to see how it sells and could expand on that if it does well.

"I have a Facebook group that people join. I post sneak peaks in there every day, a little bit of behind-the-scenes that people are interested in," she said.

Senciboy operates a Harper James Boutique app and a website, http://harperjamesboutique.com.

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