The Building Boutique: what’s old is new again

There’s a saying in fashion that everything comes back into style, that what goes around comes around. So it’s fitting that Jacquie Queen, owner of The Building Boutique, has come full circle to reopen in her original location, established in 1991, in her hometown of Gravette.

After 28 years owning a women’s fashion retail store—first in Gravette, then Bella Vista, most recently in Bentonville, and now back to the original location—Jacquie has honed her customer base and knows what they are looking for. She has watched retail change and changed with it. And she’s still devoted to a brick and mortar presence, just a more streamlined one.

“I’ll have a smaller, tighter show,” she says. “Retail has taken a whole new turn and we’re just gonna settle down into the new world.”

One thing won’t be different: The Building Boutique will remain a great place to discover the different, the breathtaking and the fashion-forward from an exclusive collection of women’s clothing and accessories. The boutique is big on natural fabrics and materials, high-end details, American and Canadian-made fashions and one-of-a-kind looks from local and New York designers. Treska and Jeff Lieb jewelry, Samuel Dong coats and jackets and wardrobe pieces from Erin London, Up and Comfy USA are some of her customers’ favorites.

“We don’t want everyone to have it,” Jacquie says, pointing out that her fashion finds aren’t widely available locally or even online.

There is a lot of what she calls “art to wear”— handpainted silks and unique accessories, along with her “Zen collection” of natural stone jewelry and gifts. Jacquie points to her new “Gravette Lion” display, ranging from onesies to plus-size t-shirts and accessories.

And she’s excited right now about her reversible rain capes. “They are awesome, people love them. I can’t keep them in stock.”

Jacquie considered taking her whole operation online, but her customers balked. Fabrics are an important to Jacquie and to her clientele, and the feel of fine quality fabrics doesn’t translate online.

“They still like shopping in real time,” Jacquie says. “They told me, ‘That’s not gonna work for me. I need to be able to touch it, and try it on.’”

The Gravette store will be open Sunday through Wednesday only, traditionally the store’s busiest days. Jacquie will devote the other days to buying, designing and the nitty gritty of running her business. So that, on the days she’s open, “it’s all fun. I can really be devoted to my customers. And do what I do.” Part of what she does is to provide the kind of personalized customer service that has all but disappeared from retail shopping. Jacquie loves dressing someone from head to toe, putting together a whole look, down to the accessories.

Thanks to the new 549 bypass, The Building is just “another 15 minutes up the road” from the Bentonville location. It will be even more convenient for her Bella Vista clientele. Many of her regulars have already visited the new store. Curious new customers have wandered in.

“We’re a destination,” she says. “We always have that one unique thing they have to have. And they’re gonna get what they can’t get anywhere else.”

“This is my field of dreams,” she says of the business she started here 28 years ago. And she’s confident her customers will come, to discover the one-of-a-kind fashion that sets this store apart. The Building Boutique 17346 W. Highway 72, Gravette, AR (479) 787-6561

Hours: Sunday 12-4 Monday and Tuesday 12-4, Wednesday 12-6 Website: thebuildingboutique.com facebook.com/thebuildingbentonvillearkansas Instagram - @thebuildingboutique