Traveling east or west on F Street, the newest addition to Oakdale’s downtown shopping is quite hard to miss. Nestled between Oakdale Dry Cleaners and Northern Lights, shoppers will be pleased to find Cotton and Sage. The shop is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
It’s a recently opened business whose name was come by after several days of kicking around options by co-owners: Lucy Lloyd, her daughter Ashley Cogburn and granddaughter Kaylee Cogburn.
“The Cotton is for the clothing, the Sage is for home,” Ashley said.
“It was a process,” Kaylee added of choosing the boutique name. “I think we just finally decided to throw words together and see what felt right.”
“My dream had actually been to open my own store,” Lucy stated, sharing her prior experience of owning a small boutique space within a retail shop in Oakdale since 2017.
Upon seeking the space at 226 E. F St., Lucy decided to approach Ashley and Kaylee with the proposal of being partners.
While the idea and the dream were both fun and exciting, the trio would first be faced with some hard work and renovation before opening the downtown boutique. In late January the lease was signed and the gutting of the former antique resale shop began.
Lucy shared she knew she wanted a raised ceiling to be featured in the space and so the drop ceiling tiles were removed.
Thanks largely in part to Lucy’s husband, Ashley’s finance and a team of others that helped with the stripping and renovation, a total of two large dumpsters were filed with debris.
Once the debris was cleared and a blank canvas created, the trio solicited the help of Ashley’s longtime friend and interior designer Lena Muniz of Bend the Trend.
What initially began as a consultation for design ideas, quickly developed into a partnership between the trio and Muniz whose home interior furnishings and accessories share equal space in the new boutique.
Additionally they added Bronze Beauty Bar owned by former client Carly Keith in the rear portion of the space.
The clothing boutique portion of the shop features clothing, shoes, hats, accessories; just enough of a little bit of something for both men and women.
“I would say we are fresh and on trend,” Kaylee said of the shop space. “Since we do have all three of us at all different ages, since I know what my age group wears and same with them.”
‘We try to cater to different types of women, men, all ages, sizes and styles,” Ashley added.
Veteran to the partnership Lucy noted a number of things which she finds important to operating a successful business.
“I like the style that someone can come here in their 20’s or 30’s and somebody in their 60’s or 70’s and they all feel comfortable wearing that,” she said of the overall goal. “It’s just what is your personality, what makes you feel good, regardless of age.”
Now just a few weeks following their mid-July opening, the mother, daughter, granddaughter team are excited, as well as appreciative for the community support.
“Oakdale is growing and I just feel that adding more (businesses), brings more people into the area to go shopping,” Lucy said.
As the three women learn to transition from family to business partners, they’re also discovering their strengths as well as individual loves, by way of the business.
Kaylee, the youngest of the partners, shared she loves being able to bring fashion items to the community which are trendy and stylish. Lucy loves the hats the shop offers, noting the finishing touch to a true style driven shopper. Ashley admitted to finding the space she finds most fun is the men’s section, namely the fun and funky sock collection the boutique offers.
“My favorite is our sock collection,” Ashley shared, noting that it’s something she always enjoys shopping for when visiting coastal communities. “I wanted to bring that here. A lot of people love fun socks. They can be for men, women, whatever, just something fun.
“I feel like there’s a price point for everybody,” she added. “We have pieces for somebody who wants to spend a little more on an item; we have pieces for somebody who’s working a part-time job, in high school. Then there’s the middle too. There’s something for everybody.”
The 12-week process of transformation of the space has proved to be rewarding, as well as appreciated as customers are finally able to step into the shop. And as they do, Lucy shared the feedback continues to be positive and encouraging.
“We forget all the handwork we did in here, because it’s just so rewarding to hear that people are happy, which is our goal,” Lucy said.
“Being able to hang out. It’s not like we’re working. It’s fun. We’re able to just hang out together,” Ashley concluded. “I feel like it’s more social, I look forward to seeing everybody.”
