HURON, S.D. (KELO) — Mary Neugebauer, Abby Parker, and Carly Hewitt are new boutique owners.
The three women opened Diamonds in the Rough Boutique just over a year ago in Huron.
But being business partners isn’t their only connection.
The boutique is run by a mom and her two daughters. Parker and Hewitt are sisters, and Neugebauer is their mother.
“It’s fun for the most part,” Parker said.
“It’s fun. We have fun…most of the time,” Hewitt said.
“It’s been awesome. We were a little afraid at the beginning. They told me I couldn’t be moody, which I don’t think I am, but it’s been really good,” Neugebauer said.
The new venture came about when all three women needed to make a change in their work lives. That’s when some brainstorming turned into a boutique business plan.
“I can guarantee I said it as a joke, 100 percent just trying to be funny and Carly was like, ‘Haha, that would be fun.’ And then a couple days later my mom came up and was like, ‘You know we could open a boutique,’ and I’m like, ‘That’s funny because me and Carly were just joking about that,” Parker said.
Today the family sells women and men’s clothing at their store on Dakota Avenue.
Each business partner brings their own strengths to Diamonds in the Rough.
“Abby’s good at it all,” Hewitt said.
“Carly’s very good with customers,” Parker said.
And there’s no question about mom’s niche.
“She’s our financial side of things,” Hewitt said.
“Mom definitely does the financials, no doubt about that, no changing that. She can’t back out if she wanted to on that,” Parker said.
All three have a hand in picking out the clothes.
“They’re a little younger than I am, obviously, so I tend to pick some things that look a little older and they pick some things that look a little younger,” Neugebauer said.
The boutique carries clothing in a variety of sizes, including plus sizes. It’s an important mission to the business owners.
“We’re all plus size women in our world and going shopping was very difficult so we like to have options,” Hewitt said.
“I’ve been plus size my whole life, so being even a teenager growing up finding cute clothes that were my size that I wanted to wear that weren’t necessarily the “old lady” clothes, it’s nice to be able to do that for other people, for other teenagers, for other young adults, for everybody in that aspect,” Parker said.
Parker works at the boutique full-time. Hewitt and Neugebauer have full-time jobs, they work part-time at the boutique.
Opening a business can be stressful.
“You just don’t know what to expect and you put a lot of time and money into it. You could succeed or you could fail,” Hewitt said.
But it can also be exciting.
“Seeing people happy when they leave the store, pleased that we have clothes that fit and are affordable and in their price range,” Parker said.
And through it all, the three women are happy they’re in it together.
