Blackbird Boutique takes flight in Oconto this spring

Lori Kaye Lodes

Contributor

March 10, 2025

OCONTO – A lot is happening behind the cardboard-covered windows of the former BeYoutiful Boutique in downtown Oconto (1102 Main St.).

In January, former Owner Lisa Carey Hirst announced the sale of the boutique to Amanda Derry, a long-time employee of BeYoutiful. 

It wasn’t the first sale of the retail space by Carey Hirst.

In 2022, Carey Hirst leased the boutique she had run for years to a different party that operated a storefront known as Olive + Birch.

That continued until fall 2023 when Carey Hirst resumed ownership and reopened the boutique as BeYoutiful.

But by late 2024, Derry said Carey Hirst found it difficult to juggle the boutique among other life demands, including a full-time job and a new side business.

“When she leased it out the first time, I was devastated,” Derry said. “I work full-time doing HR at a manufacturing facility, but I love people, love helping people, love shopping and love clothes. So the boutique was a fun little escape for me. I was totally supportive of her but heartbroken for me. When she re-opened, I told, her, ‘If you ever decide not to do this anymore, please tell me first.’”

Opportunity knocked

Derry said that happened out of the blue in January when she was at home sitting on the couch and received a text from Carey Hirst that said she was thinking of selling the boutique and building.

“And she said, ‘I want you to have it,’” Derry said. 

Derry said she credits Carey Hirst for her persistence and support, as she handed over a contact for the bank, set up due dates and did other legwork to get Derry off on the right foot.

And though she adores working at the boutique, Derry said she admits she had a moment of hesitancy.

“I’m a single mom, and I admit, I wondered, ‘What if I can’t do this?’’’ she said. “But I was approved and everything took shape, with me taking on Lisa’s inventory, mannequins, everything. It all came with the building, and it was a very fast process.”

Though things proceeded swiftly, Derry said she and Carey Hirst initially kept things to themselves – so much so that they placed cardboard on the boutique’s street-facing windows and announced the boutique was undergoing an overhaul on social media.

“People kept asking what was happening, and we just spoke vaguely about rearranging and reorganization,” Derry said. 

She said she admits their temporary closure was difficult as the greater Oconto community has been an amazing supporter of the boutique over the years.

But Derry said she forged ahead, closing on the building and its contents even though she said she was shaking during the signing. 

“I was shaking, but (thought), ‘I know it will be okay, I’ll figure it out, and I’ve got so much support from the community,’” she said.

Derry said she admits it’s been crazy to think of the space as her own, but the vibe and feel of it feels different to both her and Carey Hirst when she came by the store. 

“I’m getting things situated and making it my own,” Derry said.

She said that has included painting some areas, rearranging the boutique and changing the approach to the inventory to include more everyday clothing, including jeans, dressier sandals, short-sleeve tops and even mugs and tumblers. 

Derry said some of the items in the storefront will also have a percentage of purchases benefiting nonprofit organizations, such as St. Jude’s or for cancer research or clean water initiatives.

“My style is going to be different from Lisa’s,” she said. “She carried a lot of tops and dresses, and we’ll have more for every day. It’ll be casual and trendy – stuff you can wear every day to work.”

Derry said she will carry Flying Monkey and KanCan jeans to start and will see how things go before pursuing the process of carrying a line like Judy Blues, for example.

Though she is starting by ordering items from a wholesaler, she said what she orders will evolve with customer guidance.

“I want to take suggestions on the types of jeans, for example, that customers want,” she said. “I want to hear what they want. I want to offer a variety of options.”

Making it her own

In the meantime, Derry said she’s making the Italianate-style building’s space her own, painting a focal point wall black.

Under Carey Hirst’s tenure, Derry said it was white, and before that, it was red.

Touches of home are landing in the shop as well, Derry said, whether it’s floral decor on the wall, creating an earring display with an old window frame and chicken wire or using her grandparents’ dresser as part of a display.

Both Carey Hirst and Derry said they agree there’s a warmth to the space, between the color scheme, tin ceiling, wall lighting and more. 

Derry said the aesthetics include the Blackbird Boutique sign, which is named in honor of her mom and features four birds representing her four children.

Before her mother passed away 17 years ago after a battle with cancer, Derry said she found great peace in the little things, such as watching the blackbirds and crows outside her living room window.

“She would sit in her chair and watch them and call them her boys,” she said. “She found a type of joy in appreciating life differently. Before she passed, we kept saying we needed to think of something (she could do) so we would know she was okay (after she passed).”

On the day of her mom’s funeral, Derry said as she was getting ready in her apartment that was positioned next door to her sister’s apartment and faced a wooded area, she heard a ruckus outside.

She said a bird was screaming loudly, prompting her to look outside to see what was going on. 

Derry said it was a crow squawking at her – sitting right in the middle of the sisters’ apartments.

“I was like, ‘Okay, Mom. I got it,’” she said.

From that day on, when they saw a crow, Derry said they took comfort in the fact that she was near.

So when she began work on the boutique’s signage, Derry said she knew it had to incorporate her mom into it somehow. 

“The sign honors her and my children as they are my biggest supporters,” she said. 

Derry said Carey Hirst has been a consistent supporter as well, with things coming full circle from the days when she was her right-hand woman.

Derry said her stepmom, Kathy, will play a fundamental part in helping to make the storefront run when she can’t be on site.

“I’m so grateful that she will be able to help,” she said. 

‘Small-town customer service’

Derry said she anticipates Blackbird Boutique will be open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays – though she may open on Sundays when she anticipates committing time to doing live videos on what’s new for her social media. 

“I want to do those on Sundays because Sunday afternoons are when people relax and they scroll in the evening, and I want them to know what’s new in the store,” she said. 

Derry said she plans to do more on Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, in addition to building the boutique’s customer base through word of mouth.

Adamant about delivering small-town customer service, she said in addition to setting a regular schedule, she plans to open here and there when people need it. 

“If it’s a Tuesday night and someone needs to grab a birthday gift for someone for the a.m., shoot me a text, and I’ll run over and open the shop so they can grab it,” she said. “I plan to be very flexible and want to be available if people need something.”

Derry said that extends to Oconto Falls, Marinette, Coleman and other smaller communities within a radius of the boutique as well.

She said she is heartened by how strongly small businesses in all the surrounding smaller communities work together to promote and support each other. 

That support she feels from the community, Derry said, started for her at a young age – moving to the Oconto area when she was three years old.

Over the years, she said she has been involved in many facets of the community – which included starting a co-ed softball league last year and getting involved in her children’s sports teams and their schools.

Derry said she currently has one child in high school, one in middle school and two in elementary school in the community. 

“I think (success) has a lot to do with being part of the community and having people know you,” she said.

Leading up to this

Derry said she has gathered a lot of knowledge and lessons working so closely with Carey Hirst all those years, an experience she didn’t realize at the time was preparing her to become an entrepreneur herself.

She said her entrepreneurial path has included lessons on the importance of being more diligent and consistent in using social media – including doing sneak previews, live videos and feeds that showcase what’s new in a given month. 

“I’ll do my best to see what works and what doesn’t,” she said. “I’m getting things situated to where it’s my own.”

When Carey Hirst announced the sale of the business on social media, she wrote: “As I closed out 2024, I had peace in knowing I wanted to sell my business. I had only one person in mind for the purchase and that was Amanda.”

Carey Hirst went on to say this “has been Amanda’s dream.”

“(She) will make the boutique even better than I ever could have imagined,” she said. “She is creative, energetic and one of the sweetest people I know. All of our wonderful customers will have an even better experience with her owning it.”

Though no specific opening date has been announced for Blackbird Boutique, Derry said she encourages folks to visit the shop on Facebook for updates.