From online success to a new store in Grafton

Kara Yearling’s face sparkled as she talked about her store, Kara Marie Boutique, which opened April 27 in the historic Grafton State Bank building in downtown Grafton.

Having a storefront has been a dream for Yearling, who started her business as an online store from the basement of her Port Washington house about eight years ago.

After the shop began to overflow into the garage, Yearling said, she moved the business to a warehouse on Port’s south side.

And now she has her own shop, a place she’s dreamed of for years.

The former bank building retains its historic facade, but the once staid office space is now a riot of color, filled with a rainbow of clothing that creates a bright, cheery atmosphere.

“I want everyone to feel a good vibe when they come in,” said Yearling, who hand-picks every item sold at the store. “The styles I carry are part of me. If I won’t wear it, I won’t carry it.

“I look for different things, things you won’t find everywhere. I love color. I love fun, comfortable things that are still stylish. I love patterns.

“I love dressing people. I love bringing sparkle into people’s lives.”

There’s plenty of sparkle in the boutique. The first floor of the two-story shop is filled with clothing in sizes small to 3X and some accessories, including shoes.

A large mirror is on the wall outside the dressing rooms, and a bright blue couch offers customers a place to rest and relax.

The second floor of the store is devoted to jewelry, including permanent jewelry such as bracelets that are welded together rather than attached with a clasp, and a design-your-own earring bar where customers can create their own pieces.

Later this year, she plans to use a space upstairs to host classes and jewelry making parties where customers can create their own custom pieces.

“I love making jewelry, and I do like to bring that gift to others,” she said.

Yearling’s business has its roots in her early love of making jewelry, something her father Kerry Stehlik helped her with. The two of them often made jewelry for Yearling’s mother, and in the process they nurtured her passion.

But after high school, she followed a different path, earning a master’s degree in accounting. She worked a corporate job at a bank and could have become a certified public accountant, but Yearling said she realized that was something she didn’t want.

She quit her job to pursue her passion for fashion and jewelry.

“It was the one of the scariest things I’ve ever done,” she said, leaving a secure job with good pay and benefits for an uncertain future.

“I wanted to pursue something with my talents,” she said. “And I love people and making a connection with them.”

She started doing art fairs and shows, selling her jewelry, which features Swarovski crystals, and held jewelry shows at her house.

Eventually, she expanded her offerings, adding clothing, and began to sell online through Facebook Live. She was a hit, building a large online following of customers from throughout the county who are attracted to not only the products she sells but also the community she created.

“I love my online ladies,” Yearling said. “We’ve created such a bond even though we’ve never met. I call them my online family.”

Their bond was so tight, she said, that when she began to host pop-up shops at her home and friends’ houses — and later at the warehouse — a number of her customers from throughout the country traveled to shop at them.

Yearling said that when her business, which she initially operated from her basement, began to flow into the garage, her husband let her know it was time to find a new base for Kara Marie Boutique.

Not only was her operation too large for the house, she said, she realized it was time to bring on employees to help carry the load.

She relocated to a warehouse in Port Washington’s industrial park, which became her jewelry studio as well as a warehouse and shipping center. Yearling, whose business has an app, would also film daily pieces at the warehouse, many of them showing off new products.

Her customer base grew steadily, largely by Facebook sharing and word of mouth, and about a year ago she started looking seriously for a brick-and-mortar space where her dream of a cheerful shop could become reality.

“I’ve always driven by this location and said it would make a great boutique,” she said of the former bank building.

In January, she made a call to the landlord and they worked out a lease for the space.

“It’s the perfect spot,” Yearling said. Not only is it roughly the same distance from her house as the warehouse, which she continues to use to ship products, store inventory and create jewelry, it also was a modern, move-in ready space.

“I love all the windows, the natural light,” she said. “And I love the Grafton community.”

And being in the heart of Grafton, it is visible to people walking and driving by.

She and her team turned the empty space into the boutique in about 2-1/2 weeks, she said.

“I can’t believe we turned it over that fast. I have an amazing team,” she said.

Although the shop’s only been open a short time, Yearling said the response has been good.

“I’m so thankful to have the space,” she said. “This is the beginning of the dream.”