If you’re looking for a boutique, Long Beach is a top place to shop, according to a recent study.
It has the sixth-highest concentration of highly-rated independent boutiques in the United States, according to OnDeck — a small business lending company.
Their study looked at Yelp reviews for 17,411 stores across the 100 most populated U.S. cities.
Hobo Jane Boutique on Fourth Street ranked second in the country with an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars from 50 reviews.
The store’s name and inspiration came after owner Sara Jane Martini was laid off from her role as director of visual merchandising at Quiksilver, where she had worked for 12 years.
Martini said she didn’t know what to do without that job, which had formed a big part of her identity.
One day in an airport, she saw an art exhibit about how people during the Great Depression would “make something out of absolutely nothing,” she said.
According to Martini, the exhibit sparked an idea in her: “I’m a creator, I’m a dreamer and this too I shall survive.”
Ten years ago, Martini opened her first store near the intersection of Seventh Street and Redondo Avenue. A few months after opening, she woke up with half of her body paralyzed as a result of polyradiculopathy, a rare nerve disorder.
She spent the next six months on crutches before she could walk properly again. The middle toes on her right foot are still numb. But Martini didn’t let that slow her store’s ascent.
About four years after opening on Seventh Street, she moved it to a location near Cherry Avenue and Fourth Street. Five years after that, she moved down the street east of St. Louis Avenue in the heart of Retro Row.
Martini’s store mainly features clothing items and accessories, but she also has candles, perfume and other gifts.
Throughout the years, she has maintained relationships with clothing representatives and vendors, allowing her to keep prices “reasonable,” Martini said.
“I get a good deal, then I pass on the good deal,” she said. “I like to cater to the frugal.”
MAKE Collectives, a boutique in Downtown Long Beach’s East Village, also made OnDeck’s list. It was the second-highest-rated Long Beach boutique.
Owner Kathleen Peñaloza Engel’s family is woven into the thread of her business.
Her store’s name, MAKE Collectives, is a combination of her and her husband’s initials (Matt And Kate Engel).
When she signed the lease for her East Village storefront 12 years ago, she didn’t know she was pregnant with her first child.
She raised her son — now 11 — in the store, juggling child care with customer support. Her wide array of products includes her sister’s jewelry and her other sister’s line of vintage clothing.
Engel started thrifting and reselling vintage clothes as a side hobby while working in retail in the early 2000s.
Eventually, she started holding pop-up sales at bars around Los Angeles. She met her husband at one of those pop-up sales.
The pair bought a house and moved to the Bixby Knolls neighborhood in 2010. She discovered the East Village neighborhood while house hunting and made a goal to open a business there.
Engel chose her location on First Street specifically because of her neighbors.
“I think what makes my store unique is my neighborhood,” Engel said. “The fact that I have all these allies is a gift, it’s such a gift.”
Changes in consumer habits have caused the financial side to be a struggle lately. Her team of employees has dwindled to just her and her husband as cashiers, but Engel said she is leaning on her creativity to draw in new customers.
For Small Business Saturday in late November, she held her ninth edition of Makers Mart featuring other small, local vendors.
“People want more than just, ‘Come in and buy a dress.’ They want an experience, they want a relationship, they want community,” Engel said. “There’s more desire for that post-pandemic.”
Here’s the full list of the 10 boutiques with the highest Yelp reviews in Long Beach, according to OnDeck. Stores with fewer than 50 reviews were omitted from OnDeck’s study.
