Meet Erika Hilligas of Sophie May Boutique

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erika Hilligas

Hi Erika, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have been a lover of fashion and small local boutiques since I was a teenager. One of my favorite hobbies with my mom was shopping local boutiques on the weekend, and there was something so special and unique about the clothing offered that you couldn’t find anywhere else. I got a degree in social work and worked in mental health for 8 years before deciding to open my own women’s clothing boutique. I started with $2,000 of inventory and built an online website and small “store” in the spare room of our house. As we grew, I ordered more inventory and began doing popup markets in the Phoenix valley.

I had always envisioned owning a mobile boutique, but knew I wanted something completely different than anyone had ever seen before. I went down a rabbit hole on Pinterest looking at tiny houses and decided I wanted to build a tiny boutique on wheels. Before I knew it, we hired someone and it was done within 6 weeks! We went viral on instagram with it using the phrase, “Shop Tiny” everywhere we went. A year later we signed a lease for our very first storefront, opened 6 months later and we are now coming up on 2 years! It has been such a wild ride, but my mission is to make women of all ages feel important, seen and excited when they shop our little store.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Owning a small business has it’s ups and downs. However, if I never experienced any challenges I wouldn’t appreciate where I am at, nor would I work as hard. The biggest struggles have been gaining traffic to our storefront and online store along with rising prices of wholesale items.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Sophie May Boutique?
Sophie May Boutique is a women’s clothing store that specializes in bringing a curated and hand picked collection of clothing. Our goal is to bringing quality clothing at an affordable price. We have unique pieces that you can’t find in any store or on amazon and we strive to have a very inclusive environment in store, online and at local markets. What sets us apart is our ability to bring our store to you, create a welcoming and safe space for women and bring quality and functional clothing that will last.

Our favorite is when we get multiple generations of women (like a mother/daughter duo) and they are both able to find something they love.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love Gilbert because it is truly a huge community of local and small business supporters.

My least favorite is how incredibly hot it gets in the summer.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sophiemayboutique.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/sophiemayboutique
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/sophiemayboutique

Image Credits
Shelby Burchfield Photography