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Melanie Williams takes pride in ownership. Eleven years ago, she purchased The Black Market Boutique at the age of 26 from original owner Susan Creacy, who started the shop in 1989 at a small storefront on Church Street. Creacy relocated the shop several times before landing in the center of the Woodland Triangle shopping district, which, at the time, was just becoming a destination for locally owned retail. Creacy’s original vision for the store – which also housed a Guatemalan wholesale business for many years with then-business partner Theresa Hendricks, who now owns Lucia’s Imports – focused heavy on import clothing, sterling silver jewelry and gift items.
Williams has preserved and expanded the funky and eclectic boutique – and as of this summer, she now owns the century-old building in Woodland Triangle that houses her store.
“I bought the building to protect my business,” said Williams, now 37, “because I love my store.”
Falling in love with a retail shop was not something the Paducah native had planned. She was enrolled at the University of Kentucky and studying for a career in chiropractic medicine when the passion for retail hit. Williams was at Black Market Imports, looking for a pair of earrings for her mother, when she overheard Creacy say that the store was for sale.
“My heart just started pounding,” remembers Williams. “Literally, for a week, I could not stop thinking about it.”
She made the decision to drop out of college and purchase the business. The problem? She didn’t have any money. Williams did her best to obtain a loan, but at such a young age she had nothing to offer up as collateral.
“It just wasn’t happening,” she said. “I felt like there were many people saying, ‘There are better careers for you than this.’”
Williams learned about a program for women entrepreneurs at Midway College. There, she sought out information on how to find a loan and discovered opportunities from both the mayor’s office and a high interest loan company. Within the year, Williams was the proud owner of the Black Market Boutique.
“Every door that was closed made me even stronger, instead of beating me down,” she said. “I feel like passion prevailed.”
The Black Market Boutique is “a little boutique with a lot of flair” that sells a unique variety of dresses, vintage, jewelry and men’s t-shirts. Originally, the store required only one rental space, but six years after being in business, Williams decided to expand, taking on an extra rental unit next door.
The fact that the store required two units worried Williams when the building went up for sale in 2012. In addition to the two units used for the Black Market Boutique, the building with store fronts along Maxwell and High street houses Calypso boutique and Hairport salon, as well as four apartment units.
“If someone were to have bought the building,” Williams said, “they could have said, ‘Okay, we’re going to raise rent by three hundred dollars’. My business would have been hit twice because I was using two spaces.”
Relocating wasn’t an option, as Williams has always loved the area.
“I feel Woodland Triangle is unique,” she said. “Right next door, we have the skate shop and the skate park. Then we have the yarn store, two amazing bookstores, the bike shop, Lucia’s, Ramsey’s and the pie shop ... there’s just such a diversity in this area.”
Not only was Williams invested in the area, she’d also invested major time and money renovating her rental space over the years. These renovations included both functional and aesthetic changes, such as textured concrete floors, off-white ceilings, track lighting, and custom-built, wooden dressing rooms.
Faced with an uncertain future, Williams made the decision to buy the building. Finding the money for the down payment was a challenge. After unsuccessful attempts to secure a loan to cover that cost, she finally opted to use the savings from the sale of her home and a loan from a family friend to close the deal.
Today, Williams is proud of all that she’s accomplished and the evolution of her journey.
“So many elements over the years played out to get me to this point,” Williams said. “If I hadn’t sold my home, I wouldn’t have been able to buy the building. It was the natural progression of how things were supposed to be.”
One thing Williams has learned from her experience is the importance of tenacity and hard work. “Don’t let the corporate world tell you no,” she said. “I’m doing what I love but I was willing to work three times as hard to get it.”
Today, the shop owner and now-landlord is looking forward to many happy years in Woodland Triangle and she hopes that shoppers will continue to take advantage of this unique part of Lexington.
“Shopping local boutiques is what I consider retail therapy,” Williams said. “In Woodland Triangle, the store owners are invested, the store’s employees care about you. Ultimately, the experience of shopping local is priceless.”