Retail in the CWE got a youthful boost when entrepreneur Katy Noonan decided to put down semi-permanent roots following a successful debut as a pop-up at The Vino Gallery last holiday season.
Last December, when I first stepped into Bea and Wade Crowders' annual pop-up sample sale at The Vino Gallery, I was immediately drawn to the display of the beautiful bags shown above. The $150 + price tags were not quite what one would expect to find mixed in with the usual $5 gloves and $15 scarves.
Wade introduced me to Katy Noonan, shown below, whose collection, Living Collective, was sharing the space as a pop-up within the pop-up. Katy said the bags were made by Future Glory, a small socially-conscious company based in San Francisco. Her collection is named after the different roles women play in their lives "from working woman to adventurer, dreamer, mother, to party animal." (I'm all in, until this last – was I ever?)
For someone as young as she is, Katy has an impressive resume beginning with her first job in retail working at a Pier 1 in Florida at age 16. At 21 she was living in Chicago, and helped open a Marc Jacobs store. Four months later, the president of the company, an admirer of Katy's work ethic, passion and dedication, asked her to run a Marc Jacobs shop in Provincetown, MA. In retrospect, she said, "that assignment was a do-or-die situation, as it was high season on Cape Cod." She proved herself more than capable in spite of the long hours and tiny staff, and was promoted to manage the 2-story, multi-million dollar Marc Jacobs store on Newbury Street in Boston, which she described as a phenomenal experience.
On to New York where Katy helped grow the Little Marc Jacobs boutique. As the only store of its kind in the company, Katy was able to try her hand at different responsibilities, including putting on events and community outreach.
Growing tired of the challenges of living in New York, and ready to package what she had learned for the midwest market, Katy moved back to St. Louis, where she had lived as a child (her mother lives here too). Her game plan was to introduce clothing brands and designers that aren't widely represented here through a series of pop-ups around St. Louis and in surrounding cities. Following a successful debut at Loufest last September, and at The Vino Gallery last December, she and The Vino Gallery's proprietor Alex Head reached an agreement to extend Living Collective's run in that space indefinitely.
Shown in a sunny window at Living Collective, Katy is holding NY-based designer Rachel Antonoff's printed denim skirt, $194. Antonoff's embroidered blouse, $168, is shown below.
A striped knit romper from Motel is $50.
Striking glass earrings from Finland's R/H Studio are $40 for the mini-mountain style, top shelf, $48 for the larger version, lower shelf.
The shop also features an assortment of gifts including home goods, scarves, patches and nail decals.
Cami sneakers from Vis-a-Vis, $72.
Katy dreams of opening a permanent retail location in the CWE in the not too distant future. "The neighborhood has been so welcoming to me. The creativity and energy in the area cultivates such a vibrant and exciting atmosphere that I can't imagine being anywhere else." For now, she's happy to remain at The Vino Gallery where Alex Head "has been wonderful, we've had a lot of fun together, and have become good friends."
Stop in to meet Katy and see much more (she has been to market since this interview) of Living Collective at The Vino Gallery, 4701 McPherson Avenue. Shop hours are 11 to 7 Tuesday through Saturday. While you're perusing her eclectic merchandise, you can enjoy a glass of wine, or ask Alex or Matt Pruyn, the gallery director, to get the red espresso machine going. I still miss stopping by when the wine bar was, for a time, an early morning coffee bar.