By Kim McDarison
“If it makes you feel good, wear it,” said Sarah Jones. She and her sister, Beth Costa, both residents of Fort Atkinson, will be opening the doors of their new women’s clothing boutique “Piper Mae,” 228 S. Main St., Saturday, Oct. 16.
Spending their formative years in California and Virginia, the sisters said, a strong desire to be near family led them to Wisconsin and Fort Atkinson, and while both continue to work for full-time employers, COVID-19 gave them an opportunity to take stock of their lives and recommit to what was, for both, a longtime ambition: owning their own company, they said.
“We always talked about doing something together and we always wanted to work for ourselves and own our own business,” Beth said.
“We asked ourselves: ‘Why not go after what you truly want to do?’” Sarah added.
“I do think that it has also to do with the way we were raised. Neither of us are afraid of hard work or putting in extra hours. We asked ourselves: ‘Where do we want to be longterm?’ and we wanted to be working for ourselves,” Beth said.
Both sisters emphasized that they wanted to build their business on Main Street in Fort Atkinson.
“This is our community, our home. We love it here,” Sarah said.
What’s in the store?
Seated on Wednesday in their 500-square-foot sales space, the women noted a full selection of clothing brands and lines they’ve hand picked to share with Fort Atkinson — including Magnolia Pearl, Gigi, and Aratta, among others — and it’s not just clothing lines. Tucked among the shirts, pants, kimonos and hats are products made by local business women, such as soaps and lip balm from Edgerton-based Down Home Soap Company, candles by Portage-based Tiny Homestead, ceramic earrings by Whitewater-based Good Times, and wallets and clutches made by Fort Atkinson-based Painted Pony.
“We also have Up North, which is another sister duo,” Beth said. The company makes mugs and t-shirts with Midwestern sayings, Sarah added, and Burlington-based Simply Stitched, which has provided Piper Mae with a custom collection of headbands and head wraps, she said.
“It’s been fun to carry local venders. They are people we were buying from before this. And people have reached out to us. We are really open to supporting other local business women,” Beth said.
The sisters also have their own brand: Hometown Girls.
“We have t-shirts and hats for now, and we plan to expand in the future,” Sarah said, adding that 15% of all Hometown Girls sales will go to a charity of their choice. The nonprofit to receive the percentage will change quarterly, Beth said, noting that the first nonprofit they’ve selected is BASE, a Fort Atkinson nonprofit after school enrichment program.
Different spirits
While both sisters were born in California and raised in Virginia, and each forged a different path through life, both arrived in Fort Atkinson for the same reason, they said: to be near family.
While the sisters say today they have similar thoughts and can finish one another’s sentences, it was not always that way.
With five years between them, Sarah said, they weren’t always together.
After they both moved to Fort Atkinson, they began spending more time together, and discovered, they agreed, that they really liked each other.
“I never really knew her as an adult because we weren’t in the same place. But when we discovered each other as adult people, we really liked each other,” Beth said, but, she added, “we are very different.”
Describing their difference, Beth said: “Sarah takes risks and I rein us in. It’s a good balance.”
All roads lead to Fort
Sarah and Beth’s mother, Cheryl, also a resident of Fort Atkinson, was originally from Fontana, Sarah said. When Sarah left home after high school to explore the world, she returned to California, where her father, David, was originally from. While exploring a variety of opportunities, she said, she ultimately found a creative outlet while developing a skill in makeup application.
In 2006, she said, she was looking for a more “grounded” lifestyle. Fueled by fond memories of summers spent at her grandparent’s Fontana home, Sarah arrived in Wisconsin to attend school at Madison Cosmetology College, graduating as a licensed esthetician. Sarah moved to Deerfield, began a family and ultimately found employment with Madison-based TDS, a telecommunication company. A 14-year company veteran, Sarah is a supervisor in the company’s financial services department.
Marital changes brought Sarah and her now 9-year-old daughter, Violet, to Fort Atkinson in 2017. Her parents, she said, had earlier made the move to Fort Atkinson to be closer to Sarah and Violet. Today, the blended family includes Sarah’s boyfriend, Trevor Weir.
Today, the sisters said, their grandparents, and an aunt and uncle, also live in Fort Atkinson.
Beth graduated from high school in 2006 and attended Virginia Technical College where she studied nutrition, food and exercise, graduating with a bachelors degree in 2010. She next attended Virginia Commonwealth University, earning a masters degree in public health in 2013. After graduation, she said, she found a job in South Carolina with the state health department in the WIC nutrition program for women, infants, and children and then with the research department at the Medical University of South Carolina. While she enjoyed research, Beth said, she missed her family. In 2016, she found a job as a researcher at the University of Chicago and began visiting Fort Atkinson on weekends. In 2017, she found work as a researcher in the surgery department at UW-Madison and purchased her Fort Atkinson home. In 2020 she became engaged to Eddie Crummer, who is also a resident of Fort Atkinson.
Different fashion sense
Like their life paths, so, too, differ their ideas about fashion, the sisters said.
“We have different styles. I will wear a sweater differently than how Sarah wears it,” Beth said.
“Beth is perhaps a little bit more daring in her style,” Sarah said. She described her sister’s style as “free spirited” and “non-traditional.”
In life, Sarah said, Beth is the more conservative sister, but in fashion she is the risk taker.
“I like fashions that are inspired by the 60s and 70s,” Beth said.
Sarah described her own fashion sense as “classic” and “ready to wear.”
“I’m a mom; it’s got to be practical, but also fashionable,” she said.
When shopping for lines for Piper Mae, Sarah said: “It is important for us to see how things look and feel. We wanted to try it on.”
The goal was to bring a variety of quality fashions to the women of Fort Atkinson, while offering a range of sizes and levels of affordability, she added.
“We wanted to have something for everybody. It’s fall, so right now, we have a lot of sweaters and pieces that you can layer. And we have sizes for everybody. We have our curvy collection, which includes those 1x to 3x sizes,” Beth said.
Along with staples like denim and jeans, the sisters said, they have lines that are a bit more creative.
“We have Magnolia Pearl, a Texas designer. It comes at a higher price point; the designer has made a couple hundred of each piece,” Beth said.
Sarah stressed that the line might not be for everyone.
“it appeals to collectors and they are investment pieces, and they hold their value,” Sarah said.
“We are one of only a very few stores in Wisconsin that carry it,” Beth added.
Finding the space
In February, the sisters said, they began exploring opportunities for retail space.
“We’d never done this before, so we thought we’d just ask and see what it would cost. We decided to see what was out there,” Beth said, adding that they spotted the ‘for lease’ sign in the store’s window and set up a time to see it.
The space had formerly been used as a call center, Sarah said.
“It wasn’t customer facing,” she added.
Still, both Sarah and Beth said they were attracted to the space.
“We loved the exposed brick, and the (natural hardwood) floor. and we loved the location, and the light from the windows,” Beth said.
“We are creative and we could be appreciative of what was here and we knew we could make it nice,” Sarah noted.
They signed the lease the first week of April, they said.
Making it ready was a family affair, they noted, adding that they worked on the space over the summer, preparing it to become Piper Mae, a moniker they crafted from the name of Beth’s dog, “Piper,” and Sarah’s middle name, Mae.
“We had the name first,” Beth said, adding that they each liked the sound of it.
“We went full force in August to get everything finalized,” Sarah said. “We wanted an opening in the fall. We love the season,” Beth noted.
“We love fall fashion; fall fashion is our wheelhouse,” Sarah said.
Hours
During Saturday’s grand opening, the store will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Regular store hours are: Thursdays and Fridays, 4-7 p.m., Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The store will be closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Piper Mae has a website, but, the sisters said, it is currently offline while they update it with new fall fashions. They anticipate bringing the site back online after the store’s opening weekend.
Longterm goals
While the sisters described excitement about their new venture, they also noted, as with anything new, there is an element of risk.
“We will be successful because of the dynamic we bring to the table. It will keep people coming back. We want to make people feel good, and if people feel good about their experience, they will be back. I’m confident that Beth and I will do that. We invest in people,” Sarah said.
Both expressed a desire to add value to the mix of businesses available in the city’s downtown.
“We want to see more things come to the downtown area in Fort,” Beth said.
“In a perfect world, this would be a catalyst to bring more businesses here. There are already so many cool things down here. There is so much to do down here, so we want to keep people here, in Fort Atkinson,” Sarah said.
Said Beth: “We’ve put a lot of thought and care into everything we’ve done and we are so excited to be a part of the downtown of Fort Atkinson, and we are excited to be a business and not just people who live here. We hope people will come in and say hi to us. That was the point of it. We created this for ourselves and for Fort. We chose Fort, and we love it here, and we want to contribute something to this community.”
Said Sarah: “My vision of the grand opening is that it is filled with people who are excited. I want to see people excited to see something new in the community and to get them out and about in the community.”
The sisters said they are also eager to help guide women to new concepts in fashion.
“Our approach to fashion is that there are no rules. If it makes you feel good, wear it. That applies whether you are 27 or 67,” Sarah said.
“Maybe you are stepping out of your box a little bit, but try it on,” Beth agreed.
To learn more about Piper Mae, look for the store’s website after the grand opening: https://www.getpipermae.com.
Sisters, Fort Atkinson residents and owners of Piper Mae, a Fort Atkinson women’s clothing boutique which will hold its grand opening on Saturday, Beth Costa, at left, and Sarah Jones, display pieces from the store’s Magnolia Pearl collection.
Piper Mae owner Beth Costa displays one of her favorite items in the store. She and her sister and store co-owner Sarah Jones agree that while Beth is the more conservative of the pair in life choices, she is a risk-taker with fashion statements.
Piper Mae co-owner Sarah Jones displays one of several hats found in the store. Clothing lines, accessories, and other locally made items fill the retail space.
Ceramic earrings made by Whitewater-based Good Times and wallets and clutches made by Fort Atkinson-based Painted Pony are among items found in the store.
Beth Costa, at left, and Sarah Jones display several items from the store’s curvy lines. The lines offers sizes in the 1X to 3X ranges.
Burlington-based Simply Stitched headbands and head wraps are on display at Piper Mae. The company has offered the store a custom collection of headbands and head wraps, store owners say.
Kim McDarison photos.
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