By ISAIAH FRIZZELL
Brick and Mortar is So Back
Have you heard of “internet fatigue”? The pendulum doth swing and while many rely on the internet for work and play, the real world, right out there, is as magical as it ever was and the time to enjoy it ever present. People are finally choosing to leave scrolling to the zombies and enjoy the world again. Community, compassion and connection is the vibe.
It seems easy to shop online, but ever notice you want a product — a dress, some gloves, a solar panel — and proceed to spend two days comparing products back and forth in the jungle that is amazon dot com. Somehow everything looks the same with just enough difference in size, dimension, color to keep you wondering “which one is the one?”
Feeling the Fit
Imagine walking right into an actual store, finding unique clothes, enjoying the chance to fit and, above all, feeling the drape and texture of the fabric. Wonderful!
The first thing you notice at Amy Anderson’s Yaya’s boutique is the felicity of fabric. Her curated choices focus, of course, on looking good but, as I joked with her, “Must we suffer for fashion?” “Well, you can but shouldn’t it feel great to wear?” Anderson gets it.
For over three years Amy Anderson maintains the beautiful young face of Yaya’s. A women’s boutique adjacent to Atkinsons’ Market on Bullion Street in downtown Hailey, her soft gaze and remarkable glinting eyes greet you with a most accepting smile — an endearing impression.
Yaya’s began with two founders. Anderson’s partner passed away only three months into their opening. “When I opened, I actually had the backing of a dear friend and when I say backing I mean like she was my cheerleader, but she passed away three months after we opened, which was horrible! Yet, here I am, still. I’ve always dreamed of owning my own shop. I’ve worked for a lot of retail stores in the Valley and I’ve gotten a lot of really good guidance and ideas so I just decided it was time to put my own ideas to use.”
Easy Spending
Anderson’s curation is unique, very affordable and presents as an initial layer. “I do a lot of basics. I have a lot of denim and T-shirts. I think, where we live, that if you can just get those basics and then add accessories to dress up if you want to go to dinner, or whatever, that that’s the way to do it.” Her focus is on the foundation and being affordable. “The thing about Yaya’s is that it’s affordable. That was very important to me and in Hailey to have it be somewhere you could go to get a T-shirt and not break the bank. That was my plan.”
A mother of two, Anderson is full-time curating the store and caring for her children. Understanding fabric and reading the wind of local exploration, she seeds Yaya’s with a feel for our terrain and women’s needs.
Yaya’s is almost entirely a store for women and young girls. While they do carry some home decor and great eye-catching jewelry, Anderson collaborates with local artists such as Claudia’s knit ballcaps, which must be seen to be gleaned! Extraordinary knit fronts on the traditional ballcap shine as a unique rejection of mass production, dancing toward bespoke local labor. A shift away from logomania and an embracing of local culture and somewhat of a feminization of an historically masculine accessory. The ballcap, brightly balanced.
What is a Yaya?
Yaya has a few meanings — grandmother is one. “Ya-Ya actually means grandma, too. I have a lot of yayas come in here because they’re, like, Oh, yaya. I’m a yaya!” Such incidental connections. Of course, a certain musical crowd remembers “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out,” a live album of the Rolling Stones.
But the real deal is the Divine Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood book and film.
“Yes, the divine secrets of the yaya sisterhood. So basically, a yaya is a group of women that get together and support each other and they can laugh and have fun. And that’s also kind of what I wanted here.”
Anderson is a joy, her shop has the gift of energetic motion, ultra-comfy chairs to sit while a huge, mirrored dressing room adorns.
There’s no internet shop, intentionally just a webpage for color and accent. Anderson is about community and face-to-face interaction. The exact thing we look for in our tightly-knit locale.
“Our passion is to make everyone feel welcome and confident in their own skin. We want to help women discover and create an inspired life through experiences and community. And in doing so spread inner joy and peace.” (https://weloveyayas.myshopify.com/)
Visit Amy Anderson at Yaya’s
Wednesday–Saturday 10am–6pm
Sunday 12pm–5pm
101 E. Bullion St., 1E, Hailey, ID 83333
