Sweet Souls to open Tuscola boutique

By Kayleigh Rahn
Dana Clark and Stacey Rea are two sweet souls who have been family friends for 13 years.

And they’ve been shopping buddies for nearly as long.

After countless shopping trips and innumerable unique finds throughout the region, the friends are opening their own boutique women’s clothing store Friday, March 1 at 101 N. Main St., Tuscola.

“So many of our friends are ordering online or leaving town to shop at a boutique,” Rea said. “That made us think. We want to start helping the ladies of this area instead of having everyone leave town.”

At Sweet Soul Boutique, Clark of Camargo and Rea of Tuscola have stocked their store with women’s clothing in sizes small to XXXL including casual jeans, tops, and dresses along with accessories. And the merchandise will constantly change, the promise.

“We’ve been thinking about opening a boutique and rolling it over for a couple years now,” Rea said. “We were waiting for the right opportunity.”

When Justin and Andrea Wierman, owners and operators of Visual Image Salon, bought the storefront next door, that opportunity seemed to come together.

“They came back to us and said, ‘I think that will work for what our vision is,’” Rea recalled. “We had a couple other buildings in mind, but we thought this location would be best.”

Their husbands Bob Rea and Jim Clark, retired police officers, have helped make the women’s dreams reality as they logged sweat equity to transform the 900-square-foot space into a unique shop with wooden accent walls and custom fitting rooms and counter space.

“Absolutely everything in here they built,” Rea said.

Despite the hands-on work, the most difficult task was likely choosing a name for the business.

The full story can be found in the Wednesday, Feb. 20 edition of The Tuscola Journal.