Hello Lovely: The Story of a Shop, a Community, and a Return
First opening week, May 2020
Some ideas sit quietly in your heart for a long time before they finally become real.
For me, Hello Lovely began with a simple feeling: I wanted to create the kind of space I felt was missing for myself and for so many other women. A place where shopping felt fun again. Relaxed. Welcoming. A place where women could remember what it feels like to feel good in their skin and in their clothes.
Too often, fashion becomes about numbers—sizes, trends, expectations. I wanted to move the focus somewhere else entirely. At Hello Lovely, I curate pieces through color, texture, and individuality. The hope has always been that when a woman walks through the door, she finds something that sparks a little joy. Something that feels like her.
Because at the end of the day, we are meant to wear the clothes… they don’t wear us.
Hello Lovely has always been about helping women reconnect with the fun and freedom of style—regardless of age, size, or where they are in life.
But in many ways, the story of Hello Lovely began long before the shop itself.
A Promise
My cousin Heather and I grew up more like sisters than cousins. We were only six months apart in age—her being the older one, something she never let me forget.
We shared so many of the same interests growing up, including a love for fashion and the joy of finding something unexpected and special. Years later, those shared interests would quietly become part of the inspiration behind Hello Lovely.
My cousin Heather and I grew up more like sisters than cousins. We were only six months apart in age—her being the older one, something she never let me forget.
We shared so many of the same interests growing up, including a love for fashion and the joy of finding something unexpected and special. Years later, those shared interests would quietly become part of the inspiration behind Hello Lovely.
In 2019, Heather was diagnosed with breast cancer. Ten months later, she passed away.
During that time, the visits I made to see her became incredibly meaningful. On the drives to her house, I would often stop at thrift stores and consignment shops along the way. I’ve always loved the thrill of the hunt—the unexpected treasures, the textures, the stories hidden in pieces that had already lived a life before finding their way to someone new.
When I arrived at Heather’s house, the real fun would begin.
I would unpack all the little treasures I had found along the way and she would insist that I try them on. What followed inevitably turned into a bit of a fashion show in her living room. I would parade out in whatever I had found that day, and we would laugh and comment on each piece—sometimes admiring it, sometimes wondering what on earth I had been thinking.
Those moments of laughter are some of my most treasured memories.
In between those moments, we would talk about my dream of opening a shop someday. What it might look like. What it might feel like. The kind of place it could become.
Before Heather passed away, I made her a promise.
I promised her that I would open my dream shop one day—and that I would live my life as fully as I could, for both of us.
Hello Lovely is, in many ways, part of that promise.
The feather in the Hello Lovely logo is a prominent and beloved nod to Heather—a symbol that keeps her spirit close and a reminder of the promise that helped bring this dream to life.
The Name That Started It All
The phrase Hello Lovely has long been something I say naturally when I come across a piece that makes my heart skip a beat.
“Oh… well hello lovely.”
When I began planning my first shop, it felt like the perfect name. I wanted it to capture that small moment of delight when you discover something beautiful.
In early 2020, I signed the lease for my first brick-and-mortar shop on Pleasant Street in Portsmouth. The vision was a welcoming boutique offering thoughtfully curated clothing, accessories, and home goods—many of them consignment pieces with stories of their own.
What I didn’t know when I signed that lease was that the world was about to change.
Just one week later, the pandemic shut everything down.
Like so many small business owners at that time, the future suddenly felt uncertain. But eventually, the day came when the doors could finally open.
And when they did, something beautiful happened.
People came in.
They smiled when they saw the name on the door. They said it out loud when they walked in.
“Hello Lovely.”
During a time that felt heavy and uncertain for so many of us, those small moments of joy meant everything.
More Than a Shop
Opening that shop in 2020 is something I will always be incredibly proud of.
What began as an idea quickly became something much bigger than a retail space. Hello Lovely became a place where women lingered. Where conversations happened between the racks. Where friendships formed in the fitting room. Where stories were shared.
Opening that shop in 2020 is something I will always be incredibly proud of.
What began as an idea quickly became something much bigger than a retail space. Hello Lovely became a place where women lingered. Where conversations happened between the racks. Where friendships formed in the fitting room. Where stories were shared.
I’ve always believed that when you share your story with someone, it becomes a part of their story too.
And when those stories begin to weave together, something really special happens.
Community.
Hello Lovely was never just about clothing. It was about connection.
Saying Goodbye (For a While)
When the shop eventually closed just over a year later, it was heartbreaking.
Of course I grieved the loss of the space itself—but even more than that, I grieved all of the conversations, connections, and moments that never got the chance to happen.
But what I didn’t expect was what would happen afterward.
Over the years that followed, I heard from so many people—friends, former customers, women who had visited the shop just once but still remembered it. They would share their favorite memories of Hello Lovely and tell me how much they hoped it might come back someday.
Those messages meant more to me than I can fully express.
Because they reminded me that Hello Lovely had meant something to other people too.
Six Years Later
Now, six years after opening that first shop, I am beyond thrilled to once again have a space to call home for Hello Lovely. In April of 2026, Hello Lovely will be opening a micro storefront within Live Freely Market in Hampton, New Hampshire, and I could not be more excited to join this wonderful community of small businesses.
This next chapter feels both familiar and new. The heart of the shop remains exactly the same: a place where women can rediscover joy in style and feel welcome exactly as they are.
But like anything in life, Hello Lovely has evolved.
The original shop included a consignment program, allowing pieces from our community to find new homes and continue their stories. For now, this next chapter will focus on thoughtfully curated secondhand and new pieces for your wardrobe and home.
Consignment won’t be part of the shop just yet… but as with most good things in life, we can never say never.
The Heart of Hello Lovely
At the end of the day, Hello Lovely has always been about something much bigger than clothing.
It’s about women supporting women.
About rediscovering joy in the little things.
About feeling comfortable in your own skin.
And most of all, it’s about connection.
Because when we share our stories with one another, they become woven together—and those connections are what make spaces like this feel like home
Hello Lovely is simply a place where those stories can meet.
And somewhere in the laughter, the stories, and the joy of discovering something special, I like to think Heather would smile and say… well, hello lovely.