Are Lady-Owned Stores the Best Kind of Stores?
LatestDog Show in Los Angeles certainly makes it look that way.
If Zooey Deschanel’s character on The New Girl (and probably Zooey Deschanel, in real life) had a favorite hangout in Los Angeles, it would probably look a lot like Dog Show. This colorful store owned by two 26-year-old bffs from Omaha is hard to describe — maybe if Leslie Hall shapeshifted into a vintage clothing boutique? — and it’s a stellar fucking example of sisters doing it for themselves.
Anna Dewey Greer and Christine (Tina) Stormberg, best friends forever since preschool, moved to L.A. with nothing but a little money saved from bartending in Omaha and a giant (NOT REAL) unicorn head. Since everyone in Hollywood has got a dream (what’s your dream!), they decided to use their funds to open a vintage clothing boutique that specializes in fun shit like haircut parties, fortune-telling parties, craft parties, even drink margaritas outside parties. The store is called Dog Show, and it’s been open in Los Angeles’ Echo Park for a year and a half, and we want to move in.
It’s rad to see two women working together to make shit happen, and all while celebrating female partnership — hello, friendship retreat! It’s so exuberant and genuine, and you can’t hate. You must celebrate.
Not because two young women are walking, talking transforming-dreams-into-reality machines, but also because they’re supporting their fellow ladies:
When the girls host in-store events, it’s not a marketing strategy; the events are their agenda. Recently they’ve hosted a viewing party for a friend’s web series, “Hollywood Nails”; comedy shows with another close friend, comedienne Kate Berlant, just because she was in town; an old-fashioned Valentine’s Day dance, because they felt like decorating. Everything is free and open to the public.
So cool! It’s always inspirational to see women going after what they want, no matter what it is. It’s just a reminder to live each day like we mean it (if you want to and are in a position to do so!), even if it’s not something so dramatic as moving to another town and opening a store.
Although, uh, that sounds kinda fun, right? Who now wants to drop everything and follow their deepest, realest desires to open a vegan bodega? Nobody? OK, then.*
*But really. Let’s do it.