By Joanna Kresge
For the Auburn Reporter

Online retailer Liberty Jane Clothing recently opened a storefront location on Main Street in downtown Auburn.

In August, the company, led by the husband and wife team of Jason and Cinnamon Miles, began a crowd-sourced Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the move to a physical space downtown. The campaign raised more than $10,000 from 194 contributors in a mere 17 days.

Liberty Jane chose the Main Street location for a number of reasons, according to the couple.

“Well, we live here, for one,” Jason Miles said. “When we saw this downtown space we realized that we could not only have an office space but a space to try out some retail ideas as well.”

“We also didn’t want to get on the highway,” Cinnamon Miles added. “We have the shortest commute possible.”

The storefront location between Auburn Way and A Street Southeast is considered a makerspace, according to Lauren Flemister, an urban planner for the city of Auburn. In other words, the location is less about selling retail and more about the creative space and sewing classes for young girls, stay-at-home mothers and retirees.

“They aren’t relying on downtown business traffic at the moment to bolster the business due to the success of their online sales,” said Flemister. “They’re basically just looking at it as a creative space — whether it’s for Cinnamon or their clients — instead of being a typical retail space.”

Liberty Jane has been in business online since 2008 when Cinnamon started designing and producing clothing for 18-inch dolls, including, but not limited to, the American Girl collection.

In 2009, Liberty Jane augmented its eBay clothing store by offering its clothing patterns and tutorials for download through a spin-off business, Pixie Faire, which has provided more than 1 million pattern downloads since its inception.

Hello Gorgeous Boutique owner Mary Jane Hutchinson, who shares a wall with Liberty Jane, says that the business is getting a great deal of foot traffic despite being closed often during the business day.

“It really is a lovely space over there, and I think a lot of people are really taking notice when they walk by,” Hutchinson said. “People come in here all the time asking about their hours.”

Shaping hours

Since Liberty Jane isn’t yet a traditional retail location, its current hours are unposted and sporadic – aligning closely with its class times – but the Miles’ hope to establish some traditional hours as they continue to learn about their new space and clientele.

“Having an online business, we work all the time,” Jason said. “We’re up first thing in the morning, the last thing at midnight. We work whenever we need to, so introducing a set of standard door-open hours is an interesting concept to us.”

“We’re also still trying to figure out the weekends,” Cinnamon added. “We haven’t been here on the weekends, but a lot of the requests for classes that we’ve gotten have been from people who don’t live in Auburn. They can’t come down here in the afternoon with afterschool activities.”

Over the last several years, Main Street has seen a great deal of floundering businesses and closures, most notably, the recent closure of family-owned, Main Street clothier Rottles after 75 years of business.

The high rate of business turnover in the neighborhood may be alarming to some, but Flemister thinks that businesses like Liberty Jane may help revitalize Main Street’s retail shops.

“I think part of a healthy downtown ecosystem is having different types of businesses that generate business in different ways,” Flemister said. “Businesses that rely on different demographics – foot traffic and online sales – to generate income is a positive thing.”

More customers

Lynessa Dobbins, owner of Main Street children’s consignment shop, Kid Savvy, which operates a few doors down from Liberty Jane, echoes Flemister’s hopes that the new space will bring more parents and children to the area to bolster business for the other shops.

“Having another reason to come down here for something related to kids could be huge for my business,” Dobbins said. “If it takes off, that could be great for downtown and for us because it’s something that is totally different and unique that isn’t in the other cities around here.”

Jason says that Liberty Jane’s relationship with other Main Street businesses is a two-way street.

“We are just as eager to learn from the downtown business folks as they are from us,” he said. “It’s sort of a funny reversal: they are interested in what we do – selling online – but we are just as interested,. I mean how do you sell in person every day? How do you have the doors open for a set amount of time?”

Flemister has a positive outlook on the future of Main Street business following the arrival of Liberty Jane.

“As they continue to be on Main Street and get their feet wet and figure out what works best for them I think it can only get better,” she said.

For Liberty Jane class times and availability, visit their website, www.shoplibertyjane.com.

JOANNA KRESGE SLIDESHOW: