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Interview with Entrepreness Tez Hartney of Parallel Boutique
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As the owner of Parallel Boutique, Tez Hartney shares her keen eye for style in a fresh space filled with thoughtfully chosen pieces, representative of the shop’s original premise. Inspired by the idea of enhancing the existing wardrobes of shoppers and providing great clothes to both men and women, Tez has supplied her clients with chic, contemporary classics for nearly two years. She is exceptionally good at making shoppers feel comfortable, inspired, and adventurous, and her enthusiasm for the clothes she carries is dangerously contagious. Fall prey to Parallel’s undeniable charm and you’ll find your style elevated to heights you never imagined! Parallel is located by Jamison Square at 1022A NW Johnson St.
What is your background in retail and fashion?
My very first retail job was at the Gap, later the Limited, and Kay Jewelers. Then I relocated to Hawaii and worked in restaurants, and eventually went on to manage my mom’s restaurant there. After I got tired of restaurants, I moved into high-end retail. I worked at Gianni Versace, and Tiffany and Co. on the sales floor and in merchandising. That taught me about inventory, shipping and receiving, and ordering, and it’s amazing that everything I learned in the past, totally applies to what I do now. Managing, cost control, profit margins, just accounting and bookkeeping knowledge are definitely things that are so important to know.
What led you to open your own shop? Was this always a dream of yours?
Opening a restaurant was probably more of a dream. It’s what my family does, it’s what my husband does, and it’s what I know. But when I had my daughter, I didn’t want to work 14 hours a day. I hated the way my mother was never home, so I wanted to at least be home in the evening to tuck my daughter in, so that’s what led me to do what I do. Working retail in Portland is much less lucrative than other places I’ve worked, like Hawaii and Las Vegas, because of the volume that they do there, the commission is insane. Here the volume is lower, the consumer market is different. I thought, instead of working for someone else, why not open up my own place and make more? I felt confident enough to go out on my own, and I wanted to do something where I didn’t have to manage a huge staff, that was probably the hardest part of running the restaurant.
What inspired the name “Parallel”?
Because we wanted to carry men’s and women’s clothing, that inspired the ‘side by side theme’. And the original store was a two story, open space, all parallel lines, so the name made a little more sense, architecturally, in the other space. But also, I wanted a store where I could compliment everyone’s pieces from their existing wardrobes, but I didn’t think ‘compliment’ was a very good name, so Parallel turned out to be a better fit.
The style of the shop and clothes you carry are very contemporary and chic. What or who are some of your stylistic influences?
I think every second of the day. The other day I saw a girl feeding the meter, and she just looked like a million bucks. I loved the way she draped her scarf and her tousled hair. Especially when I go to other cities, I love to see how people dress. San Francisco amazes me, how everyone looks so put together. It wasn’t like that when I lived there! In L.A everyone is so manicured, with perfect hair, suntans, and white teeth. And New York is really interesting because they want to look like they don’t care about fashion, but then it’s like ‘oh Manolos!’ with slouchy cardigans and pocket tee’s. I’m influence by everything. But I have to say I’m mostly influenced by people who have a unique style and their own identities.
What is your method for choosing the items you carry?
It’s a huge process, and you hear boutique owners say this all the time, edit, edit, edit. Since we don’t usually buy one of everything, we put a lot of thought into who it’s for, and how well it will do, and what color is best … We’re not a department store, people come to us because they don’t want to go through racks and racks of clothes, so we need to focus down. For me, I barely place an order at market. I take pictures and notes of what I like and bring it all back home and narrow it down. Everything gets laid out on my dinning room table, and it’s just mass chaos for a week. It’s hard because I have to order six months out, and a lot of what I carry only comes out twice a year. But that also makes it special and more collection based. Also laying it out allows me to figure out how to complete looks from head to toe. Some women will love a piece but say ‘I don’t know how to wear it”. You know, you have these great MC hammer pants, but how do you wear them? Completing the picture for shoppers is really important to helping them get out of their comfort zones.
What’s your favorite brand to wear?
Probably Paul and Joe Sister. I love all of the lines I carry for different reasons. I love Prairie Underground and Bobi for my days off. If I want to feel sophisticated and put together then I’ll go for Rag and Bone. I don’t know if I’m obsessed with a certain line, versus easy pieces that I can throw on and look great. I think my clients are that way too, anything that requires too much fuss, you just don’t want to deal with.
How intense is the temptation to order one of everything for yourself?
Very tempting, but after the first year, I was like ‘oh no! I have so much stuff.’ I cleaned out my closet and had nine bags full of clothes from years and years of collecting.
Do you find buying menswear more challenging?
I do, but I try to get a lot of feedback from my guy friends and try to talk to every guy that comes in, and see what they like, and what they don’t. I think it was challenging the first season, but it’s definitely nice to see that what I’m picking is moving. For men’s it’s definitely a much smaller niche. I would like to grow my menswear section, but until demand grows, it’s hard to dedicate the space and resources. Though I am bringing men’s clothes in more consistently, instead of just spring and fall, so there’s a freshness to the men’s section. I also get a lot of women shopping for themselves in the men’s department. Sometimes they like the prints of the men’s shirts or collared sweaters. I like those kind of women that don’t really care if it’s men’s or women’s, and just own the piece and kind of rock it somehow.
What is the biggest perk to owning your own store?
Being able to control and change things when you want and how you want, and being able to have a vision of what you want and seeing that end product. For instance, my online shop. It was so neat to work with a designer and make that happen, still in the aesthetic of my store. It’s like a second location.
How does your online store differ from your shop?
Everything I have in the store, I put online–jewelry, scarves, everything. I just started it in January, so you’ll start to see a lot more on there in the future. There’s certain things that I know will work better online than in the store. But there’s still no guarantee that it will sell online versus not. I recently splurged on a hooded, khaki/olive-colored, Rag and Bone jacket. It’s a stunning piece, and I know Rag and Bone is probably going to get some press on it, so I knew that if it didn’t sell in the store, it would probably sell online. This is because major department stores order larger quantities, but when they sell out people go online and that’s where I pop up. It’s kind of fun to see where all of the orders come from. Seattle, Vancouver B.C, San Diego …
Do you have plans for expansion?
Originally I thought I wanted to, but I think I’ll direct my energy to the online store for now. It has the potential of a second store, without the overhead. If anything I’d rather expand my space than open two separate locations.
Last thoughts to leave our readers with?
Have fun shopping and have fun with your clothes! I don’t try to give people a whole new wardrobe, I want them to be able to incorporate things into their wardrobe slowly. Finding your identity and your own look doesn’t happen in one shopping trip. I love when women come in and just buy one or two things, and slowly build their wardrobes instead of buying everything at once and never seeing them again.
3 Responses to “Interview with Entrepreness Tez Hartney of Parallel Boutique”
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sulu-design Says:
Tez’z shop is one of my absolute favorites in Portland. My husband’s, too. Thanks for the interview – nice to hear what goes into curating such a beautiful collection at Parallel.
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Lindsay May Says:
I will make it a priority to get over there and check it out!
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JO GOLD Says:
Dear Tez
this is a great interview. I am a member of Crave Portland and new Crave Amsterdam! I lived in PDX and am currently based in Holland, I have my own jewelry business, jo gold jewelry. Have a look at my website – I was wondering if you wanted to carry any of my line in your boutique? have a look at my handmade products at http://www.jogoldjewelry.com.thanks Crave! From Jo Gold