Contributing Writer
Darlene Brace
When you are in the middle of the Village of Lakewood, at the corner of Chautauqua and Summit, there is a women’s clothing store called the Cotton Thistle Boutique. Come on in and you will find a homey family-owned business by the Rauh family.
The idea for their store grew out of the Rauh women shopping at boutique stores online during the Covid pandemic. This sparked an interest in opening a store of their own. Stacey and Jim Rauh wanted to find a building that would house a boutique store for their three daughters, as well as their daughter Sara’s Cut Loose Hair Salon. By doing so, they could keep the family businesses all under one roof and enjoy working together. In early 2021, Stacey and Jim bought and renovated the building at 102 Chautauqua Avenue in Lakewood, NY for this purpose.
In November 2021, their 3 daughters, Jenna, Sara, and Anna, opened the Cotton Thistle Boutique. Soon after, their daughter Sara’s Cut Loose Hair Salon moved into the building. Although the sisters have other jobs, they feel that the boutique store is their “fun job”, where they enjoy working hand in hand with each other. You can feel the comfortable family atmosphere when you go into their boutique.
The Cotton Thistle Boutique has a wide selection of women’s clothing and styles. The style of clothing is often called “young contemporary”, but will complement the styles for women of all ages and sizes. They have a nice variety of clothing that range in sizes from small to 3XL. Some of the clothing items found in their boutique would be sweaters, skirts, blouses, dresses, jeans, denim skirts, and pants. Besides clothing, they also have a lot of unique items and accessories such as jewelry, purses, shoes, hats, and more.
The Cotton Thistle Boutique is open year-round on Tuesdays-Fridays with flexible hours. Online, you can find their Facebook page. There you will see store information as well as their hours of operation, including extended hours during the summer and the Christmas season.
The Cotton Thistle Boutique has a lot to offer their customers. Besides its’ variety of clothing and accessories, you will find free parking along the walkway of the street. The boutique is easily accessible with handicapped parking nearby. Also, the Cotton Thistle Boutique is offering a 10% discount off a purchase, when you bring in the ad from this issue, or simply just mention it.
The Rauh family is happy that they were able to find a building in Lakewood that gave them the ability to combine both of their daughters’ businesses under the same roof. They are really enjoying their successful family run businesses, and plan on continuing their businesses for many years to come.
