Everyone's got to live somewhere, and chances are, if you've got a home or apartment, you're going to need to decorate it. With so many styles to explore, home décor stores are something that a city can never have too many of, right?
Sure, stylish high-end home accents stores are suddenly popping up all over the place in Milwaukee. But what about a hip décor boutique that is actually affordable? Now there's a new concept -- one that business owners Nichole Nikolic and Wendy Pawlyshyn thought they'd try on for size.
With their combined powers of style and common sense, the two women are opening JuJu at 222 E. Erie St. in the Third Ward. According to co-owner Nikolic, the gifts, accessories and home décor store is stylishly focused on being "hip, yet conventional."
"I think we consider it to be stylish, but not way out there or over the top," she says. "When we say 'conventional,' we mean 'useful.' Although our merchandise has an edgy, hip flare to it, we wanted to make sure to mention it was conventional, because sometimes when people think 'hip,' they think more artsy, as opposed to useful, pieces."
Blurring the boundaries of what is functional and what is art, JuJu is a 1,500-sq. ft. space divided up into several categories, including:
- Home décor -- Vintage, modern and traditional home accessories
- Novelty items -- Specialty drink merchandise, magnets and humor office items
- Seasonal items -- Gardening items
- Paper products -- Stationary, greeting cards, books
- Bath items -- Relaxation and massage tools, soaps
- Kid stuff -- Small toys, decorative items for bedrooms, children's books
- Special occasion -- Birthday, wedding, Mother's Day items
Despite the store's hotspot location in one of Milwaukee's trendiest neighborhoods, Nikolic says that she and Pawlyshyn pride themselves on being a place people can afford to shop on a regular basis.
"What's different about us is that we're not positioning ourselves as high-end store," she says. "We're trying our best to stick around the gift-giving sweet spot, which is about $35. That's what most people feel comfortable spending on gifts."
JuJu also features personal accessories, such as jewelry, priced between $15 and $200, and purses, ranging from $30 to $100. As for brand or label loyalty, Nikolic says they aren't sticking to specific lines -- rather, they are driven by specific pieces and are focused on highlighting their product diversity.
"We've been inspired by the really great little shops that we loved when we lived in Minneapolis," she says. "When we moved back to Milwaukee we had a hard time finding anything that was comparable to that shopping experience, so we're opening JuJu to help fill that void."
JuJu was a finalist in Milwaukee's Launch Angel entrepreneurial initiative. It will open in late July at 222 E. Erie St. The Web site is jujugifts.com.
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
