-
Kelly Ann Carney, owner of Therapie Boutique, and Kandy Mitchell, owner of Silver Moon Curios, stand in front of the Co-Op building at 308 West Eighth Street. -
The Co-Op building at 308 West Eighth Street. -
The Co-Op building at 308 West Eighth Street.
“It’s a magical place, that’s all I can say, in my eyes and in our customer’s eyes,” said Kelly Ann Carney, owner of Therapie Boutique. “I call it the hidden secret. … People walk in here every single day and they’re like, ‘How long have you been here? How have I never seen you?’ ”
The Co-Op is a shared retail space located just off the Courthouse Square at 308 West 8th Street. The front portion of the building houses Silver Moon Curios and Therapie Boutique, while the back portion of the building is Co-Op Salons.
There are 11 self-employed women who all do business inside the Co-Op building, including nine hair stylists and two retail store owners.
Faith Schertzer owns the Co-Op building and is a stylist in the space. She has been running the Co-Op for 11 years, renting the space to individual business owners.
“We all work for ourselves, we just co-exist in this awesome space. We’re kind of like a big family who all live under one roof. We all just support each other,” said Ms. Carney, who has been renting space in the Co-Op for the last nine years.
Metaphysical supply store
“I think the whole goal is that everyone who walks into this building leaves feeling just a little bit better about themselves,” said Kandy Mitchell, owner of Silver Moon Curios, a metaphysical supply store. Ms. Mitchell opened Silver Moon Curios in 2022 and felt welcomed by the women business owners in the Co-Op who have been renting in the space for much longer.
Silver Moon Curios sells crystal jewelry, tarot cards and spiritual merchandise. Ms. Mitchell makes the crystal jewelry herself and her 10-year-old daughter Harlow makes the candles sold in vintage tea cups. Everything else in the store is made by small local vendors in the Austin area.
Silver Moon Curios hopes to host a “Meet the Maker” market with vendors in the fall. Ms. Mitchell also plans to start doing group sound healing sessions.
“It’s all love and light here,” she said. “I don’t do anything dark — it’s not anything bad. It’s all about love and support and making people feel happy and healthy.”
Inside Silver Moon Curios, she also operates Bad Ass Beauty Salon — her permanent makeup business. “I like to think of the permanent makeup as healing on the outside and then everything in [the metaphysical store] is healing on the inside, it’s like a full package.
“A lot of my clients are older, so they might have issues with their eyesight. Or they might have allergies to makeup so they haven’t ever been able to wear it. After a two-hour session with me, they won’t ever have to worry about it,” Ms. Mitchell said. “I work mostly with women and a lot of them are insecure about their eyebrows or they don’t know how to put on their makeup. It’s just a thing that they carry, and being able to help them with that makes a big difference. Feeling confident makes a big difference in how your day goes.”
Healing therapies
Ms. Carney, owner of Therapie Boutique, said that she also feels her store has a healing effect on her customers. “I want to provide a place where people can come to feel better about themselves. Clothes make women happy. Men will ask me why I don’t sell men’s clothes, and I tell them ‘because you don’t shop like women.’ Women shop to make themselves feel better. That’s where my name came from.” Ms. Carney said. “We all have things that we don’t like about our body, so it’s about figuring out how to dress [for your body type] and feel good.”
Therapie Boutique started as a fashion truck in San Diego but became a brick and mortar store in the Co-Op nine years ago.
“My mantra is just customer service for my clients,” Ms. Carney said. “I don’t do name brands. For me it’s just more about affordable, current, easy, effortless style,” Ms. Carney said.
Many of her clients don’t keep up with the media and aren’t sure how to dress according to the trends, she said. She helps them put together outfits that make them feel confident. But for those who are technologically savvy, she does a Facebook and Instagram live fashion show every Thursday showing off new items in the store.
Ms. Carney said her boutique is the perfect place for busy women to get their hair and shopping done in one trip. Since there are so many hair stylists who work in the Co-Op Salon in the back of the building, the Co-Op often buzzes with busy women with tin foils in their hair trying on jewelry at Silver Moon Curios and going through the racks of clothes at Therapie Boutique.
Ms. Carney said ∑the Georgetown community is really good about supporting their local businesses. “I think if I wasn’t in this community, I wouldn’t still be in business. But since I work in such a great community and people support women like us, we’re like the American dream.