Artifact, which opened in June 2009, is a trendy boutique located in downtown West Chester. It is marketed specifically toward college students and young professionals. College students from West Chester, Temple, or the University of Delaware make up about 60 percent of all Artifact customers. Lauren Merkel, the owner of Artifact, knew that college students would be her target audience, and loves being a part of such an active college town.
“Every year, there are new students, who are all our new potential customers. It also helps that I went to West Chester, so we can relate to a lot of our customers,” Merkel explained, who graduated from West Chester University with a B.A. in Communication Studies. Merkel describes her customers as young women, ages 18 to 35, who like to go out on the weekends.
Merkel chose the name ‘Artifact’ because she always dreamed of opening a store with a name that starts with an ‘A’ simply because it’s the first letter of the alphabet. There was really no rhyme or reason to the word “Artifact”, she just liked the way it sounded and looked!
Merkel opened her store age 26 after several tedious office jobs. She knew she wanted to open the store because of previous retail and waitressing jobs, where she discovered herself to be a ‘people person’. The stars aligned when she found the perfect location, which is 200 West Gay St., after saving her money for many years prior.
“After I got the location, my biggest obstacle was opening the store on such a small budget. I only had a little bit of money to work with. I had to get everything in the store and the merchandise for a low price. It was a challenge finding clothes I could sell for under $60!” Merkel said.
Merkel is well aware of a student’s tight budget. Being an alumnae of West Chester, she remembers being on a strict college budget, but still wanting to be stylish and trendy. Customers will never find ANYTHING in the store above $60!
“When I was at school here, the only stores to shop at were high-end boutiques- you don’t have to catch a ride to the mall now to find trendy clothes, you can just take a walk in town!” Merkel proclaimed.
In addition, all the items in her store are up-to-date trend-wise. Merkel took several fashion merchandising classes at Harcum, and is always studying celebrity trends and TV shows to make sure her store is fully stocked with the latest trends. In fact, the store is now fully stocked with colored skinny jeans, the most popular being the mint green color.
The store is also up -to-date social-media wise. While the store does not have a Twitter, they do have a Facebook, which was made in April 2009. The Facebook features all merchandise that is in the store, celebrity trends which can be found at the store, and exclusive deals. The Facebook page has a tremendous amount of activity and currently has almost 2,000 likes. Customers can ‘like’ certain outfits and even put garments on hold. Merkel explains the page as a great way for her to directly communicate with her customers.
The page even has a section for feedback, as one customer Missy Bryan says, “This is an awesome boutique to check out if you are looking for a sassy dress to wear out on the town, a cool shirt to wear with your favorite jeans, or some great accessories. The owner, Lauren, couldn’t be more adorable or sweet – always fun to go in and chat and shop with her stylish suggestions!”
Merkel plans to expand Artifact’s social media even more this summer. She is currently working on a website where customers can purchase things online. This website will expand her audience outside of West Chester and maybe even outside of Pennsylvania. Furthermore, like many other businesses in West Chester, Artifact is somewhat affected when students leave for the summer. However, the new website will give students the chance to shop at their favorite boutique from their hometown! Merkel is very excited for the new project and has been working on it for awhile.
Her favorite part of her job is being able to style her customers and help them pick out cute outfits. Artifact has phenomenal customer service. All of her sales associates, most of whom were Artifact customers, must be extremely attentive to all customers in the store. The employees in the store are very close and have been working in the store for several years.
Merkel loves seeing her customers every day. Owning a boutique is very hard work and Merkel does it all by herself, which makes it even more challenging. However, her customers make all of the hard work worth it. Merkel has built very strong relationships with her customers, and her bubbly personality, dedication, and wicked sense of style makes every customer want to come back again and again. In essence, Merkel has seemed to have created the perfect store; extremely trendy, but also extremely affordable. Artifact is truly one of the best boutiques in the area!
Liz Thompson is a fourth-year student majoring in Communication Studies with at minor in Journalism. She can be reached at LT715984@wcupa.edu.