The owner of a Holts Summit boutique fashion store is retiring, and the store is closing unless she can find a last-minute buyer to keep the store open.
Calene Cooper took over an existing fashion store and re-branded it as Calena's Fashions 16 years ago. Now, she said, she plans to retire so she can travel with her recently retired husband.
Before taking on the store, Cooper taught science at West Middle School in Columbia for 28 years. At the time, she still loved teaching, but changed careers because she wanted a new adventure.
"I decided it was time," Cooper said. "That's the way it was with teaching - time to leave while you still love it."
Cooper spent years cultivating and growing a loyal base of customers from around the state. The store at 275 Karen Drive in Holts Summit sits right off U.S. 54. Because of that, she gets customers from around the Midwest traveling to and from the Lake of the Ozarks.
With her business going strong, she admitted, it's tough to let it go. Cooper plans to run the store through the end of the year. Many have stopped by to say goodbye, but she continues to meet new customers every day, some stopping in for the first time to take advantage of deep discounts during Calena's Fashions' going-out-of-business sale.
She holds out hope someone might buy the store, but said that doesn't look likely.
"I feel that's the time to leave," Cooper said, "when you've got things going really well."
Calena's Fashions offers clothes for women in sizes 0-24. Cooper prides herself on offering a wide variety of clothing that appeals to young, middle-aged and elderly women. She said the key for anyone wanting to open a boutique retail store is to know not what they like, but what their customers like.
Her clientele still likes to come in, try things on and touch merchandise in person, Cooper said. That has helped her survive, even as more retail transactions are done online.
Cooper's son now lives in southern California, and a stepson lives in New York. She's looking forward to seeing them a bit more often.
Now, with retirement looming, Cooper looks forward to getting out of Mid-Missouri and traveling the world. She's visited several U.S. presidential libraries and wants to see them all, she said.
"Things change, and times change," she said. "I don't want to work until I get sick and then can't to what I want to do."