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Alexandria Bartley opened A.B. Vault in Dutchess County on Wednesday, April 6.
The boutique is located at 564 Main St. in Poughkeepsie and offers a selection of handbags and scrubs.
Bartley said she decided to open the store to expand upon her online handbag business, Arlene's Vault, which she started to honor her late mother.
"I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I never really had a clear plan on how to get there," Bartley said. "And it wasn't until my mother passed away in 2019 when I really wanted a way to honor her, my sister and I came up with the idea of starting to sell handbags because of my mother's love of fashion."
More recently, her business mentor helped her find the storefront in Poughkeepsie.
Bartley said she chose to sell scrubs at the boutique because she realized how many people needed them for work in the Poughkeepsie area.
She added that the name of her boutique pays tribute to her family, as she, her siblings, and her parents all have the initials "A.B."
"I just think of it as a way to celebrate my family," she said.
She said she has seen good responses from customers in her first month of business at the boutique.
"I've received a lot of positive feedback from the community so far," she said. "So, I'm very excited to see where it goes from here."
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