My Biz: Amana shop owner searches fashion markets for unique finds

Yana Cutler doesn't let fear get in the way of business. The savvy business woman owns and runs four businesses with her husband.

In 1999, when she purchased The Clothes Encounter from Elsie Oehler, she felt a little bit of trepidation, but things turned out well in spite of that.

'I'd been looking for my own retail space and ran across Elsie's ad advertising her space for rent.” The Oehlers were thinking of retiring from the business world.

'At that time I was truly clueless,” Cutler recalled, 'When Elsie offered to sell me the business, I had this blank look on my face. She told me not to worry, ‘I'll walk you through it.'”

And she did. Cutler said they formed a relationship that became almost like a mother/daughter mentoring situation.

'Elsie actually stayed on and worked with me for almost a year,” Cutler said, 'By the time the whole fashion season had turned around, we had the store full of merchandise and our regular customers were happy again.”

Cutler owns and operates The Clothes Encounter as well as Yana's Ladies Boutique, stores catering to a regular clientele who know they can rely on finding unique fashion and accessories.

'Our customers understand that when they come to shop with us, they will not see themselves coming and going in the same merchandise they might see in downtown Cedar Rapids.”

Cutler says she only buys merchandise for her stores in small quantities for that very purpose.

'It is a constant search for the fashion, and I have a wonderful store manager who helps me keep up with all the latest items and merchandising,” she said.

'Of course the vendors are always changing, and sometimes a trend that they are showing is not to our advantage. We constantly have to search for new vendors, and we have to keep our customer in mind.”

Cutler searches fashion markets in Chicago, Atlanta, Des Moines, and lately, Las Vegas, to keep bringing the latest for customers to choose from.

She goes to market six to nine months ahead of the season she is buying for, so in the summer she is buying for the spring. Her trips to the winter markets are where she picks out shorts and short sleeves for the approaching summer season.

'Our shops do not carry exactly the same merchandise,” she noted. 'There is a little bit different between them, in that Yana's Ladies Boutique is more mature and The Clothes Encounter is trendier.”

Besides clothing, the stores offer accessories, costume jewelry, and affordable purses.

l Know a manager or company in business for more than a year that would be ideal for 'My Biz”? Contact Chelsea Keenan at chelsea.keenan@thegazette.com