Staff Photo Ashleigh Price
Out in front of the boutique, unique “Made in the USA” brands are featured.
Warm overhead lights and sunlight filter through dangling crystals, casting rainbow patterns across the walls. It’s a sanctuary, really, full of beeswax candles, incense, smudging sticks, and cacti. Rare glittering stones—both polished and raw from the earth—decorate wooden display tables. Fabric journals from India, one of a kind jewelry, American-made clothing, wallets, and purses, thrifted items handpicked along the West coast, and various yoga accessories are neatly displayed along homemade clothing racks and shelves.
Welcome to the mindfully collected and creatively inspired retail shop/oasis of Sadie McDonald.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
After graduating with a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Arkansas, McDonald remembers feeling lost.
“I knew that I had a deep passion inside of me to do some good in the world,” said McDonald. “I didn’t know if I wanted to go into the corporate working world. I just wasn’t feeling it.”
It wasn’t until late 2013 when she traveled to Pahoa, Hawaii, to pursue her 200-hour yoga training that McDonald realized this passion would translate through retail.
“I saw this really cute little yoga boutique,” she said. “And I was like, this is exactly what I want.”
Upon arriving home in Fayetteville, she began to make this dream a reality. Already connected with the owners of The Path, a locally owned retail shop that sells men’s wear, camping supplies, and skate gear, she began to carve out her own space in the downstairs level of their store.
McDonald admits that at first her women’s boutique was not quite in line with her vision. Several months in, she had the idea of promoting via pop-up shows at different studios in the area. It wasn’t until McDonald featured a pop-up shop at Fayetteville’s Trailside Yoga, a year-old yoga studio on Center St. and Gregg, that she felt at home.
“I was in the boys’ shop which is a very yang and masculine area,” she said. “I would load up our Dodge Sprinter van with all of my clothes and literally set up a shop. I just clicked with the people, it was just such a good fit, and we decided to join forces.”
Staying connected with her roots, McDonald and her Path business partners decided to remain under the same umbrella. Her shop would move to Trailside and stand as The Path’s women’s store and their shop would remain in its Fayetteville-square location as The Path’s men’s front.
EVOLUTION AND VISIONS
With all the logistics out of the way and a solid space for McDonald to make her vision a reality, she has been working to fill her shop with brands that are in line with her morals. She strives to find small eco-friendly brands, designers that are sourced in the U.S.A. and that use organic materials.
“You just feel better when you wear these clothes,” McDonald said. “As you start to become aware of your body, you begin eating healthy, and then you start to think, where is this cotton shirt really coming from? Is it organic or is it gnarly pesticide cotton? I started living by this idea that what is good for my body is good for the earth.”
Along with sourcing from various designers, McDonald also sells handpicked thrifted items from the West coast.
“I love to travel,” McDonald said of her road trips. “Having a shop in Fayetteville that I’m able to bring things from my journey to share with the community…I feel that it creates awareness that there’s a big world out there.”
Staff Photo Ashleigh Price
Palo santo, gemstones, and handmade goods on display at The Path at Trailside.
McDonald’s business and romantic partner, Bill Harris, takes pride in this foundation that he and McDonald are a part of for Northwest Arkansas.
“Just giving people that choice, that base for that realization of, ‘Hey, I can make a conscious choice about what I put on my skin, the biggest organ of the body,’” he said.
The two hope that supporting local and sustainable businesses will become the “norm” rather than the ultimate.
“If you want to make an impact on a social level, you vote with your dollar and buy things you’re passionate about,” Harris said.
McDonald likes the size of her shop – small and manageable. She does, however, hope to start selling more of her own handmade pieces along with the goods of other local creators.
“My vision for the future, would be that we would just source things more locally and that people would realize that we all have unique talents and can work with our hands,” McDonald said. “I want to lift up everyone around me. I want everyone to be inspired and positive. That’s what it’s all about: lifting each other up, spreading love, and living through your heart.”
As far as competition in the market goes, McDonald said she welcomes it with open arms.
“If another eco-friendly boutique pops up I am going to be gung-ho and so excited because that means that there is awareness and they’re spreading that seed of consciousness to others,” she said.
Those interested can visit McDonald Monday through Friday 11:30-6, and Saturday 11-3. The Path at Trailside is located at 600 West Center St., Fayetteville, Ark. You can find her shop on instagram @pathoutfitters_trailside or online at http://pathoutfitters.com/about-us/
