On Oct. 2, Wild Grace Boutique opened its door at 108 S. Washington St.
Christina Maxwell, owner of Wild Grace, grew up in the Vandalia/Farber area and attended Van-Far High School. After …
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On Oct. 2, Wild Grace Boutique opened its door at 108 S. Washington St.
Christina Maxwell, owner of Wild Grace, grew up in the Vandalia/Farber area and attended Van-Far High School. After graduating, she moved to Mexico at 18-years-old and attended MACC where she studied nursing.
“I love fashion and I love helping people,” says Maxwell. “I help people in a different way at work and then here I'm helping people pick out clothes and feel good about themselves. It’s fun for me.”
Maxwell’s nursing career began at the SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital here in town shortly before the incident with Noble.
“I went full-time in Auxvasse just to be closer to home and when all that happened it was so sad,” remembers Maxwell. “We saw the writing on the wall.”
She is now a full-time orthopedic nurse at Boone Hospital and has been there for six years. Despite her love for her nursing career, her dream of owning a boutique was ever present in the back of her mind.
“I started the online store back in September of 2023 and I just kind of did it here and there, it wasn’t full time,” says Maxwell. “I did little pop-ups at craft events.”
One day, she decided to just go for it and open her first brick and mortar store. She found the cozy storefront in the square and messaged the owner explaining her vision for the space.
“I didn’t want anything too large just starting out,” says Maxwell. “I kind of threw all of this together in a month.”
One thing about Maxwell is that she loves to shop.
“If you could see my closet, you’d be like, ‘What the heck, you don't need to shop anymore, lady.’” jokes Maxwell. “Now I get to shop for a lot of people, which is great.”
Living in Mexico, Maxwell realized there weren’t many places to buy clothes and found herself going out of town to boutiques or all the way to Columbia.
“Here in town, I felt like we really didn’t have anything that fit my needs,” says Maxwell. “Now, you don’t have to drive to Columbia to get clothes.”
The boutique features clothes and accessories in neutral colors and high quality fabrics. At the moment, her store is stocked with winter attire - sweaters, joggers, jeans and more.
“My whole color scheme is neutral so you can mix and match,” says Maxwell.
In addition to her personal style, Maxwell follows boutiques she is inspired by on social media to keep her finger on the pulse in the industry. She also plans to attend a fashion show in Las Vegas in February.
In the future, Maxwell would love to expand to a bigger location, but for now she is perfectly content with her quaint boutique where she can really get to know her customers.
Wild Grace has only been open for a couple months and is excited to take on 2025. Maxwell enjoys being able to fulfill her dream in a community that has already shown her so much support.
“I want to make people feel like they can shop local and keep the money in Mexico,” says Maxwell. “I feel like our town needs it.”
