New Bellefonte boutique offers vintage clothing, thrifted outfits. See inside
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- La Vida Local, a vintage clothing boutique, is now open in Bellefonte.
- Many items are thrifted and made using sustainable materials.
- It shares a space in Belle Mercantile with Bixi Awotan, the leather goods retailer.
Stephanie Calderon never imagined chasing storms would help her become a small business owner.
For years, Calderon has traveled across the country with her husband to chase tornadoes and other severe weather events. Along the way, she often finds herself thrifting clothes, buying vintage outfits and shopping locally to support communities impacted by deadly storms.
“I love supporting local businesses when we’re out chasing storms,” Calderon told the Centre Daily Times. “When disasters happen, it’s important to support the community rather than the larger chains when possible.”
These days, Calderon is based in Bellefonte as the owner of La Vida Local, a new sustainable thrift and vintage clothing boutique inside Belle Mercantile. The shop launched with a soft opening this week ahead of a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, April 4.
La Vida Local’s inventory features items made with sustainable fabrics like cotton, linen and wool. Though many pieces are considered vintage, some were thrifted with new tags still attached.
The shop’s items are influenced by Calderon’s travels across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and much of the southeastern United States, as well as Mexico, Argentina and her family’s native Guatemala.
“Bellefonte is a small community, and it can be harder to find pieces,” Calderon said. “So, I thought, ‘Why not bring back what I like and hope other people like it, too?’”
La Vida Local shares a small space inside the indoor marketplace with Noelia Torres, co-owner of the handmade leather goods retailer Bixi Awotan. Together, they’re using their women-owned businesses to bring some Latin flair to Bellefonte’s backyard.
“I’m pretty proud to have something here with Noelia,” Calderon said. “I think women-owned businesses are represented here in Bellefonte, but the piece we bring in is our ‘Latina spice,’ our little flavor. I’m happy to be one of the few [such businesses], especially here in Bellefonte. Everything we bring in here has some sort of connection, some sort of meaning.”
Launching La Vida Local was a major step for Calderon, who has worked in retail since 2006 but never owned her own business. She credited Bellefonte’s business community, and especially its women, for guiding her through the many steps needed to start the business, fill out paperwork and assemble her space.
“Having women who support other women has been the main inspiration for me actually starting,” Calderon said. “Andrea [Skirpan], the owner here at Belle Mercantile, really supports local makers and artisans. I’m not making these things, but she was on board with having something a little different pop in.”
Looking back on a whirlwind few years, Calderon remains grateful that her husband’s storm-chasing hobby put her on the right path toward owning a small business. He worked as a field reporter for a weather company, and Calderon stepped up as his driver and videographer during the COVID-19 pandemic when finding freelancers was a bigger challenge.
Calderon grew up in a small town before living in North Carolina, Georgia, Texas and Washington, D.C. Once she and her husband learned they would move to Bellefonte and return to small-town life, Calderon felt determined to try and support the community by pulling from lessons learned on the road.
“Seeing communities come together [after a storm] and support one another, no matter their backgrounds or who they are, is my favorite part,” Calderon said. “It solidified that I want to commit myself to supporting local communities as much as possible. You see it happening so often following natural disasters, so why can’t we do it every day?”
Belle Mercantile is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. The marketplace is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
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