Work

Stepping into Sisters Ugly in Northfield, Minnesota feels as though you’re stepping into a chic designer boutique in New York’s SoHo or NoLita districts. The intimately lighted space with bare brick walls and wooden planked flooring sets the tone for a truly unique shopping experience.

However, when meeting mother and daughter team, Diane Sinclair and Jenny Turek, you immediately feel comfortable, as though you’ve all been friends for years, and you then realize you’re still in the land of Minnesota nice. Jenny and Diane laugh, finish each other’s sentences and pointedly challenge each other when they disagree.

This mother and daughter team not only chum around and act like best friends, they also co-own this incredibly popular clothing store. They attribute their similar personalities and close relationship to the success of this venture that began in 2007. The fact that they both live in different towns – Diane in St. Paul and Jenny in Montgomery – also allows the two to live separate lives but still be a loving mother and daughter as well as solid business partners.

The store’s location at 13 Bridge Square, just a few steps from Northfield’s downtown business district, offers apparel that appeals to teens as well as those into their seventies. With two private colleges in Northfield, Sisters Ugly is never short on customers, but surprisingly they find more of the trendy 30 to 40 year olds in their store than any other demographic.

How could a mother/daughter team possibly agree on what to carry in the store?

“We allow each other veto power,” says Jenny. Once an item is vetoed by either Diane or Jenny, the idea is completely dropped. The duo has learned a lot about fashion and purchasing for their store over the course of their ownership.

“At first, we found that if we carried an item in the store that we wouldn’t wear ourselves, our customers just wouldn’t buy it,” says Diane.

“Now after almost three years in business, we now know our customers well enough to select items that they will like,” says Jenny.

Sisters Ugly carries women’s contemporary clothing lines including Kenzie Girl, Miss Me, Hazel, Dex, For Love of Liberty, Beau Bois and many more. They also carry jewelry and handbags to accessorize clothing purchases.

Certainly the name of the store draws the attention of most new to the shop. Diane and Jenny are not sisters and both are gorgeous, so what gives with the name? When it came time to name the store, Diane had a great idea – Sisters Ugly – stemming from the term used by one of Diane’s brothers who refers to his sisters-in-law as the “sisters ugly” and the name just stuck (sshhh… this is a family secret, so don’t tell!) The shop’s T-shirts proudly state, “I Shop Ugly.”

Diane and Jenny have masterminded a wonderfully creative schedule of store events that keep things fresh and exciting for customers. Most recently, Sisters Ugly hosted the Gold Guys Party where gold estimators came to purchase customer’s gold while they used their newfound money to make purchases at Sisters Ugly. Other evening events have included hosting a fashion Feng Shui expert, holding fashion rep trunk shows and Northfield’s Girls Nite Out, a shopping event for area women that draws hundreds of shoppers. In September, they will be busy preparing for Northfield’s largest event, the Defeat of Jesse James Days which takes place the weekend after Labor Day and draws more than 150,000 visitors over the course of one weekend.

Fiercely independent, neither Diane nor Jenny anticipate expanding their success by branching into additional locations in an effort to remain focused on the one location and to maintain the store’s integrity. Expansion plans for the future do include thoughts of implementing an online store to reach even more customers.

“We love what we do each day,” says Diane. “We are grateful to our customers and family for all their support.”

What is in style this fall?

Diane and Jenny offer the following thoughts on style for this year’s fall fashion:

• Plaid is big this year, but with a feminine twist.
• The combination of green and purple will be a popular pairing for fall fashion.
• Mixing of feminine and masculine styles, such as blending leather jackets with long feminine skirts, will also be a big hit.
• Look for more skirts on the fashion scene this season.