SALEM, Ohio – What started as a pop-up shop became a brick-and-mortar reality for Catrina Bloxham.
Bloxham opened the Olive & Ivy Boutique in November 2024, just in time for the holidays.
“I love boutiques and boutique shopping because every boutique is unique and it’s a reflection of the owner’s style and their vision,” Bloxham said. “It’s almost like an interior designer, but you’re walking into their closet.”
Bloxham bought the intellectual name Olive & Ivy Boutique from a good friend in Missouri, where Bloxham came from. Her friend was moving in a different direction with her business, and Bloxham really loved the concept but admits she didn’t have any real plans for what she would do with it.
When family connections meant a move to Ohio, she spent three years marketing her boutique goods as a pop-up shop while she got to know the people and places surrounding her new home.
Bloxham said she has found a supportive community in Salem, where other small business owners support each other and many customers go out of their way to shop at small, local stores.
“I love this area,” Bloxham said. “It reminds me so much of Missouri, just that Midwest hospitality. Everybody is so sweet and so kind and so welcoming.”
Only a decade earlier, Bloxham said she lost everything, including her mother, Regina Mae Bloxham Williams, when tornados ripped through the Joplin, Mo., area in 2011. Bloxham’s boutique and life has become a testament to her faith that got her through the tough times.
“That was just an awful, traumatic situation,” Bloxham said. “But [God] got me through it, and he’s our healer and our comforter, so my store is my way of honoring him.”
While she emphasizes creating an atmosphere where everyone is comfortable in her store, Bloxham does offer several faith-based items. More than anything, she hopes those entering her store have a feeling of peace.
The store, located at the Shops at Terri Place plaza, 2870 E. State St., features denim, cotton and linen clothing, accessories such as bags, shoes, sunglasses, hats and jewelry and even a signature Olive & Ivy perfume scent, Dream Come True.
Though she likes to stay trendy, Bloxham knows some trends are not long-lasting. She said she prefers to offer a lot of soft, textured pieces that can be wardrobe staples in the future.
“I don’t want to sell you a piece that you’re going to just wear one time,” Bloxham said. “I want to be able to just create long-lasting pieces, because we work really hard for our money.”
Christina Manges, who works in the store part time, said the boutique features so many decently priced items because Bloxham is always thinking about other people.
“I tell her all the time, God’s going to bless you because she lives for him,” Manges said.
In addition to her own merchandise, the boutique features a number of other small vendors, including faith-based T-shirts from Revival Cloth and Co.; earrings and necklaces from a 15-year-old local designer, Chloe Creighton; Nailed It Wood Projects by Manny & Monica; and Seint lip oils from a local distributor, Melissa Sellman. There are also gift items, such as nontoxic homemade modeling clay sets; devotional books; and bracelets made by a woman raising funds to help her friend go on a missionary trip.
“I spend a lot of time vetting people and making sure it’s a brand that represents all of what Olive & Ivy represents, what I’ve turned it into today,” Bloxham said.
For Bloxham, it’s about giving others a chance to succeed – the way the owners of Quaker Nutrition and Wilden Beauty did for her when they welcomed her to set up in a small area of their shops.
When the space where Next Level Fitness was located became open in mid-October 2024, Bloxham knew she would need to move fast if she wanted to open in time for the holiday shoppers. She said the decision came with a lot of prayer and a trust that if it was the right decision, God would bless her by not placing too many obstacles in her path. Jesse Bell, the owner of the fitness studio, and his family even helped her paint and change the flooring in time to open Nov. 2, in the space next door to Quaker Nutrition.
Now Bloxham hosts events, pop-ups where other small business owners can come in and sell their items.
Manges said Bloxham gives back to the community in other ways as well, such as donating gift baskets to help local charities.
Olive & Ivy is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. More information is available on the store’s website and Facebook and Instagram pages.
Pictured at top: Catrina Bloxham, owner of Olive & Ivy Boutique.