Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Wien.
Andrea, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
LADDER took shape very quickly. My friend and I moved back from NYC to NE Ohio and were missing the experience of shopping at a small boutique where the salespeople know your name and your style. Through text, she kidded about opening a store, and while she may have been joking, I took it seriously and jumped into gear. I knew I wanted to be in the Van Aken District – in the exact location that we’re now in – and reached out to ask about seeing the space. A few days later, we were signing the lease and LADDER opened just 9 weeks later on Memorial Day weekend, 2021.
Today, LADDER is thrilled to be part of an incredible community of small businesses in the Van Aken District.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The community has given us such a warm welcome, so we’ve been lucky to have great clients from the very first day we opened our doors. Because we’re a new store in a new market, our challenges have just been learning what our clients want and making sure we’re stocked with products that they love. It’s a fun challenge to have!
As you know, we’re big fans of LADDER. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
LADDER is a clothing boutique that houses independent designers with a focus on sustainability. Our brands come from near and far, but our commitment to natural fibers, fair trade practices, and eco-friendly manufacturing processes is unique in the Cleveland area.
The store is named LADDER for three reasons: we support and held build the careers of the small designers we work with, we support and build local community through our events, and we support and build the wardrobes of our clients.
We’ve received incredible feedback on our events, which include non-traditional gatherings, such as sound baths, energy healing workshops, curated dinners, and partnerships with other businesses. For Galentine’s Day, we partnered with SLFMKR next door, and guests brought their BFF for mini-makeup and styling sessions, plus posed for a BFF photo with another local business, Little Bobos Photography.
We also offer a VIP experience that delivers a curated box of personalized products to your door every month. VIP clients get 15% off all purchases and special access to sales and product releases, but the best part of the service is that once we learn your style, we start buying exclusively for you. Our VIPs literally have one-off pieces that no one else in the city has access to.
Before LADDER, I worked as a functional nutritionist and I have a second business called The Kiwi Commune. It’s a 5-month communal wellness experience that helps people take small daily action to discover their values and design a more sustainable life. In the program, we focus on food and nutrition, environment, and body.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love that anything is possible here. The ability to take risks is huge. I could have never opened a boutique in New York City, but in Cleveland, all the doors opened up for me. Clevelanders also have hearts of gold – and they genuinely want to support local business.
I dislike that it’s tough to find out about events and things around town. Sometimes I will see something on Instagram that I would have loved to attend, but I didn’t hear about it until after the fact. Coming from NYC, the options for things to do are obviously also more limited, but in some ways, that makes them more special!
Contact Info:
- Email: dre@laddercle.com
- Website: laddercle.com
- Instagram:instagram.com/laddercle
- Facebook: facebook.com/laddercle
- Other: thekiwicommune.com
Image Credits
Meg Witt
