Meet the mother-daughter duo who opened a boutique in KC’s Northland
When mother-daughter team Avery Taylor and Melissa Taylor opened their boutique, Ave and Liv, on April 26, they did not expect the line to extend down the block.
“It was 10 a.m. and the girls were already lining up,” Avery Taylor, 27, said. “We opened at noon.”
Ave and Liv, a Southern-inspired new shop at 113 St. Main St. in Parkville, sells dresses for special occasions, regular clothing and swimsuits. It moved into what was formerly Sincerely, Ellis, which recently reopened at a bigger storefront nearby.
Think pink walls, patterned wallpaper, crystal chandeliers and a mint green checkout desk.
“The aesthetic and the purpose has always been the same. Very feminine and fun, very pink,” said Avery Taylor. “We started out super pink. I didn’t want anything else that wasn’t pink. But eventually, I changed a little bit, but still kept that feminine, fun, whimsy look, to most things.”
Avery and Melissa Taylor launched their company online in 2022. In the beginning, the brand only really sold pink clothing. While Avery Taylor said everything she sells is still her style, she has expanded the color palette.
“I wear all this stuff,” she said.
The two built a large social media following and did several pop-ups before deciding a year ago they wanted to open a brick-and-mortar storefront in Parkville.
“We didn’t really want to be just anywhere,” Avery Taylor said. “We love the Parkville community, and it’s just so darling and charming down here.
“We get a lot of business from Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, Florida too, and we’re trying to get in California, New York,” Melissa Taylor said. “So, I mean, we’re really expanding.”
A few months into the business, one of their posts went viral. For Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, they made dresses referencing different eras, which brought in tons of traffic.
“Everybody started calling us to say, ‘Hey, do you have any more? Can you order more of that?’” Melissa Taylor said. “I mean, I have to say it really helped us out because the tour went through the whole summer.”
Aside from the curated boutique items they carry, Avery and Melissa Taylor have their own collection: Ave and Liv The Label. They offer loungewear, tops, dresses, matching sets and swimsuits as part of their original designs.
“I blend ideas together from Pinterest or girls I see when I go to pop-ups. I see their style because, yeah, one of our main customer base is the 18-22, so it’s important to see what they wear and how they style things,” Avery Taylor said.
The Taylors have relationships with two manufacturers who produce their product. The two design digital mockups of the clothing, pick the color and material and are given samples of the product before it’s made.
“We’ll try it on, do a fitting. We’ll put it on our models for different body types to see how it fits on them and get their feedback. There’s a lot that goes into just one thing, which is crazy,” Avery Taylor said. “ It may look like just a T-shirt, but it came a long way.”
Avery Taylor’s favorite item they carry is a matching set, The Lottie Skirt ($74) with the matching top ($54). Her mother, Melissa Taylor loves their Copa Kinis ($74-$79). The most popular items recently have been the Cloverfield Striped Top ($36) and matching skort ($38).
Making their products affordable was essential to the Taylors when they were pricing their clothing.
“I think a lot of people are reluctant to go to a boutique because they’re like, ‘oh, well, I already know it’s overpriced,” Avery Taylor said. “That’s something we really care about, because I know what type of pricing I’m looking for when I buy clothes, so it’s important to me, good quality, good price.”
“If we don’t like the quality, we won’t sell it,” Melissa Taylor said. “Things come in and we just refuse to sell, we’ll take the loss on it.”
Another mission for the two is to make their clothes approachable for everyone. Though the popular age demographic is college-aged, women of all ages are encouraged to try on their clothes. Avery Taylor said she had a woman come in who was convinced the clothes weren’t for her until she tried something on and changed her mind.
“A lot of people kind of judge us at first glance if they’re not younger, you know. And I’m like, it’s not true, just try it on, we really have things for everyone,” she said. “I really want everyone to be able to find something.”
The Taylors plan to expand their label to include more university clothing, host events when the game day collection drops and do pop-ups at sororities. Melissa Taylor hopes to bring traditional Black Friday back this year.
“I’m hoping for Black Friday this year, bring back the shopping experience that people used to love,” she said. “We’re going to have fun things for people, you know, at good prices and everything.”
