Spotlight On Kaylie Nicole Feist-Torres – Owner Of Kaylie Nicole

I moved to the Coachella Valley when I was 9 years old, my grandparents were snowbirds here and had a house here in Palm Desert, my family and I would come down and visit for Spring Breaks. First my aunt, uncle, and cousin moved to La Quinta, then my uncle recommended my dad to one of his friends that owned a remodeling business here in the desert, my dad decided he couldn’t take another rainy day in Washington, so he applied for the job and was soon hired, we visited the desert to see what city we wanted to move to, and found a perfect home in La Quinta that became our forever home until I moved away to San Diego for college.

I went to school for Fashion Marketing and Management where I earned my Bachelor’s Degree. Fashion marketing, managing, styling, photography, and merchandising has always been something I loved to do. While I went to college my first job was Forever 21, that was a nightmare but I enjoyed applying everything that I was learning in school to the job and seeing how it all worked. After I graduated I started working at the LOFT on El Paseo, I started as a sales associate and worked my way up to Assistant Manager. I also worked part time at TUMI on El Paseo on my days off to earn a second income and get experience in high-end retail. I did that for about 9 months before it became too much, I would go months without having a day off, and decided I needed work/life balance, and went back to just working full time at LOFT. I worked at LOFT for 4 years until a family friend let me know that a super cute boutique was opening on El Paseo called House of Lolo, they were originally from Portland, Oregon but the owners moved to the desert and were opening a shop on El Paseo. I looked up their website and Instagram and was like IMMEDIATELY YES. Although I loved LOFT and all my customers there, I was ready for a change, to further my knowledge and experience in high-end retail, and Lolo was way more my vibe and style. I worked at Lolo for a little over 4 years, the owners were very open to trying all my ideas, they let me be creative, and I thrived in that atmosphere. Working for a small business where you get to be involved in all the big and small details of what it takes to run a store, along with having creative freedom was everything to me coming from a corporate brand where corporate makes all the decisions, chooses what gets put on the mannequins and how the store is merchandised. It was nice to finally get to do things how I chose to and let all my creative ideas come to life, and for that I’ll always be grateful for the time and experience I had at Lolo. I worked there up until I opened Kaylie Nicole.

With my degree in Fashion Marketing and Management, and all the years I worked in retail, I realized I was really good at what I did in retail. Building customer relationships, content creation and Instagram marketing, buying, styling, and merchandising were all things I was really good at, and really enjoyed. People also always would joke and say they wished they could shop in my closet, I was constantly getting asked where I got my clothes from, or styling friends and family in my free time. Originally I always said I would never have a brick-and-mortar. I’d only want an online presence; but the more I worked in retail the more I realized how special that in-store connection is with customers, and how an online presence would be a bonus. I used my vacation time I had during summer since it was slow to take a week off with my husband, I went a little stir crazy because I’m so accustomed to working and staying busy so I decided I’d work on my dreams. I created a mock store, saving inspo of the design and vibe of how I would want my dream shop to look, did a mock invoice order of the merchandise I would carry and how much it would cost me vs how much profit I would make back, and that sparked something in me, although in my mind it wasn’t the right time to open a business, it was something I really wanted to do one day…

My dream store that I made on my vacation in August would not leave my mind, so I randomly one day in December searched “retail spaces for rent in Palm Desert” just to get an idea of pricing. I knew I’d want a shop in Palm Desert because Palm Desert is where I have always worked, I also live up in the mountains so Palm Desert is the closest to me, any further feels so far from where I live. When I searched for places for lease in Palm Desert I found my space, it was a good size for what I had in mind for my future shop, the price was right, and it was a good location so I decided to text the agent leasing it to just go take a look at it to see how I felt in the space. I went the very next day to go see it, it needed a huge remodel but since I had my design inspo saved I knew exactly what I would do and had a whole vision that I could see in the space, it just felt right so I went for it. I also knew that my dad, husband, and friends at O’living Theory would be able to take on the remodel and make my vision come to life, and they did exactly that!

The shop’s aesthetic was inspired by the Pinterest photos I saved back in August when I was saving inspo for my “dream shop”. All curves, neutrals, and irregular shapes. I sent my inspo and explained little details I wanted for display pieces, and my friend Diana at O’living Theory helped me source it all and brought the vision to life. I wanted my shop to be unlike any shop I’ve ever been to, we don’t have much shopping in the desert for girls like me who are looking for a decent price point and all the latest trends, on top of being aesthetically pleasing to the eye, so I had to bring to the desert I grew up in “a shop for the girls.”

I am a professional shopper, before I had my shop I had to do all my shopping online because there weren’t any shops with my style and price point in the desert. Some of the brands I carry are brands I shopped online for myself before opening my store, others are brands I’ve found while sourcing online. If it’s a new brand I’ll start light when ordering so I can test the styles and materials in store before bringing in too much of their inventory, but I’ve been very lucky with all of the brands I have sourced, they’ve all had amazing quality products for an amazing price.

My husband and I purchased a heat press machine about a year ago, we love making our own custom T-shirts, sweats, hoodies, etc. So I decided I’d bring in a few of those styles in the shop. I’m the type that goes out of town and buys a sweatshirt from every city I visit, I love varsity sweatshirts but in the Palm Springs area Palm Springs sweatshirts are always colorful, so I thought it would be cute to design Palm Springs sweatshirts in my favorite neutral color palette. I also custom merch for other small businesses if they want merch with their logo on it for their business. (Editor’s note – those interested in ordering custom merch can email Kaylie directly.)

Friday pop-ups have been such a blessing to my shop, and so much fun! I look forward to every Friday. It all started when Kayla from Buena Matcha came into my store to shop, we instantly clicked right away and she told me she owns Buena Matcha and we talked about her popping up so we can collaborate and do a “sip and shop” together. It was such a hit and so much fun, that we decided we wanted to make it an every Friday thing. We’ve had a few other businesses join us, like permanent jewelry, custom jewelry, eyebrow threading, and our friend who sells all natural facial products. All of these businesses I have met as clients in my shop, which have now all turned to friends and we have so much fun collaborating together, we share customers, and it’s so beneficial to each of our businesses. I love the community of women I am a part of, it’s so fun to see women supporting women! (Editor’s note – the Buena Matcha team is currently on vacation, so the weekly pop-ups are on pause until November 22.)

Yes, I am my one and only employee. I balance it all by allowing myself to have the shop closed on Sundays and not feeling guilty about not being open that day and taking that day to rest, or spend with my loved ones. I also absolutely love and adore my shop and what I do, that saying “do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” is so true! It doesn’t feel like work because I enjoy every bit of my shop and all that I do.

I’ve lived here for over 20 years, but I will never get used to how hot the summers get, they’re awful! But I take advantage of that down time to get prepared for the season ahead, vacation, close on Mondays along with Sundays, and just recharge for the business of the desert that is the rest of the year.

There’s a lot I love about the desert, I am a sucker for sunsets, they bring me so much joy, the mountains, the beautiful palm trees all over, outdoor dining, the beautiful weather that we have from November to May, the slow way of living – no traffic, not a busy city or nightlife scene, it’s very calm and for the most part a safe place to be.

Every time but summer! I love all the holidays, fall/winter, but I also love spring! It’s just a beautiful time of year, it’s busier which I always enjoy when the shop is busy, I love to always have something to do, meeting new people, the Christmas lights that get put up on El Paseo, being able to enjoy outside whether it’s eating outside at a restaurant or going for a walk or hike.

Be smart with the money you make, invest back into your business, save up for when things slow down, be collaborative with others and never competitive, love what you do, don’t compare your business to others’ business, just focus on your own business and making it the best it can be, be original and do things your way.

VESTS, I’m obsessed with vests at the moment and can’t get enough!!

I’m a Mexican food girlie, any and every Mexican food restaurant! The one I go to most is Casa Mendoza in Palm Desert behind my shop (pictured).

I’m a homebody! I don’t know too many spots in the desert, when I’m not at the shop, I’m at home with my husband and my dogs.