Owl brings Hoot to Cheney downtown

Local pharmacies generally don’t couple as the fashion center of a town, but that is exactly what Owl Pharmacy is trying accomplish in Cheney with the opening of their new clothing store expansion Hoot Boutique.

While the idea may seem unusual, it is not far-fetched considering the amount of success that Owl has had selling clothing apparel since they began offering more “boutique” like items two years ago.

“A couple years ago we started changing the type of clothes we carried at Owl,” Libby Butterfield, the brainchild of the Hoot expansion said. “Before we would kind of get designer overruns. We wanted to focus more on stylish trendy clothing that you would find in a boutique and when we did that it ended up being really successful. The more we got the more we sold. So it grew to a point where we didn’t have enough space in the pharmacy to carry the amount of clothes we wanted, so we decided to expand.”

Butterfield, who graduated from Eastern Washington University and is an Owl employee on the weekends while a technical writer on the weekdays, used her background from her previous jobs in retail to really push forward the idea of expanding Owl.

“I’m a bit of a shopaholic by nature so it’s natural to me and I really enjoyed it and I saw opportunity there,” Butterfield said. “So I encouraged them to go in a different direction and they were really supportive.”

The Hoot Boutique opened Sept. 3, and although Butterfield eagerly anticipates the return of the college students for the 2013-14 EWU school year, she said business has been steady and that the local community has been extremely supportive by coming into the store and giving their input.

Butterfield said Hoot specializes in “fashion forward trendy pieces,” but makes sure that all of the clothing offered is wearable in almost any setting.

“We have a lot of input,” Butterfield said. “I’m 26 and work full-time in a professional setting, and then we also have some college girls (working at Hoot) that are a little more casual, so we have a nice broad scope of clothes you can wear.”

Ultimately Butterfield would like to see Hoot join the several restaurants and businesses that have moved into the downtown area in recent years in hopes of building the area into a destination for Cheney residents.

“Owl Pharmacy has been a staple of the local community for a long time so we are hoping to help make downtown Cheney a place that you can go hangout in,” Butterfield said. “You can go get a cup of coffee, you can go shopping and you can enjoy our town for what it is without having to drive into Spokane.”

Hoot Boutique is located at 113 F. St. and is open 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. on Saturdays.