A ‘bit of everything’ at Makayla’s Boutique

The process of opening her shop started right after the pandemic, when Rodriguez made the decision to leave her retail job to stay home with her youngest children. She noted that opening a store of her own had always been something she had wanted to do, and while at home, found herself selling products over Facebook Live.

“I would bring a product, but I would just sell it online,” Rodriguez said.

She said her product choices were inspired by her daughter — and shop namesake — 4-year-old Makayla.

“She’s a really girly girl,” Rodiguez said. “She actually helps me pick out the products.”

Rodriguez started growing an online following with the help of friends and family, who would share her Facebook Live streams and posts around social media. At the encouragement of friends, she decided to open a vendor’s booth at this year’s Cherry Festival, which generated a lot of interest in her small, online business.

“It just kind of just like, blew up,” Rodriguez said. “Everybody was like, ‘Where are you located?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t have a location that you can come in and shop, but you can ... look us up on Facebook.’”

Rodirguez continued to be encouraged to open a physical location but was hesitant, not feeling ready to make the jump from online. Then, earlier this year, she was set to go on vacation to see her oldest daughter graduate from Army basic training, when she saw the space on Fourth Street available for rent. Rodriguez decided to leave the decision up to fate.

“And so I said, if it’s available when I come back, it means it’s meant to be,” she said. “And when I got back, it was still available. So, I took the next step to open the store here.”

Holding a soft opening in July, Rodirguez said that Makayla’s Boutique carries “a little bit of everything,” and while younger kids may be drawn to the products she carries, she has something for everyone in store.

“I have a little bit of everything from, you know, newborns to … teen, even adults,” Rodriguez said.

While she may have initially hesitated to take the step to open a physical location, once decided to do so, Rodriguez was ready to put her all into it. “I’m a person that if I have a goal and I have a set [idea of] what I want to do, I’m going to do what I can do to get there,” she said.

She noted she had a lot of encouragement from her long-time friend, Melanie. “She has pushed me through,” Rodriguez said, “if it wasn’t for her, I don’t think I would have done it.”

Something important to Rodriguez is keeping things affordable for the community so that everyone has a chance to enjoy her products. “I get a lot of kids that basically come in and spend their allowance,” she said. “That’s where I see the happiness in their faces and I’m like, ‘That’s what it is [about].’”

She said that in the future, she would like to open a “party area,” for things such as decorations, pinatas, and personalized party favors. She is currently working on setting up a website to make it easier for customers to make online purchases.

Makayla’s Boutique is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday through Saturdays. You can find them on their Facebook page, Makayla’s Boutique, where Rodriguez also posts her new products, and at the shop, located at 300 E. Fourth St., The Dalles.