For Lori Allen, moving her spiritwear business from her home to a Harrison City storefront “just felt right.”
Allen of Penn Township started LNJ Spiritwear out of her home 13 years ago to provide local school apparel to the community.
Now, she is taking over the former Buckets Boutique space, just off of Route 130 at 1001 Walnut St. Her new store, Logo It, opened its doors Wednesday and will hold grand opening this weekend.
The store sells spiritwear for Penn-Trafford, Norwin, Hempfield Area, Franklin Regional and Jeannette City school districts — including spiritwear that coordinates with the student section themes for Penn-Trafford High School’s home football games. One-on-one consultations to create custom designs will be offered.
Products from KP Designs by Kristen Polechko will be available inside the store by the checkout counter.
All Logo It products can also be ordered online at logoitbylnj.com for in-store pickup or delivery.
Allen sold some of her products at Buckets Boutique for a year and a half. She began searching for a storefront in Murrysville last fall but didn’t land on Harrison City until Buckets Boutique announced it would close at the end of July.
She hopes to carry on the boutique’s success.
“When (Buckets Boutique) was closing, I thought, ‘Well, maybe it was meant to happen that way. Maybe I was supposed to stay in Penn-Trafford,’” Allen said. “They’ve always been my biggest supporters.”
Buckets Boutique’s last day was July 29. In a Facebook post, the boutique thanked customers for 10 years of support.
“Although we are sad, we are also proud of ourselves and beyond thankful for the opportunities and experiences we have had in the last 10 years,” the post said. “Owning a business is hard work, most of which is done behind the scenes, so continue to shop small no matter where it may be as it is more appreciated than you’ll ever know.”
Allen looks forward to making use of the store’s central location to local school districts and working directly with her customers.
“I think what I’m most excited about is to actually be able to talk to my customers and sell the retail face-to-face,” she said. “Being that I’ve worked from my home for so long, I’ve been able to dabble in that — I do the sales part — but I never get to do that conversation and building the relationships as much as I’d like.”
Allen plans to hire a part-time employee to help in the store.
She also will announce in a few weeks the opening of a second spiritwear store in Monroeville, which will go by a different name. This store will offer apparel for Gateway and Woodland Hills school districts.
Updates can be found on Allen’s Facebook pages, LNJ Spirit Wear and Logo It by LNJ.
