Diana Mejia opened Graciously Unique Boutique at 218 8th St. a few weeks ago. It’s a plus-size clothing store that, up until a few months ago, Mejia had no idea was in her future plans.
“I didn’t even have this in my mind when I came here,” Mejia said. “I knew I wanted to start a business, but I had no idea what I wanted to do.”
Diana and her husband, Jony, moved to Augusta in February. They came from a small town in Florida called Lehigh, and when Jony preached in a Spanish-speaking church here a few months ago, they fell in love with the area.
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“We love the history here,” Mejia said. “We saw the artsy feel to everything, and it just felt homey, like a Lifetime movie. We love Augusta, and the community has been so great.”
Before opening the boutique, Mejia was a full-time student going for a masters in healthcare administration and a stay-at-home mom with two children with autism.
“I didn’t want to take the easy route and live off the government. I feel that a lot of people take the safe route and won’t take that leap of faith and trust their own efforts, and I just jumped head-first into this,” Mejia said.
Mejia said she watched “a lot” of YouTube videos and consulted with her uncle who owns an A/C and electrical company, for help on how to get everything started.
“I didn’t know the plus-size community here needed something so badly. My main focus was business attire and church clothing, and then my post (on Connect Augusta Facebook Page) went viral and all these people started sharing and sharing. I thought, ‘Okay, this is a real need in this community,'” Mejia said. “I told my husband, ‘I’m going to open my spectrum and my scope so whoever needs clothes, they can find whatever they need here.'”
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Mejia said the popularity of her post on Connect Augusta made her realize the need her store could fill in the area.
“On the fourth day we were open and nobody was coming in, I decided to post about the business on Connect Augusta,” Mejia said. “I didn’t think the post would get 20 likes, so for it to get a hundred likes in a matter of minutes and thousands of likes in a few hours, I was like, ‘What is going on?’ I don’t have a business background, so we were skeptical about me starting the businesses at first. My whole story is based on faith. I put my whole faith into this and trusted God, and he is providing.”
Mejia said her store is not like a plus-size section at a big corporate store — it’s just a regular store for regular women, anything a full-figured woman is and needs.
“It feels like sometimes the plus-size community is shunned and judged because people think we might want to be like this,” Mejia said. “I was diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), which is a hormone imbalance that makes me overweight — if I could control it, I would.”
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Mejia wanted to create a supportive space with everything a full-figured woman might need, from business clothes to biker shorts and skirts.
“If nobody knows your story, they’re just going to judge you, so I just decided to open this store where people like me can feel comfortable shopping,” Mejia said. “They don’t have to feel any pressure about, ‘Is it going to fit, am I going to break it or stretch it,’ and all that.”
Graciously Unique Boutique is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Call (239) 839-0197 or visit the website for more information.
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com.
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