Amy Novak

Posted

As told to Holly Tishfield

 

Amy Novak, owner of The Gifted Boutique, turned her passion for crafts into a thriving business offering custom spirit wear and gifts, while fostering community ties through local events and charitable collaborations.

 

Tell me about your background.

I've lived in the Jacksonville and Ponte Vedra Beach area with my husband, Brian, since 1998. We raised both of our kids, Ally and Aaron, here in town, and sent them both to Ponte Vedra High School. We’re currently in Nocatee and we just love the area. I started my business, The Gifted Boutique, about 11 years ago now. It's been growing exponentially in the past several years, which is exciting.

Do you come from a background in business ownership and entrepreneurship? How did The Gifted Boutique get its start?

I guess I have a little bit of a background of entrepreneurship in my family, however, my business started by accident. I used to be a teacher, and then I worked in medical education for a while, but at the same time I always loved crafts and making things to put up around my home. I started out making decorative wreaths for friends and it just grew from there. When my daughter was at PVHS, she was on the dance team, so I started making stuff for them, different dance costumes or shirts and other things. I started out small, selling at local markets and little pop-up events, and then it grew into doing a lot of the spirit wear for local schools and charities and things like that.

You began by selling your merchandise locally but recently transitioned into a storefront, right?

I began the business in 2014. In my first storefront, I shared the space with another business. I was there for about one year. I've been here, in my current storefront, for about two years. Before that, like I mentioned, I was selling online or doing pop-ups. I still do a lot of spirit wear parties for the local teams, where parents come and mingle and can purchase specialized shirts that are custom for their kid and their sport.

How has the experience been different for you being in your own storefront?

It's been great. I love to be face-to-face with customers. I love to meet new people. When you think of Ponte Vedra, there's a lot of people, but it seems like everyone knows everyone and it's nice to know people. I've also loved it because my kids are out of PVHS now and I like being able to stay linked to the schools, because I love that. It's one of my favorite things, all the sports and community events.

Do you hand make everything yourself or do you have a team that helps you?

I do make things, but I also have a team that helps me. We do a lot of our printing in-house. We do embroidery and we also have a whole line of gifts and gift baskets that we make. I worked in a gift basket store when I was in high school and college, and I've always loved it, too. So, I decided to sell those as well as all of the custom apparel.

I understand you work with charities, too. What kind of charities have you worked with?

I sometimes do fundraisers for different sports teams in the area, but I've also worked with charities like the Trenton Stewart Foundation and NOC'n Out Breast Cancer from Nocatee. They always do little fundraisers at my shop where I'll donate a portion back to their foundation, and then we also do all of their shirts. Other times we'll just do a give back night, where we open for business and whatever people buy, we donate a portion back to local organizations.

What’s your favorite part about what you do?

I love the creative outlet of it all. No day is ever the same. I love the events that we do, too. I enjoy seeing all the different people and I also enjoy actually making the shirts, designing different things for different people, and bringing their vision to life. I really do love it every single day. There's rarely a day where I go home unhappy. It's nice to have a job that you actually love. Of course, it's still hard work and there can be a lot of hours and stress, but for the most part, it’s a happy place to be.