Teen entrepreneur enters freshman year at USD running fashion biz

Always focused on her future, a fashionista studying dental hygiene is about to celebrate her clothing boutique’s one-year anniversary.

Chloe Nielsen, a freshman at the University of South Dakota, launched Chlotique.com last October when she was 17. Before her birthday in April, she had a brick-and-mortar shop at 826 Cottage Ave.

Her flair for fashion began showing up when she a little girl. She’d empty her closet and cart her clothes out to the garage, where her friends could come in and shop. Then, she’d stand behind an old cash register, ready to help her customers check out.

“I had a pretty wild imagination,” she said, wearing a trendy fringed, floral kimono.

She’s not pretending anymore.

When she’s not in class, she’ll be at the store.

She was able to get it started, in part, because of her light course load during her last semester of high school. There were days when she only needed to be at school for two hours. That freed her up to build her business.

“I was lucky enough to not have a lot of homework, but social-wise, it definitely took a toll,” she said. “Kids my age don’t usually have their own businesses. Saturday night, they’re going out and having fun, and they’re asking me to go and I’m working the store, trying to get it ready. I was really preoccupied, especially early February until I opened.”

photo: formal dresses australia

Her parents have owned an auto glass business with locations in Vermillion and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for more than 20 years. They knew what kind of time and dedication it would take to run a successful business.

So when Nielsen began talking about opening a boutique, her mom thought it was a phase. She was a teenager after all.

“She would bring it up, and then I wouldn’t hear anything about it for a little bit. Then she’d bring it up again. She was pretty persistent,” her mom said. “She likes to do a lot of different things. She’s kind of a dreamer. So I didn’t take her very seriously at first.”

That changed when Nielsen researched merchandise, sourced wholesale suppliers and received her South Dakota sales tax license. Her parents co-signed a loan from the bank so she could start ordering inventory.

Now, nearly a year in to running the boutique, she bases some of her ordering around what she likes but knows she needs to bring in a variety of styles in a range of price points.

Here’s where her mom and business partner, Tamie Nelson, comes in. The mother-daughter duo agrees on a lot of buying decisions, but there are times when her mom picks out products that Nielsen would overlook.

“That’s the nice part about working together,” her mom said. “I can’t wear what she wears, and she doesn’t want to wear what I wear. That’s not always true but for the most part it is.”

Nielsen’s personal style changes on whim. One day she might be wearing distressed jeans and a button-up flannel shirt and the next she could be sporting a flirty, pastel skirt and trendy top. In her view, unique is cool.

“I wear what I want to wear,” she said.

Even though her future degree dictates she’ll be wearing scrubs during the day, it’s unlikely she’ll lose her sense of style.

see more: yellow bridesmaid dresses