When people ask her “Why Weedsport?” Erica Vanhorn says, “why not Weedsport”. A Cato graduate who is now a business owner of Live a Little Boutique in downtown Weedsport NY.
The boutique opened in August 2021 but has recently relocated and just opened in their new space on October 7th 2023. The current hours are Thursday and Friday 12-8pm, Saturday 10-5pm Sunday 10-3pm and Wednesday from 12-5pm.
The boutique has everything from shoes to flannels, and new in stock are Christmas ornaments. Currently the boutique’s best selling item are the “Mia black leggings”. A comfortable, cheap, stretchy pair of leggings. The “Judy blue jeans” are also a fan favorite. Mady Kepple, a Weedsport student, said her favorite purchase was the Gabrielle crop tank in the color taupe. Mady said she loves it because it’s cute, comfortable and you can wear it all year round. You can see all these items on Erica’s mobile app called “Live a Little Boutique”. She does live sales and tries on every item while she talks about the price and material of the items. The viewers of the stream are allowed to comment and ask questions live if needed. If someone missed the livestream they can go to the app and view it whenever they want. There are also social media pages on Facebook and Instagram.
Erica said she grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. “I love the idea that you can have this life. Not even a life where you’re rich, that’s not what I’m looking for.” She loves the idea of being able to make her own schedule and working but still having time to live.
The main goal for Live a Little was a place where people could feel welcomed and safe to come and shop. Erica made sure she targeted all age groups, color, shapes, sizes and backgrounds. “Where you come from, I don’t care what you got going on, tell me about it, that’s fine,” said Erica.
Erica came up with the name Live a Little because she thinks that so many people work so hard and don’t get appreciated for it. “The American dream had kinda been lost of just living,” said Erica. She believes people work there 9-5s so often and so much that they work so hard but they don’t do anything for themselves. “Here I wanted my employees to always feel appreciated but I wanted myself to literally be able to live a little,” said Erica.
Many people doubted Erica at the start of her company saying that Weedsport was not a good location for a boutique. Erica said, “Things are up and coming, which is amazing. The location is everything. Being across from the brewery is a plus and the view from the road you can’t miss it…I wanted to be able to do that for Weedsport and Cato and all the surrounding areas like Port Byron and Auburn, because what else do we have?…People always tell me I can’t do well here and I just say ok. Weedsport was a good choice and I don’t regret it at all.”
