Tim Harty, The Business Times

The feeling was familiar, comforting and satisfying for Emily Kempton when she opened The Barn Boutique’s doors to customers in September at 210 E. Aspen Ave. in Fruita.

As it should. She and her women’s clothing store had been there before.

The Barn Boutique resided for a year in that commercial space until the lure of Grand Junction’s downtown pulled Kempton and her store away. Kempton’s thinking was rational for making the move, opening the store in August 2023 at 441 Colorado Ave. in Grand Junction, but the results were disappointing.

So, when Kempton’s former landlord at the Fruita location, Jeremiah Windscheffel, told her the 1,800-square-foot space is available if she’s interested, she had a quick and definitive response: The Barn Boutique is moving back to Fruita.

“The first day back felt like it was so good to be home,” Kempton said. “Almost every day since I’ve been back, I hear from our customers they’re so glad we came back.”

Rather than view the time in Grand Junction with regret, Kempton sees it as a learning experience. Just like her first year in Fruita was a learning experience. Just like being a businesswoman at all has been a learning experience.

Kempton graduated college with a degree in communications and thoughts of being a journalist. But she and husband Chris Kempton had three kids, and Chris was frequently away from home, working in the oil fields.

“I learned journalism and being a present parent would be very difficult,” she said.

That led to Emily working from home, doing direct sales for women’s clothing company LuLaRoe for six years.

“As my customer base grew, so did my goals,” Kempton said. “It became more difficult to serve my customers out of my home, and I knew it was time to make the leap to a real store front.”

She opened The Barn Boutique in Fruita in August 2022. Then began her real business education.

“My first year at my Fruita location was a year of learning,” Kempton said. “We did well, but winter was tougher than I thought it would be. The majority of my customer base was located in Grand Junction, so I assumed moving to downtown GJ would be a better way to serve my customers.

“Boy was I wrong! I spent a year barely scraping by in downtown GJ. I found it harder to network or find a pulse on the community, my customers struggled with parking and access to get downtown, and it just wasn’t a good fit.”

Rent per square foot was lower in Grand Junction than Fruita, but everything else seemed to defy the logic that led her there. Kempton welcomed a return to Fruita, and she said Fruita has welcomed back The Barn Boutique.

“Fruita is so unique in its pride and sense of community,” she said. “The chamber (of commerce) in Fruita as well as other businesses in the area are very welcoming and collaborative. And, it’s such a fun downtown to walk around and spend a day. Most of my customers actually prefer to come to downtown Fruita for how easy it is to access.”

Kempton said her monthly revenues are up 35 percent in the three months she has been back at 210 E. Aspen Ave.

“I call last year my year of learning about how to dig deep and really understand my numbers, my customer base, and the importance of location,” she said. “Now I feel with two years of business under my belt, and to be back ‘home’ in Fruita, I am excited to stay put and really grow and serve all the women who walk through my door.”