New Aspen Boutique owner to open a sister business at Lincoln Heights Village

Long before Allison Baker even knew that buying Aspen Boutique was an option — she took over the popular store this month — she was working to open another business.

This summer, Baker will debut the Vault Collection, a home furnishing and furniture store in Lincoln Heights Village across from Aspen at Douglas and Oliver.

“It’ll be more vintage and estate pieces.”

The other component of the business will be estate jewelry, which will be known as the Vault Collection at Aspen and mainly be sold at Aspen Boutique.

There will be more than 150 pieces in the collection initially.

Baker said the jewelry will be in place in time for Aspen’s traditional Mother’s Day sale, when jewelry is 20% off.

“We’re in the process of getting it incorporated into the store now.”

Former Aspen owners Monica and James Smits let Baker have a trunk show of some of the estate jewelry earlier this year.

She said she noticed when she moved back to Wichita a couple of years ago that there weren’t a lot of options for the estate-type pieces she wants to sell.

“It’s one of my passions,” she said. “I just love the uniqueness and one-of-a-kind nature of estate jewelry.”

With these pieces, Baker said she wants customers to be able to “look, see, feel, touch it.”

“The intention is to make it more accessible than it’s been in Wichita historically.”

Baker has been to market and is adding a lot of new jewelry in general. That includes mid-level fashion jewelry that will be new to the store along with fine jewelry, too.

With that jewelry and the estate pieces, Baker said, “We’re going to have price points to meet everybody’s pocketbook.”

Some of those prices will reflect the value of the fine jewelry that she’ll be selling. However, Baker added, “There are pieces that I think are pretty reasonable.”

The home furnishings and furniture will be in the one-time Susan’s flower shop space where Maxine’s most recently has been. Years ago, Susan’s had added the adjacent storefront to its space, and Maxine’s is now solely in that smaller space, which is just west of where the Vault Collection will be.

Baker said she has four storage lockers full of furniture that she’s purchased from auctions and estate sales.

“We’ve got a number of Art Deco-, mid-century-, Art Nouveau-style home furnishing as well as furniture.”

That includes vintage Stickley, a brand that’s popular at Traditions just down Douglas from Lincoln Heights.

Baker said she hopes interior designers will find fun pieces for clients at the Vault Collection.

Like the jewelry, these prices will “be across the board.”

“The idea is they’re going to be more unique and one-of-a-kind, interesting pieces.”

Baker is removing the store’s temporary walls to expand the area for more floor space.

Baker thinks the Vault Collection will go well with the other businesses at Lincoln Heights, and she said she was delighted to hear her new neighbor Sarah Bagby of Watermark Books & Cafe speak at Rotary this week and mention that Lincoln Heights is the oldest shopping center in Wichita.

“Which I found to be particularly applicable to the Vault Collection,” Baker said. “It’ll be a perfect fit in terms of the aesthetic of the store.”

This story was originally published April 14, 2021 at 2:55 PM.