In May of 1984 22-year old Carly Seirer (later Errebo) made a life changing decision. With her father’s help, she borrowed $10,000 from Saline Valley Bank to open her own clothing store.
For the next few months, she worked hard at making the store, which was on the west side of Anderson’s Dept. Store, the place she wanted to be. They built shelves, rearranged display fixtures and dolled up the space to make it uniquely her own.
“I could have had either side, but I wanted this one because of the basement,” she said in an earlier interview with the Sentinel.
Women in the workforce in other than domestic type jobs, was a rarity before WWII. Between 1950 and 1984, the number of women in the workforce rose dramatically. When Errebo opened her business, business owners were typically male. At least one wager was made among local business owners as to how long her business would last.
Now, 40 years later, she has won.
The store, its business model and her exuberant attitude have not changed a lot since then. Improvements to the building have been ongoing with new lighting, new HVAC and constantly changing displays. She has moved from hand-written records to a sophisticated computer system for maintaining inventory, customer lists, etc. Her business has expanded from local to regional and internationally on-line. The biggest change might be in the actual merchandise itself, always changing with current trends.
Seirer’s Clothing opened with an array of day dresses or house dresses. She carried a line of Lorraine lingerie which was a prominent brand at the time. The major disadvantage was that it took two years for her to be able to procure the latest trends for her store. Even now, some popular brands refuse to sell their goods to smaller stores in a smaller market. That includes Nike and Addidas. She was at one time able to find a workaround to that problem with Levi’s. When she ordered over the phone, they mistakenly confused Seirer’s with Sears, and happily sold her their products. The use of internet technology changed the time lapse so that Midwesterners and small towns are able to offer trends as current as bigger cities.
In the beginning. her merchandise came from trips to the Kansas City fashion market. She went four times each year and later pared that down to two longer trips each year. She moved into the Dallas market in 2010. Her parents accompanied her to the Kansas City market. Now, her daughter Shelby accompanies her to Dallas.
Fashion trends and economics are not the only factors affecting business volume. Naturally, her leanest year was 2020 due to COVID. She maintained her business better than some, however, as she offered call ahead curb-side delivery, and expanded her internet presence. Surprisingly, election years always affect business volume as voters tend to tighten their belts in anticipation of future economies.
Among the things that haven’t changed since 1984, Errebo has always had a parttime employee. Ardis Jensen was her first. She has also offered tuxedos for proms, weddings, etc. Through the years, Seirer’s Clothing has been the first job for several high school students, and the perfect parttime position for stay-at-home parents and students.
Style trends, along with general merchandise trends, have changed not just only in fashion but throughout the store. In 1984 she carried linens including sheets, towels, bedding and personal toiletries that included shampoo. Now the trends point toward more athleisure wear for both men and women. Men’s wear is becoming more fashionable with the same brands offering styles for both men and women. Men are also wearing more stylish jeans than they once did. The older styles are no longer popular with the local men.
While she is busy with her store, giving back to the community that has supported her for so long is important to her. She has been on the board at the Lincoln Area Chamber of Commerce many times over the last several years and president of that board more than once. She has been an active member of the Lincoln Center Improvement Committee (formerly PRIDE) since 2014, and a member of the Post Rock Festival committee since 2012. She was part of the movement to remove dilapidated homes in Lincoln, physically tearing apart these unkempt homes and helping to move them to the landfill. She is obviously not afraid of challenging work.
“Participation is good for business,” she said, “but it’s also personally gratifying.”
Today, Errebo’s youngest daughter, Shelby has joined her in business as marketing director working primarily with social media and the website www.seirersclothing. com, as well as her community involvement. Shelby and her older sister, Shayla, have been active in the business since they were very young, helping with promotions and special events. Shayla has become a lab technician but still helps when needed. Shelby, who had moved to Wichita, moved back to Lincoln in 2022. She can now be found at the store most days, and always during special events. You’ll also see her in the Facebook Live and Tik-Tok videos she produces for the store.
Isabel Rojas has been with the store for six years. While continuing her education at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Isabel comes back to Seirer’s to help during her breaks. She said her favorite part of her job is having the opportunity to talk with different people in the community with whom she wouldn’t have otherwise crossed paths. Shelby enjoys fashion and customer service. She enjoys helping people and the challenge of helping them look their best.
“It’s fun to see things at market that we know a specific customer would like, or would flatter,” she said.
Errebo is not only happy to have outlasted her expectations and evolved into a trendy boutique with merchandise selected especially for local shoppers, but she also genuinely enjoys her work.
“I love what I do,” she said. “The minute I don’t, I’m done.” We hope she loves it for a long time.
