Five Questions with Carrie Arrouet, owner of Lela Boutique in Milwaukee’s Third Ward

Carrie Arrouet is a Milwaukee entrepreneur, community builder, and retail leader best known as the owner of Lela, the acclaimed women’s fashion boutique located in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. After a successful career in nonprofit leadership, including serving as director of Junior Achievement of Wisconsin, Arrouet co-founded Lela in 2003 with business partner Stephanie Sherman.

The boutique was created from their shared passion for fashion, entrepreneurship, and customer service, combining designer consignment, contemporary apparel, and a highly personalized shopping experience. Over the years, Arrouet has become recognized not only for her business acumen but also for her role in helping establish the Third Ward as one of Milwaukee’s premier shopping and cultural destinations. 

Since becoming sole owner in 2012, Arrouet has continued to grow Lela while championing neighborhood revitalization and small-business development. She has often described her mission as being about more than selling clothing, emphasizing that her real goal was to help build a vibrant urban community.

Q: Growing up, what got you into fashion, and what made you want to open your boutique?

Arrouet: “I always liked shopping, but fashion was never on my radar as something that I would do when I grew up. I grew up in a family that really believed in hard work. We all had a job to do in our family, and it wasn't really, ‘do you want to do that?’ It was just, ‘you do that.’ That's what helped make our family work. As I grew up, I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. That was really important to me. I really didn't want to work for someone else. So, I said to myself, ‘How do you want to spend your time?’”

“Through my travels, I got to see a lot of different cities in the U.S., and places that I really liked visiting the most were places that felt comfortable, inviting, and welcoming. And Lela really is a product of that. When I moved to Milwaukee in 1995, I had a budget of less than a hundred dollars a month to spend on clothes. And there wasn't a place to shop for that other than Goodwill, which was great. But I thought women deserve to feel special even if they can't spend a lot of money. That was really the impetus for wanting to open a place where people can feel welcome, comfortable, and find their happy place without needing to have a big budget.”

Q: One of the coolest parts of the store is that there's a blend of new clothes, accessories, but also consignment and vintage. How did that become a part of the mix, and why is it important to what Lela is?

Arrouet: “Well, like I said, I didn't know much about fashion, but I knew what I liked. And I didn't even know what a market was when I started Lela. So, in summer 2003, I had parties at people's houses. I would go in, and I would say, ‘Let me see your closet,’ and I would take things. And that's what we sold. For the first three years, it was 80% consignment and 20% new.

“And the new items came from me taking a trip to Chicago and walking around the Merchandise Mart and buying three of one piece and putting them in the store. I can remember back in the early days, there were some doubters. We'd have people come in, and they're like, ‘Well, this isn't going to last very long because they don't have anything to buy.’ 20 years later, we still have things to buy.”

Q: The Third Ward has really transformed over the years, and your store was one of the first to lead that change. What has that experience been like?

Arrouet: “We opened in 2003, and about a year and a half later, the Milwaukee Public Market opened. From a business perspective, I felt a responsibility to be part of the discovery for people. In those early days, we were open every day so that people, no matter when they came to the neighborhood, would have an opportunity to discover us. Whereas now, I feel like I just have a strong responsibility to always be representing Milwaukee in its best light. It has changed.

“I used to think about the craziest things we could do. Like, let's host a lunch with the firemen and have people visit because they want to see the hot firemen. But we would never do that now. Now, if you say you’re open at 10, you had better be open at 10. And if you’re open till eight, you're here till eight. And if somebody shows up at eight o'clock, you're here till nine o'clock with them because that's representing Milwaukee in its best light. The responsibility has shifted a little bit.”

Q: We know what Lela is as a retail store, but how did the name come to be?

Arrouet: “When the store opened, I had a business partner, and it was a combination of our two middle names. Ironically, before opening, we had a lot of conversations about how we wanted the name to be at the beginning of the alphabet, be a short name and make sure people can say it. There was so much research that I did on what our name should be. We landed on our two middle names, Lee and Lorraine. But fast forward to 2012, when I bought my business partner out, I was presented with a picture from my mom, and I learned that I had a great-grandmother whose name is Lela Pearl. So now I say that Lela was named after my great-grandmother.”

Q: As you approach the upcoming 25th anniversary of Lela, what’s next?

Arrouet: “Lela has always been a place to provide happiness, joy, and love to people. I want to make sure that even in times of all the ugliness, Lela can be a place where people feel comfortable to come in, slow down, relax, and be happy. It's fashion; we're not saving lives. We're just having fun. I've actively chosen Lela to only be one store.

“But we have a lot of different businesses going on inside. There's a community business, a consignment business, a vintage business, a new business, and a designer business. There's a lot going on. We're swimming like crazy underneath the water, but we look really happy up above. So, there's no need for us to grow. It is important for us to maintain the integrity of the original vision of Lela, which is to be a place that makes everybody feel happy and loved.”