Online shopping has become very popular in the past few years due to the easy access and many options available. Ally Callanan, a learning coach at Xavier High School, loves to shop and on January 26, 2022 she started her own online business called The 319. The 319 sells women’s apparel such as activewear, graphic tees, sweaters, pants, outerwear and tops, as well as accessories like hats, bags and a few kids items. Callanan’s idea to start a boutique originated right before the start of COVID. However, once the coronavirus quickly spread and lockdown was enforced, she put the idea on hold. “I had a Facebook page started, and my friend and I had a cart going from places to buy things from, but decided to wait. Finally, I just decided in January, ‘I’m doing this!’ And I made my Facebook group live, and decided to just give it a shot! It’s been super fun,” Callanan said. Callanan wanted to start The 319 not only because of her own love of shopping but because she wanted to try something new with clothing. “I love to shop, and feel like options for moms who still want to be “cool” are limited. While I love chain stores like The Buckle, Loft, etc., I wanted to try and broaden my horizons with clothing. I also wanted to bring something a little different to Cedar Rapids, and have some fun myself,” Callanan said. Being able to shop for things outside of her comfort zone and try new things, while also shopping for others is what Callanan loves most about her business. Apart from running The 319 she also works at Xavier High School, focusing on the boutique during the evenings and weekends and Xavier during the day. Callanan will take photos for her boutique at night and then schedule posts to publish within the next day or two on Facebook. “That has worked really well so far, so until summer hits, that’s what I’ll continue to do,” Callanan said. Her main goal for her business is to just have fun with it. Callanan is trying to keep it simple by basing it out of her house and not having a ton of inventory on hand at a time. Callanan has said that the boutique has been doing well so far and she believes it will continue to do so. While the business is more work than Callanan thought it would be, she really enjoys it and is having fun trying new things. “There’s a lot of small pieces, that are actually big pieces, that I didn’t really think about,” Callanan said. To shop The 319 Online Boutique you can check out the shop’s facebook page, Facebook. com/shopthe319 or access its website, shopthe319.com.