Westwood boutique ULAH has seen its fair share of ups and downs.
Owners Buck Wimberly and Joey Mendez strived to make ULAH both a retail destination and a community hub. When the boutique began to struggle in recent years, its owners tried multiple times — and through multiple avenues — to save it.
Ultimately, though, the clock ran out this winter. As of Jan. 31, ULAH permanently closed its doors at 4707 Rainbow Blvd.
As its owners prepared to close the brick-and-mortar location in January, they did so while navigating a mix of pride, grief and cautious optimism about what’s coming next.
ULAH had a “rollercoaster” decade
The idea for ULAH initially took shape in the spring of 2016, when Wimberly and Mendez began imagining how they might combine their professional backgrounds into a shared venture. Looking back at that time, Mendez said the pair had quite a “rollercoaster” decade since then.
At the time, Wimberly worked at Kansas City-based Hallmark, and Mendez worked at local department store Halls. ULAH felt, Mendez said, like a way the two of them could eventually maximize their respective professional experiences.
“It was definitely more of a ‘one day, when we’re retired’ kind of dream,” Mendez said.
But as the couple refined the vision, it stopped feeling hypothetical. By April 2016, both had left their full-time jobs and turned their focus to the shop, which opened that October.
“We just started obsessing over it,” Mendez said. “We both saw such a clear vision.”
From its earliest days, ULAH faced the ups and downs common to independent retail.
About a year after opening, its Westwood home at the Woodside Village development underwent a major reconstruction.
The shop was shrouded in scaffolding and plastic, hindering ULAH’s visibility and walk-in traffic. At the time though, Mendez said, their landlord offered them some rent relief, which helped.
Despite the early challenges, ULAH entered 2019 on stronger footing. In 2018, the shop had received a visibility boost from an appearance on the Netflix show “Queer Eye” — a moment Mendez remembers as “such a fun experience” and a clear highlight.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, and ULAH’s subsequent two-month closure during the spring of 2020. During that period, Mendez and Wimberly focused on upgrading their website, adding curbside pickup and local delivery options.
Federal assistance programs, including payroll and disaster relief loans, helped them reopen and retain staff. In that same time, they even opened a women’s boutique next door for a brief stint.
“We had two of our best years after that; ‘21 and ‘22 were steady growth, consistent sales,” Mendez said. “It felt like we were finally getting our stride.”
Slow sales ultimately forced a closure
Ultimately, Mendez said, the momentum didn’t last.
After 2023, sales began to slow. Mendez and Wimberly cut costs where possible, but ultimately turned to their community, launching a candle campaign they hoped would drum up some much-needed revenue.
Mendez said the takeaways from that effort were twofold; ULAH definitely had the support of its loyal customer base, but fundraising could only do so much in a time of urgency.
“It was bittersweet,” he said. “We really needed a fast, big injection to be able to catch up, and it was more of a kind of slow build and didn’t quite reach our goal. But at the same time, people still talked about how much they loved our candles and that they were happy that we were open about it.”
Following the announcement that ULAH would close its physical location, that support took on a more personal form. In its final weeks, customers stopped in to say goodbye, often emotionally.
“(It’s been) a lot of people coming in to say how sad they are, a lot of tears, a lot of ‘What are we gonna do?’” Mendez said in mid-January. “A lot of talk about retail in general and how scary it is.”
Online, ULAH will live on
Throughout the years, ULAH has garnered a dedicated following for its candles and fragrance products. Mendez said ULAH’s “Prairie” scent in particular (with notes of sandalwood, cedar and papyrus) has become an “obsession” and a signature scent for many.
There’s good news for those customers: ULAH will continue selling those products online. Some local businesses, such as Sierra Winter in Kansas City, Missouri, have signed on to continue carrying them as well.
“We’ve always had consistent repeat buyers of those,” Mendez said. “So it only makes sense for us to continue that. But also I feel like this does give us the chance to focus on it.”
As far as the best part of ULAH’s past 10 years, Mendez said the answer is simple: the relationships. Many of his and Wimberly’s close friends today started as customers at the store.
Over time, ULAH evolved into a social and cultural space, hosting concerts and other events. They wanted it to be somewhere that people felt able to fully be themselves, and recently, Mendez said many customers have assured him that he and Wimberly succeeded in that goal.
As the couple packed up the last of the inventory and negotiated final sales on the store’s fixtures, Mendez said, the two of them have carried those sentiments with them.
“We’re going through all the emotions,” Mendez said. “We’re definitely proud of the last nine years. We’re sad to lose the space, but we’re also ready for the next chapter, whatever that is.”
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