Woman-owned business opens with a mission of style, sustainability

By Maddie Scott
Louisiana State University

A new woman-owned business on Government Street has hot pink floors, an eclectic assortment of vintage clothes, and a mission for a cleaner planet.

Good Choices Co. is open every Saturday through February for its “grand soft opening” and will expand to Thursday through Sunday starting in March, said its 27-year-old owner, Haley Miller.

The increase will help Miller adjust to the new experience of owning a store, she said. The business is at 3115 Government St., between Radio Bar and Elsie’s Plate and Pie. Out front, the store’s pink, hand-painted sign says “Good Choices Co.” in big letters, except the period in “Co.” is a little heart.

Miller is still feeling the excitement of her Feb. 8 opening, which began at 10 a.m.

“I was terrified,” Miller said. “It’s just vulnerable opening something like this and putting all this energy and time into it and hoping people show up. But then, like 10:03, it was packed.”

Shoes from cowgirl boots to zebra-print stilettos line the front windowsill. Inside, a wall of hats and purses may catch your eye from the right, and a sparkly Kim Mulkey-esque jacket may steal your sight from the left. The long racks of clothing resemble the beams of a rainbow.

Some highlights: a Mardi Gras bead-encrusted cardigan, a floral embroidered denim vest, and an array of corporate-chic blazers.

Honorable mentions of interior decoration include a confetti-filled gumball machine and still more confetti on the floor (impossible to sweep up with a broom, Miller said). A handmade candle inside a Campbell’s tomato soup can sits next to the register.

Before renting the brick-and-mortar space, the Belmont, Texas, native graduated from Louisiana State University in 2019 and began a pop-up shop a year later, marking the beginning of her thrift business journey. Miller called her pop-up shop 225 Thrift and said it helped her build skills to open the new store.

“RIP,” she said of the pop-up. “My friends say 225 Thrift walked so Good Choices Co. could run.”

The store’s Instagram page, @goodchoicesco_, has garnered over 2,400 followers with 775 posts, which Miller credits for community building. She also uses Instagram to sell items with nationwide shipping.

Buyers find choosing secondhand items through Instagram quicker and more convenient than buying from a website, she said.

Miller has met many other pop-up owners at Local Pop-Up, a market of vendors and pop-up shops that gathers on the last Saturday of every month at Electric Depot. This community provides an opportunity for many small businesses, like Miller’s, to get their start.

“Women-owned businesses and so many makers go to those pop-ups,” Miller said. “We're out here trying to add flavor, add excitement to Baton Rouge.”

Every week, Miller introduces 50 to 100 new pieces to the store’s inventory, so she spends her days digging through thrift stores to find the perfect bursts of color. Whenever she’s traveling, she leaves her suitcase a third empty so she can fill it up with thrift finds from the area. And if she’s traveling with her car, all bets are off, Miller said.

“I'm constantly shopping,” Miller said. “I'm looking for quality vintage finds to keep the store fresh and new, so that if you came in every single week, you could find something new.”

Aside from her thrift finds, Miller’s shop features products from seven local vendors, including two pop-up business owners specializing in men’s clothing. Another vendor features clothing with a modern-day boutique feel, a slight deviation from Miller’s vintage curation, to add variety for a broader clientele.

The two tiers of Good Choices Co. are style and sustainability, Miller said. Today, brands produce so much clothing only to end up in wastelands, she said.

“If we can make small, good choices,” Miller said, “then we can help break that process.”

This story was reported and written by a student with the support of the non-profit Louisiana Collegiate News Collaborative, an LSU-led coalition of eight universities funded by the Henry Luce and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur foundations.