About Us!

#ucbwi

 Welcome to Urban Chic Boutique.

My journey starts waaaayyyy back!  But it all comes together.  Just hang in there!

I gotta say I was one of those girls with no destination.  I just couldn’t grasp that really I could be anything that I decided to be.  As I got into my early twenties that feeling was constant.  I worked but something was missing.

I loved the idea of traveling.  My family would travel by car to places.  But get into an actual airplane?  I dreamed of beaches and sunshine. 

So married at 20, 3 months later, I moved to Minneapolis for travel school.  Did I tell you I was a small town girl? That driving on a 4 lane gave me anxiety?  There was no such thing as cell phone, (yes I am THAT old). The fear of getting lost was REAL.

After travel school, I started working for the airlines.  I loved it, but the hours were killing me especially with children.  Have you ever had to drop your children at a babysitter at 3am in order to get to work? Let alone find a babysitter willing to get up at 3am?

That adventure lead me to being a travel agent and then opening an travel agency with a girlfriend.  This was great fun and a new beginning until we opened our doors and a week later  there were commission cuts by the airline.   And that is how we made our money – if the ticket was $500 we made 10% - or were supposed to…. So what is a girl going to do?  We added in 2 tanning beds.  Great thought travel, sun, need a tan right?

 And from there my next journey began.  I still owned the agency (which I sold a couple years after), and I opened a tanning salon.  Not just any tanning salon…  A Mega salon,  25 beds, no appointments, awesome beds and a great work team!  From there our stores grew to 2 stores, and now 3. 

So how did clothing fit into all of this? Okay, almost there.  For years we got in  Venus swimwear and a few other  great brands.   Then in 2007 the recession hit and Venus made changes ( now on-line only). And my “go to” companies went out of business.   As time went by our local mall started disintegrating slowly.  Stores started leaving, our town dynamic was changing ….  Just one store at a time….  You probably remember.  From JCPenny, to Younkers, Shopko, The Limited, Wet Seal. And we began having less and less choices. 

I continued to find new suppliers for swimwear, and started incorporating spring fashions, then summer styles,  and finally customers started asking me to get in fall merchandise, and boom, all of a sudden by 2016 we were all 4 seasons. 

But something was missing.  See all these great buys were going on inside of my business called The Tanning Studio.  Remember me the sunshine and tanning bed girl?  Yup – it was just weird to say I got these great suede boots,  sweater, leggings and handbag from The Tanning Studio?  So we needed a name  and Urban Chic Boutique was born.

Why Urban Chic Boutique?  My goal was shopping local, but getting that URBAN feel, without leaving town.  Chic meaning stylishly fashionable.  Boom perfect.  Exactly who I wanted to be.

My poor husband who gets sucked into all my great ideas, was talked into remodeling our Wausau store.  Which is our largest store.  The year after, wifey me decided, yup let’s update the Weston store, and lucky Plover, we happened to move the store and Urban Chic Boutique has a cute area to shop. 

No story would be complete without Covid.  Our website up and running that last year was a godsend.  It gave our locals a place to order (and still do) and we either drop at a store for easy pick up or ship.  We now ship all over the US, thanks to friends of friends of friends!

We are so honored and blessed that you all love our style. 

On a side note…. 

I am always excited about growing our company,  and we (lol I) have decided to go on the road!   Beep Beep!  We renovated a toy hauler as a mobile boutique.

Find us at state wide and local events. And (Yes yet again, my husband is now a pro at converting trailers).  

End Notes:

We are proud to have 3  Wisconsin, locations throughout our area. 
Wausau - 226811 Rib Mountain Drive  -  8 Team Members
Weston - 5502 Business Hwy 51   -         7 Team Members
Plover - 1186 Meridian Drive –                 6 Team Members
Rothschild (Corporate Office)  –               3 Team members

We are a tribe - each of our entities is run by some very magnificent people!

Jodi Krenz - CEO & Founder      Jeremy Krenz - COO of the company

Kassie Erickson - Manager of Weston       Kelly Putnam - Assistant Manager

Megan Eastman - Manager of Wausau    Caryssa Balk - Assistant Manager        Michelle Pickard - Assistant Manager of Urban Chic Boutique

Dawn Portzen - Manager of Plover         

Each of these individuals understand the common culture of leading and each are a vital part of who we are. 

Our Mission
Your closet is what ultimately makes you feel beautiful.   We want you to have clothing that not only makes you look amazing, they make you feel amazing. 

Some days we feel playful and trendy, while others may be about family or your professional look at work.  We get it!  And we understand you don’t want to be defined by one look, trend, style or your age. 

Time to look prettier than that last selfie. We want you to feel just as unique, beautiful and amazing as you are!

Urban Chic Boutique offers cute clothes with great prices.  Before you step out, we invite you to step in to Urban Chic Boutique, where it is not only what you wear it’s how you wear it! 

Were excited to provide trendy, stylish designs, in size  small through extended sizes.