Twin sisters Danielle Stratuliak (Hunniford) and Christi Hunniford are the first to tell you how much they love Langley.
The 33-year-olds have lived in Willoughby almost their entire lives and are now both raising their own families there.
But while growing up in the urban-rural community in the early 2000s, the sisters noticed something missing.
“There was no ‘cool’ shopping in Langley,” Hunniford said.
“Ever since I was a kid I would always be driving by and looking for something.
“Then I worked in the industry in a few shops in the mall and realized that there was nothing that had a niche or was original.”
Seeing this gaping hole in the local market, the teenage sisters dreamed up an idea to start their own clothing store.
After graduating from R.E. Mountain Secondary, they took some business courses at the University of the Fraser Valley and decided it was time to make it happen.
At age 21, they opened Hunni’s Urban Boutique in Brookswood. Then branded as a surf shop, the young entrepreneurs quickly learned the do’s and dont’s of running a small business.
“It was a great start up location,” Hunniford said.
“It taught us how to run a business and how to run the ropes. Any business you’re not busy off the get-go. Especially back then when there was really no social media and no way to get your name out there. The first two to three years is always more difficult but you just learn to push yourself through and really believe in yourself.”
After two years they moved to a new, busier location at 86 Avenue and 200 Street in Walnut Grove.
Their business was picking up, but it wasn’t until they tried out the new tool of social media that it skyrocketed.
In late 2011, they started hosting share contests on Facebook and were shocked with the results.
One of their very first posts had a quarter million views.
“Social media is amazing,” Stratuliak said.
“Right off the get-go we were getting people coming in saying, ‘oh I saw this on Facebook.’ Our share contest was the very first thing that we noticed worked really well to get a buzz going on about the shop.”
Today, the Hunni’s social media following has reached 44,000 with thousands more viewing the shop through shared posts.
They have more than 33,400 ‘likes’ on Facebook, more than 8,600 followers on Instagram (see photos at left and below), more than 1,400 followers on Pinterest and more than 560 followers on Twitter.
For their online success, the sisters thank their store managers and the rest of their staff who run the day-to-day social media posts.
“We’re such a visual market,” Hunniford said.
“The more effort you put into merchandising is what is going to catch people’s eyes. And the girls do a really good job of that. Half the time I’m blown away by it. You see a piece merchandised well and you’re like, ‘oh my god I want that 10 times more now.’”
They have also shifted their client base from surf clothing to women’s fashions.
“Women have shopping problems,” Stratuliak said.
“Women like to change their trends every season, that’s what keeps us going. We love to keep that girl looking fashionable and up-to-date every season.
“It’s pretty fun. It’s work trying to figure out what the next new trend is. We really have to listen to what our customer wants. With social media it’s great to see feedback of what pieces are doing well and what we need to reorder.”
Most importantly though, the sisters have kept to their goal of being original.
They carry many local designers and hard-to-find pieces that aren’t featured in mainstream shopping malls.
“We try to bring in unique pieces from everywhere,” Hunniford said.
“I go to a mall about once a year and I’m always like ‘wow.’ Just the uniqueness of what we carry, you’re not going to find it anywhere else.”
Some of the highlights include wooden jewelry from Richard Thomson of Moonshine Dreams in Cloverdale, Sasha Eilleanna Jewelry by Sasha Pellow of Squamish, headbands from IWEARTHEHEADRESS by Sarah ShaBacon in Maple Ridge and original art prints by Kim Leffers from Twigs & Pine.
“We’re local, we’re a small shop run by two local girls and I find that’s what people are looking for,” Stratuliak said.
“They are trying to find that unique shop that is more local driven. We do try to source out really different things.”
Hunni’s Urban Boutique is located at 8590 200 St. For more, visit their website www.shophunnis.com or find them on social media.