By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

HOOVER – Chelsea resident Anna Lawley knew the ropes of running a boutique long before she purchased a storefront in The Village at Lee Branch shopping center.

Lawley, 26, operated an online women’s apparel business for two years before she opened her brick-and-mortar shop, Annabelle’s Southern Boutique, in May.

“I like to talk to people when they come in,” Lawley said, adding that working with her mother in a boutique again also factored into her decision to open a shop. “It just kind of feels like home.”

Years ago, Lawley helped her mother run a boutique next to her hair salon. Now, Lawley’s mother and sister-in-law are helping her at Annabelle’s.

Along with a wide range of women’s apparel, Annabelle’s offers shoes, hats, headbands, jewelry, candles, soaps and bath lotions.

Lawley said she tries to incorporate clothing styles and trends her customers are interested in and that they request.

“I try to branch out,” she said. “I try to cater to customers and what people want.”

Among her most requested brands are Umgee, Jealous Tomato and By Together, she said.

Tassel jewelry is currently selling well, too.

Lawley’s roughly 1,200-square-foot shop features design and décor elements her family helped with, including a multi-colored floor her brother painted and a back wall lined with stained wood.

“We’re just really proud of her,” Lawley’s mother, Susie, said. “She started this her senior year of college. I am just really proud that she’s following her dreams.”

Located off U.S. 280 at 601 Doug Baker Blvd., Annabelle’s Southern Boutique is open Monday-Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Lawley said she has enjoyed running her boutique in Lee Branch, a growing retail area she said she frequents herself.

“I shop around here all the time,” Lawley said. “I’m always in Lee Branch. I like Lee Branch a lot.”