By: Leanne Cobb
Turning your Friday night hobby into a full time career would be a dream for most, but Stephanie Moorhead turned it into a dream come true. Growing up going to TJ Maxx with her grandmother on Friday nights inspired Moorehead’s love of fashion and her dream of owning her own clothing boutique. After graduating from Clemson with a Marketing degree in 2013, she met a girl from California who owned a store on a bus. A relatively unheard of concept for Anderson at the time, Moorhead decided that her dream was worth the risk. In April 2014 she found a bus for sale in Charlotte and bought it. “My dad cried the day I bought the bus because he thought it was a big waste of money,” Moorhead recalls.
After giving the bus some TLC, quitting her full-time corporate job, going to market to buy inventory, and launching a website in May 2014, the Swaggin Wagon was ready to roll to its first event in July of the same year. For the next 6 years, the Swaggin Wagon went anywhere and everywhere it was requested, selling its inventory of clothes, jewelry, and accessories. It went to the beach 4 times a year to festivals and salons and was out and about in Anderson 6 days a week. “I went to Pizza Buffet regularly, Kenneth Rhodes Nationwide Insurance office, dentist offices, salons, anywhere and everywhere. It was all solely through word of mouth. I never reached out to anyone on my own,” Moorhead says.
During these 6 years, life happened as it usually does. In January 2018 Moorhead found out she was pregnant with her daughter. “Knowing that I was going to have a child made me think that I couldn’t travel around on a bus forever. I needed something more stable, so I decided to buy a storefront.”
While out with the Swaggin Wagon one day in early 2018, Moorhead asked the owner of the building next door to her post if he was willing to sell the building. It wasn’t for sale at the time, but by April 2018, Moorehead was the owner of the building that would become home to Smoore Designs. After some remodeling, the storefront opened on August 11, 2018, and Moorhead’s daughter was born on August 29.
The Swaggin Wagon continued to operate in addition to Smoore Designs and in 2020 Moorhead decided to upgrade the Swaggin Wagon with a newer, bigger bus—just in time for COVID to hit. With business coming to a halt and the complexity of splitting inventory between the bus and the storefront, Moorhead sold the new bus without ever having used it.
Today, Smoore Designs, located at 2710 N Main St. in Anderson, operates as a storefront, along with the website. In addition to the boutique there are 6 hairstylists, a spray tan artist, and a children’s boutique. Moorhead also sells newly fashionable, permanent jewelry. “I was the first person in SC to have the permanent jewelry machine in my boutique, and I have people who want it daily.”
Moorhead describes the fashion at Smoore Designs as everyday wear that is also a statement piece or “everyday wear with a flair.” Carrying brands such as Entro, Kori, POL, 143 Story, and Mono B, the boutique is trendy and affordable, with everything under $60. The shopping experience as Smoore Designs is unique because it is very personalized to fit the customer’s needs and if a customer cannot find what they need in the store, Moorhead will find it and get it to the customer. “I love owning my boutique and salon because every day is different. It can be chaos, but it is always good and fashion is always changing.”
As for the future, Moorhead wants the boutique to grow, but she is content to keep Smoore Designs in its current location because it has become her second home. She is truly living her dream and enjoying the surprises and risks that come with it. So the next time you are in TJ Max on a Friday night, remember that a purse or a dress is not the only thing you can find. You also might find your dream.
For more information contact Smoore Designs at stephanie@shopsmoore.com or by phone at (864) 844-9384. Follow on Instagram at shopsmoore and on Facebook at Smoore Designs