Miss Bipps is here for the memories: Kendall Yards shop curates nostalgia

When Andrea Lawrence was a child, she would reorganize her room on a weekly basis, making different stores. Sometimes, a boutique selling clothing, or a grocery selling food. Charms – the type that dangle from bracelets – were a favorite product. She cut paper plates into little triangles, tied a charm to them, and gave them a price tag.

In June, after working (and playing) in retail management for most of her life, Lawrence opened Miss Bipps in Kendall Yards, a maximalist shop with a bubblegum pink storefront with faux grass, an inside stocked with carefully chosen items meant to evoke whimsy, playfulness and nostalgia, and many handmade crafts, including bath salts, pom poms, a flamingo flowers centerpiece and so much more.

“Because I’m a curator and I want things to be perfect, but there’s also part of me, whatever I do, it looks like a kindergartner teacher was involved and I cannot make that go away for the life of me, and instead of hiring a designer to fix my aesthetic, just going with it,” Lawrence said of her design style.

Her store’s installations are meant to invoke nostalgia, a type she can explain with memories of her own: “I can remember my mom’s tube socks with stripes on them and her tank top that had like the tears with the beads on the bottom and her little jean shorts. I remember listening to Van Halen growing up and Lionel Richie and going to my grandparents. So, whatever has that kind of stickiness to it as far as a trend. That nostalgic moment that you can capture.”

Lawrence was born in Spokane but moved to Seattle when she was 9. She attended the University of Washington, then moved to San Diego, back to Seattle, to New Zealand and back to Seattle. Lawrence and her husband were selling their home on Capitol Hill while living on a friend’s houseboat, unsure where they wanted to live next. While her husband was zooming in and out of Google Maps, he saw a house on the South Hill, which he pointed out to Lawrence. Back to Spokane they went.

Miss Bipps has been a pretend store brewing in Lawrence’s mind for a decade. She had a few false starts along the way. Lawrence tried to have an online-only shop, but only kept it for three weeks. She tried to have a brick and mortar out of her own living room during Christmas time. She also tried an arts and crafts blog.

“The dream was so half-baked in a digital experience,” Lawrence said. “And in my house or in my garage or in another shop or at a craft fair. I remember I signed up for Farm Chicks one year and I’m like, ‘I’m going to totally commit to this,’ and my vision was so big. I couldn’t fit it into my car.”

Lawrence needed a storefront big enough to fit her dreams.

“I had my front door to my pretend shop and my logos for my pretend shop. I just hoped that one day it was going be real,” Lawrence said.

Finally, her dream was realized with her storefront at 707 N. Cedar St., but only a few years ago, accomplishing this wouldn’t have been possible.

Though she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and PTSD in her late teens, the cognitive therapy treating her condition wasn’t effective. During manic episodes, she often crafted, but during her bouts of depression, working became difficult if not impossible. Her depression became so disruptive that she had been on the brink of applying for disability when the pandemic hit.

“But I’m so young that I just held off on it because I just wanted to keep trying,” Lawrence said. “During COVID, it was the time for me when I realized that I had untreated bipolar disorder because I’ve been working full time in management all these years. I finally had time to figure that out.”

Once on medication, Lawrence stabilized. She went back to work in retail management for one year and raised enough money to pay for a year of leasing her space for Miss Bipps.

“This is the year of experimenting, and I don’t know what’s going to happen after this year, but we’re going for it,” Lawrence said. “It’s just been like a dream come true.”

Lawrence found the space because her sister had an energy healing space called MaddaighVala Mystery and Magica. The store name was borrowed from her sister, as well. When her sister was little, she added her first name, last name and “Miss Bipps” to everyone’s name.

“And Miss Bipps might have been a doll, it might have been a mispronunciation,” Lawrence said. “We can’t remember where it came from, but the Miss Bipps stuck.”

One of Lawrence’s first customers, Rechelle Hintze, entered the shop, giving Lawrence a hug. They’ve become buddies. Hintze was walking around Kendall Yards and saw Miss Bipps’ signs.

“When you first, like, come down the stairs in the door, everything is very vibrant and decorative,” Hintze said. “It has cute little things and decorations and it’s just very inviting. When you get in here it smells good and she always has a smile on her face and she just seems so excited about what she’s doing, and you can tell because it’s just so darling in here.”

Every time Hintze visits, the store is arranged differently. Hintze has purchased an old red clock as well as Lawrence’s handmade bath salts. Hintze also mentioned that Lawrence always has a nostalgic treat for the customers. Lately, it’s been candy bananas and Chiclets, and when customers buy something, they receive a resin duck.

The store brings Hintze back to her childhood, particularly memories with her grandma.

“I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I forgot about that,’ and it’s just very nostalgic. I love it,” Hintze said.

Lawrence’s newest challenge has been deciding the fate for one of the rooms in the shop. Originally, she was going to turn it into a place for craft lessons – something still available if enough people express an interest – but recently has decided to make it available to the public on Sundays to showcase their collections or shops – the person only needs to prebook with Lawrence to make sure it’s available.

The first pop-up will be with Wishing Fish Vintage on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“People who come in are creative or they’re collectors or they know someone creative,” Lawrence said. “There’s a reason that they’re drawn to a hot pink logo and they’re hanging out in this kind of circus environment of color and texture. So, what I’ve just started offering is if anybody wants to share their collection, share their creation, host a workshop, just come in and hang out with friends … they can do it for free right now on Sundays.”

Next on Lawrence’s agenda is gathering the courage to have a store policy where she feels comfortable closing when she’s not feeling well.

“If I have cramps, or if I’m feeling manic, I want to create an environment where it’s safe to have a store hours sign and then have a ‘what’s happening’ like closed today due to mental health or due to physical illness,” Lawrence said. “Just as long as I update it on my website and Google Maps when that’s happening.”