Hastings sisters cut ribbon on larger storefront for boutique

HASTINGS, Neb. — Two sisters' entrepreneurial dream is continuing to grow in downtown Hastings.

Rolling Peach Boutique hosted a ribbon cutting for its new storefront Thursday morning, which is just a few doors down from its previous location. The business is owned by Erica Bartels and Kim McKinney. The sisters started it in 2020 out of McKinney's house, then started selling out of a mobile bus, then rented a store downtown... and have now graduated to owning their own space.

Bartels says it's been a whirlwind three years.

“It’s been crazy, it’s been busy, it’s been a learning curve, it’s been fun, it’s been exciting, it’s been a lot of hard work,” Bartels said.

But what’s it like to do it all with your sister?

“It’s good. We balance each other out really, really well," Bartels said. "We’re both very different so I think we balance each other really well.”

“We’re both yin and yang. She’s the very, ‘yeah whatever,’ and I’m the very type A personality," McKinney said. "It’s wonderful getting to work with her. We just get along so well.”

It’s great now, but could McKinney have imagined working with her younger sister when they were growing up in Hastings?

“I would have said no way," McKinney said. "There’s no way we would have done that. Looking back, it’s perfect. It fits us perfectly.”

While the siblings have leaned on each other to grow their business, they’re quick to give thanks to the Hastings community.

“They’ve shown up since day one," Bartels said. "They were really supportive with us online. Then, we had a storefront we rented and they showed up there for all of our fun events. We were able to purchase a building because of the community.”

The bigger space is allowing Rolling Peach to expand its inventory. The boutique is now offering women’s plus sizes and kids clothes.