Clothing shop HIVE Clovis finds a home in Old Town

A little clothing shop in Old Town Clovis is more than just a store. It’s the fulfillment of a life-long dream for the owner.

HIVE Clovis opened last fall at 634 Pollasky Ave. selling women’s clothing and accessories. The shop is at the southern end of Old Town, across the street from the newly remodeled Centennial Plaza.

“This has been my dream forever, to have a place like this” says owner Melissa Pap.

The store is stocked with flowy tops, crochet vests and other bohemian styles designed to fit a variety of body sizes – including plus sizes.

“I try to make it wearable for the average person,” she says.

The clothes are trendy, but not skin baring. Shorts have longer inseams than you’d find at other stores, for example. HIVE Clovis carries sizes up to a 3X.

Though teens might well find something they like here, the majority of customers range from age 25 on up to women in their 70s, Pap says.

It also sells bracelets and earrings, including big earrings that are unusually light for their size because they’re made from leather. A variety of lotions and skin creams are for sale too, along with candles in metal tins with matches that are stored in their lids.

Art on the walls by local artist Lynni Nelson is also for sale.

Pap draws on her past experience to stock the store. She has spent much of her adult life in the retail world – working at a mall shop in college and later in Gottschalks buying office, dealing in everything from dresses to pillows.

She still has a day job in sales at a tile distributor. Her mother, Janice Jung, works at the store during the day. The store is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and during major Old Town Clovis events.

The store was previously a salon and before that a hardwood flooring store – the shop still has a wood floor inlaid with intricate details.

Although opening a boutique had always been a dream, Pap says it was more of a “Oh, it’d be fun, but it will never happen” type of dream.

When the salon that used to be in the building left, a friend of Pap’s who worked nearby encouraged her to open a boutique there.

“I laughed it off,” Pap says, but after encouragement from her husband, Pap started to take the idea seriously – and now it’s a reality.

“This isn’t my job,” she says. “This is my passion.”

This story was originally published April 2, 2016 at 3:00 AM with the headline "Clothing shop HIVE Clovis finds a home in Old Town."