TROY>> On Earth Day (Wednesday, April 22) at 1 PM, local boutique owner Pamela Skaarup will unveil the re-branding of her downtown Troy shop with a name change and an in-store celebration.

 

Formerly known as Swinehundt Gallery at 182 River St., Skaarup will celebrate a name change to One Kind Boutique, which she said better suits how her shop has evolved since its opening in November of 2012.

 

“Swinehundt means ‘pig dog’ in German,” said Skaarup of the old name. “It’s a swear word that my husband’s grandmother yelled at the dogs when they were bad. I liked the sound of it, it was very powerful.” That was in 2012, when after raising three children, Skaarup decided it was time to begin focusing on herself and her art. Swinehundt Gallery was an arts consignment shop filled with Skaarup’s own hand-dyed silk scarves and the products of other local artisans.

 

“Now when I look around the shop I realized it looks like me,” she said. “It has evolved into an upcycled, part-vintage, repurposed, art and second-hand clothing shop.” Skaarup added that all of the products she was selecting as inventory started to all carry a common theme—individual but also eco-friendly. 

 

“One Kind Boutique was born,” she said. “It was an evolution so to speak. One of a kind, and kind to the earth.”

 

The self-professed “old hippie” said that her customer is “mostly woman ages 18 to 35, people that love great prices, and people that enjoy handmade, unique things but also believe in using the resources we have.” Skaarup has also added workshops to One Kind Boutique’s offerings, which teach people how to reuse materials at hand to create new items.

 

During Wednesday’s celebration guests will have the chance to take home plants they seed themselves and enter to win a gift basket of goodies from the shop. She hopes to meet new customers and said that her current customers love the changes. 

 

“I think the world is realizing us old hippies were right when it comes to taking care of what we have and being eco-friendly,” she said. “I hope it's more than a trend because this is about community and kindness.”