Junior public relations major in COM, Alex Shadrow has started quite the successful project. Her creation, BUtique, is a forum for Boston University (BU) students to buy and sell their clothing and other items online. What started as a Facebook group is now a three-part budding network with a following that grows every day. Although the site is meant for female college students, Shadrow is hoping to one day open the site up for male students as well.
Shadrow explains, “It’s cool because you don’t have to leave campus. You know that you’re getting an item from somebody that you know or that you can see their Facebook, so it’s not scary like Craigslist.”
BUtique brings buyers and sellers together in a way that is simple and convenient. Shadrow states, “The whole point of BUtique is to go and meet somebody and get the clothing from them. You’re not just getting it from the internet shipped to your door, you get to try this on.”
There are three components of BUtique. The BUtique Facebook group is the main site where buying and selling occurs, which is home to over one thousand members. The BUtique Twitter account is another place where buyers and sellers can interact, which has about 130 followers. And then there is the BUtique Facebook page, created this past September, where people can “like” the page and receive updates on the project’s success, special offers, and view the overall information on BUtique.
Since its creation in March of 2012, BUtique has experienced a huge boost of success, specifically this fall.
“As of right now the forum is extremely successful. I had around 800 people join during the first weeks of school,” says Shadrow. “It really picked up in September. As of right now we have 1,000 people in the group and there’s around fifteen to twenty items uploaded every day.”
What is most impressive about BUtique is Shadrow runs the entire project by herself. When asked if she has or wants any help with the project, Shadrow says she likes to do it alone and has a lot of ideas for expanding BUtique.
She comments, “I’m working on creating an actual website with two BU communication professors, but we’re definitely in the beginning stage of that.”
Shadrow tells us she tries things on from BUtique all the time. This is one of the main reasons she created the business.
“I came up with the idea because I was thinking about how I really wanted something like that to exist. Honestly, I made it for myself,” explains Shadrow.
College students always have themed parties and events that require outfit pieces they wouldn’t normally wear again. That is where BUtique comes in handy. A person can buy an item, wear it once, and then sell it on BUtique.
