From Apprentice to Owner, Marion Woman's Success is in the Bag(s)

After receiving a bachelor's degree in sports management, then a master's in marketing, Katie Ungs didn't feel optimistic about her career direction.

"I took a regular job that I hated," she said. "I told my husband: All I want to do is own a boutique."

Now, after a year and a half of owning of Marion, the celebrity-inspired handbag store, she said business is good despite the former fear that her first entrepreneurial venture would fail.

Ungs said her new career started when she approached the former owner of Purse~N~ality of Marion to work part time, without pay, in exchange for learning each detail of running a boutique.

After two or three months, Ungs said, the then-owner revealed to her that she had wanted to sell the store for a while, but didn't trust anyone to run it until she employed Ungs.

“I was like: Oh my gosh. Purchasing an already successful business would be great,” she said.

In fact, Lynn Arens, a 35-year-old customer and Cedar Rapids resident, said the store has carved a reputation for itself as one of the only specialty stores in the area devoted to purses, so she was happy to discover it.

“My husband bought me my first bag like this a few years ago. I come in maybe twice a year," she said.

Despite the store's prior success attracting customers, Ungs was not ready to commit. First, she had to get the cash to buy the store.

Next, Ungs sought the advice of a business consultant, searched for grants with the Marion Chamber of Commerce, looked into business loans from a bank and took out a second mortgage on her house.

This worried her husband, Eric Ungs.

"He was so nervous, he would ask about it all the time," she said. "I had to ease his mind, when in fact, I was freaking out. Inside I was thinking: 'Oh my god, am I putting my family at risk?' "

But she said she no longer panics about the business succeeding. She is proud of its success.

With a stable business under her belt, Ungs is looking to open another store in Marion. For now, she said, she is happy. Happy not just with the store's profitability, but with providing her fashion passion to others in the unique, versatile form of purses.

"A lot of women come in who want to lose weight — they want to keep goals for themselves. They might say: I lost 10 pounds, so I get to treat myself to a new bag," she said. "They are one size fits all, no matter how big or small you are."