This article was originally published by Visit OKC
OKC is a place where women can thrive and lead with confidence, and as part of Women’s History Month, the city celebrates its women-owned businesses. This month provides a significant opportunity to reflect on the contributions women have made in creating elements across the city, such as shops and businesses, that celebrate female empowerment and entrepreneurship.
Boom Town Creamery
Before moving to OKC, founder and owner of Boom Town Creamery Angela Muir created Milo’s Shaved Ice in Kansas City, which she sold when she, her husband and their four kids moved to OKC. Fast forward to a vacation in sunny Sarasota, Florida, where Muir, enjoying a handmade cone with her brother, casually said if she could open any business in OKC, it would be an artisanal ice cream shop. “Why don’t you?” he asked. “I will,” she responded, and after learning her craft under the tutelage of the man who invented cookies and cream ice cream in New York City, Boom Town was born.
Cheyenne Sky Studio
Located in Midtown OKC, Cheyenne Sky Studio is a metalsmithing and jewelry-making studio owned by Taylor Cheyenne Martin. Visitors can book a class and create their own stunning jewelry or peruse the studio’s retail area, which is stocked with jewelry-making supplies, metal and stones. Martin is a member of the Chickasaw and Seminole nations, and she was born and raised in Oklahoma. Martin became fascinated with handmade jewelry by watching her aunts and grandmother trade sterling silver and turquoise jewelry.
Factory Obscura
Factory Obscura has a quintessentially Oklahoman origin story. It all began with a chance meeting of its future founders at a grocery store, three out of five of whom are women. Factory Obscura creates immersive experiences that awaken wonder, build community and make the world better. Loosely fashioned in the vein of Santa Fe’s iconic immersive art experience, Meow Wolf, Factory Obscura occupies a warehouse in Automobile Alley that once served as Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne’s art gallery.
Florence’s Restaurant
OKC legend Florence Jones Kemp has been running her James Beard Award-winning soul food restaurant Florence’s for 70 years and counting, alongside her daughter, Victoria Kemp, director of operations. Kemp’s original recipe, yam fried chicken, is world-famous. Kemp is the daughter of sharecroppers from the historic Black township of Boley, Oklahoma, and her restaurant serves the food of her ancestors: warming and delicious.
Johnny & June
An OKC-based, queer-women-owned gift shop, Johnny & June is filled with items, from decorative pillows, earrings, pet treats, toys and self-care goodies like sheet masks and its own bespoke candle brand. For owners Jessi and Kelli, the shop began with beautifully scented, small-batch candles and home scents. The fully stocked store front is located in Automobile Alley.
Katiebug’s Sips & Sweets
Mother-daughter duo Melissa and Katie Morgan Katiebug’s Sips & Sweets as a food truck in a trailer in 2014. Located in Automobile Alley, the business is open Wednesday through Friday from noon to 6 p.m. (or 7 p.m. on Saturdays), serving seasonal treats like shaved ice and hot cocoa from a walk-up window. You’ll also find oatmeal cream pies, cake pops, cereal crispy treats and a variety of cookies and cookie bars.
Painted Door
Painted Door has been a part of OKC’s in-the-know shopping scene for more than three decades, thanks to owner and founder Avis Scaramucci’s eye for the extraordinary. Proudly anchoring a bustling corner in Bricktown, Painted Door is filled with Oklahoma-made treats, chic jewelry and accessories, home decor, fun clothes and gifts for the children (and men) in your life and much more.
Plant People Shop
Founded by Christina Carter and a friend in 2020, Plant People is now solely owned by Carter. This happy Midtown shop—now a brick-and-mortar location—began in a tiny house on wheels. Today, it’s all about plants: plants you can purchase, terrarium-making classes and plant services like plant maintenance for your home or office.
PLENTY Mercantile
A woman-owned, Certified B-Corp, PLENTY Mercantile has a flagship location in OKC’s Automobile Alley, another at Will Rogers International Airport and a third, called PLENTY Reserve, in downtown OKC’s First National Center. Co-owned by mother and daughter Traci Walton and Brittney Matlock, PLENTY guests can expect Oklahoma-made goods, seasonal gifts, clothing, kids’ items and home decor.
Shorty’s Caboy Hattery
Shorty’s Caboy Hattery is the only woman-owned and operated custom hattery in the United States. Lavonna “Shorty” Koger started her hattery in 1990 in OKC’s historic Stockyards City, where she has built a national reputation in the horse industry. Her hats are worn by well-known figures in the western world, including horse show and rodeo winners and even country music stars.
