Sherri McMullen cut the ribbon on her biggest store yet Thursday, a two-floor, 6,342-square-foot boutique on Maiden Lane in San Francisco's Union Square — about two years after a 2024 report on a bankruptcy filing that listed $5.2 million in liabilities against only $630,000 in assets.
An Aug. 21, 2024, report by newsbreak.com noted McMullen opened her original boutique in 2007 and later expanded with a second San Francisco location. That location was at 3687 Sacramento St. in Laurel Heights.
Despite the reported debt load, the Maiden Lane opening marked a milestone for McMullen, whom the San Francisco Chronicle describes as one of the Bay Area’s most influential fashion boutique owners. McMullen, born in Oklahoma, started her first shop on Piedmont Avenue using her own money plus a $50,000 investment from friends and family, according to the Chronicle. She moved the store to Grand Avenue in 2010, relocated to downtown Oakland in 2018, and shifted the business to Sacramento Street in 2024 before opening the new Maiden Lane location this week — her second store in San Francisco and the largest in her nearly 20-year run.
A Landmark Location on a Storied Corridor
Maiden Lane is a two-block retail corridor in Union Square known for its upscale shops, and McMullen's new space there was made possible in part by a $50,000 Storefront Opportunity Grant from the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the Chronicle reports. The boutique devotes its second floor to clothing, while the first floor features home items, beauty products and accessories. Design work on the space came from Gabriella Khalil, with art displayed throughout created by Jasmine Ross and a textile hanging by Aisling Camps. Red Bay Coffee is served inside.
The racks reflect McMullen's longtime eye for emerging and celebrated designers: the store carries Christopher John Rogers, who was named Womenswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2021, along with Diotima, Conner Ives, Phoebe Philo and San Francisco label Kamperett, according to the Chronicle's reporting. McMullen has used her stores and social media presence to promote diversity and inclusion, the paper notes, and the boutique has previously been named one of the best in the country by Vogue and one of the most innovative retailers in the world by Vogue Business.
City Officials and Longtime Clients Turn Out
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie attended the grand opening and said the city is a place for creatives, per the Chronicle's account. Monetta White, executive director of the Museum of the African Diaspora, said McMullen's move downtown signaled the city's creative renaissance. The museum is set to host a McMullen trunk show during Nexus Black Art Week, with participation from Dorian Webb, and the Afropolitan Ball is scheduled for San Francisco on Oct. 3.
Longtime customer Kairee Tann, who has shopped at McMullen for 12 years, told the Chronicle that the boutique really listens to her clients.
