When Andrea Lawrence was a child, she would clean her room every week and open different stores. Sometimes it was a boutique selling clothes or a grocery store. Charms – the kind that dangle from bracelets – were a popular item. She would cut paper plates into little triangles, attach a charm to them and put a price tag on them.

In June, after working (and playing) in retail management for most of her life, Lawrence opened Miss Bipps in Kendall Yards, a maximalist-style shop with a bubblegum-pink facade and artificial turf. Inside, you’ll find carefully curated items meant to evoke whimsy, playfulness and nostalgia, and plenty of handmade crafts, including bath salts, pom-poms, an anthurium centerpiece and more.

“I’m a curator and I want everything to be perfect. But there’s also a part of me that makes everything I do look like a kindergarten teacher was involved. And I can’t make that go away for the life of me. Instead of hiring a designer to correct my aesthetic style, I just keep going,” Lawrence said of her design style.

The installations in her store are meant to evoke nostalgia, a kind of nostalgia that she can explain with her own memories: “I remember my mother’s striped knee socks and her tank top with the tears and beads on the bottom and her little denim shorts. I remember listening to Van Halen and Lionel Richie as a kid and going to my grandparents’. So whatever is trending. That nostalgic moment that you can capture.”

Lawrence was born in Spokane but moved to Seattle when she was 9. She attended the University of Washington, then moved to San Diego, back to Seattle, to New Zealand, and back to Seattle again. Lawrence and her husband sold their home on Capitol Hill while living on a friend’s houseboat and weren’t sure where they wanted to live next. While zooming in and out on Google Maps, her husband saw a house on the South Hill, which he showed Lawrence. They headed back to Spokane.

Miss Bipps is a fantasy shop that has been floating around in Lawrence’s head for a decade. She’s had a few false starts along the way. Lawrence tried to open an online-only store, but only lasted three weeks. She tried setting up a retail store in her own living room at Christmas time. She also tried an arts and crafts blog.

“The dream was so half-baked in a digital experience,” Lawrence said. “And in my house or in my garage or in another business or at a craft market. I remember signing up for Farm Chicks one year and thinking, ‘I’m going to fully commit to this,’ and my vision was so big. I couldn’t fit it in my car.”

Lawrence needed a store big enough to accommodate her dreams.

“I had my front door to my fantasy store and my logos for my fantasy store. I just hoped that one day it would be real,” Lawrence said.

Her dream finally became a reality with her store at 707 N. Cedar St. However, this would not have been possible just a few years ago.

Although she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder in her late teens, cognitive therapy was not effective in treating her condition. During manic episodes, she often did crafts, but during her bouts of depression, working became difficult, if not impossible. Her depression became so distressing that she was close to applying for disability benefits when the pandemic hit.

“But I’m so young that I just waited to do it because I just wanted to keep trying,” Lawrence said. “During COVID, I realized I had untreated bipolar disorder from working full-time in management all those years. I finally had time to figure that out.”

After taking medication, Lawrence’s condition stabilized. She returned to work in retail management for a year and raised enough money to rent her premises to Miss Bipps for a year.

“This is the year of experimentation, and I don’t know what will happen after this year, but we’re going to try,” Lawrence said. “It’s like a dream come true.”

Lawrence found the shop because her sister had an energy healing space called MaddaighVala Mystery and Magica. She also got the shop name from her sister. When her sister was little, she added her first and last name and “Miss Bipps” to all the names.

“And Miss Bipps may have been a doll, maybe it was a mispronunciation,” Lawrence said. “We can’t remember where it came from, but the word Miss Bipps stuck.”

One of Lawrence’s first customers, Rechelle Hintze, walked into the store and hugged Lawrence. They became friends. Hintze walked through Kendall Yards and saw Miss Bipps’ signs.

“When you come down the stairs, everything is very vibrant and decorative,” Hintze said. “There are cute little things and decorations and it’s just very inviting. When you come in here, it smells good and she always has a smile on her face and she seems so enthusiastic about what she’s doing and you can tell because it’s just so cute here.”

Each time Hintze visits, the store is decorated differently. Hintze has purchased an old red clock as well as Lawrence’s handmade bath salts. Hintze also mentioned that Lawrence always has a nostalgic surprise for customers. Lately it’s been candy bananas and chiclets, and when customers buy something they get a resin duck.

The shop brings back memories of Hintze’s childhood, especially of her grandmother.

“I just thought, ‘Oh my God, I had forgotten about that,’ and it’s just very nostalgic. I love it,” Hintze said.

Lawrence’s latest challenge has been deciding the fate of one of the rooms in the store. Originally she wanted to convert it into a place for craft classes – something that is still possible if enough people show interest – but recently she has decided to open it to the public on Sundays to showcase their collections or shops – the person just needs to book in advance with Lawrence to be sure the space is available.

The first pop-up will take place on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Wishing Fish Vintage.

“The people who come in are creative or collectors or know someone who is creative,” Lawrence said. “There’s a reason they’re attracted to a bright pink logo and they’re in this kind of circus environment of color and texture. So I just started offering: If anyone wants to share their collection, share their creations, host a workshop or just come in and hang out with friends, they can now do that for free on Sundays.”

The next step for Lawrence is to muster the courage to develop a store policy that will allow her to close the store if she is not doing well.

“If I’m having cramps or am manic, I want to create an environment where I feel safe by putting up a sign with the store’s hours and then displaying a ‘what’s up’ message like ‘Closed today due to mental health issues or physical illness,'” Lawrence said. “As long as I update it on my website and Google Maps when that happens.”