Local online boutiques let your fingers do the shopping

Nothing beats a little retail therapy, taking the time to peruse local shops with an iced latte in hand, but if I'm pressed for time or just don't feel like leaving my sofa, I'd rather let my fingers do the shopping. And now that some local boutiques have made the jump from bricks and mortar to the Internet, it's even easier to shop online while shopping local.

Downtown boutique La Rousse, which has been dressing Seattle women in sassy threads by Anna Sui, LA Made and Whistle & Flute for three years, launched its online shop in June.

Owner Amanda Rosenthal says customers outside of Seattle have been asking for online shopping ever since her store opened. "It makes the buying more fun as well, since we don't have to rely on buying clothes just for rainy Seattle," she says. "Get ready for dresses with feather details!"

Currently, some items -- mostly accessories and vintage pieces -- are only available at the store, but Rosenthal plans to offer her entire inventory online starting in the fall.

Swee Swee Paperie and Studio, which opened in West Seattle nearly two years ago, also opened its online branch in June. "It was important for Swee Swee to be available to everyone," says owner Ann Conway.

For now, the Web store is a scaled-down version of Conway's bricks-and-mortar shop, but she plans to adjust the inventory based on customer interest. There's a little bit of everything Swee Swee is known for, from its whimsical gift wrap and invitations to unique greeting cards and journals. You don't have to register to make a purchase, but for a limited time, you'll receive an introductory 10-percent discount when you do.

Jill Wenger, owner of Fremont's Impulse, decided to take the e-shop concept a bit further with her new Web endeavor Totokaelo, which launched in May and is part online community, part online boutique. The name derives from the Latin phrase toto caelo, which translates in Western terms to "the sky is the limit."

As the online counterpart to Impulse, which stocks lines like Y's by Yohji Yamamoto and MM6 by Maison Martin Margiela, customers can find all items from the shop on the site, but members -- you have to apply for free membership to explore -- can also talk to each other through comments and messaging.

"I can find a billion places online to buy clothing, but no one has taken e-commerce to the next level in creating an experience," Wenger says. "Similar to buying an item at your favorite retail shop where you know the whole crew by name ... I wanted to duplicate that online."

Wenger handpicks all the members, but stresses that it's not elitist; she just wants to create a community of like-minded individuals. "Women are online posting their sizes and thoughts and questions, and, in my opinion, that's private information and shouldn't be for the public. It's important to me that Totokaelo is safe."

Members can use each other as a resource for feedback and advice; for example, to find out if a particular item runs large, or how a garment will wear or wash. Each member is given an inbox and profile, to which they can save favorite items.

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