By some estimates, women control as much as 85% of consumer spending in the U.S. Should it be surprising, then, that it’s women, and specifically, women-owned businesses that today are leading a retail revolution in downtown Webster City?

The answers can be found in the new building at Willson Avenue and Second Street downtown. It’s home to three new women-owned businesses that are drawing shoppers from other cities, and even other states. They are doing it with products and services never before sold in Webster City.

The business of aesthetics

As a teenager, Chandler Gourley struggled with acne and realized it affected her self-confidence. The 2014 Webster City High School graduate might not have known it when she enrolled in classes at La James College in Mason City, but her quest to conquer both had begun.

“I wasn’t getting what I needed,” Gourley said. “Aesthetics was invigorating, but there was so much more I needed to know.”

That led to the next big step in her career: enrolling at the National Institute of Medical Aesthetics in Salt Lake City. The curriculum was demanding, tuition expensive, and location far from home, but Gourley wasn’t going to be satisfied with a surface treatment of skin care. She wanted medically-based answers to her questions.

Now, 1,200 hours of instruction later, she has earned a Master Esthetician certification.

“I wouldn’t have a practice or business today without NIMA,” she said matter-of-factly.

The in-depth examination of ingredients in skin care products, the effect each has on clients, and grounding in the science of skin care and human anatomy, gave her what she needed for the next big step: “Confidence in myself. I knew what I was doing.”

In 2016, she moved to Franklin, Tennessee, setting up her first practice in an 880-square foot rented building. Four and a half years later she sold the by-then successful practice and moved to Dallas, where she lived just under a year. It was then she realized the importance of home in her life, and Dallas wasn’t home.

Home was Webster City, Iowa.

Gourley said, “I rented space at Mane Attraction to establish a local practice before moving here (603 Willson Avenue), in March, 2024. “Sue (Erickson) was a role model for me — successful, positive and encouraging.”

With five treatment rooms, Skin by Chandler, as the business is named, is a calm, cool oasis with a décor Gourley describes as “not farmhouse, not modern.” Antique furniture and prints of Europe elevate the experience of modern, advanced skin care.

Some of those treatment rooms are rented by other aspiring estheticians.

“My approach and treatment isn’t right for everyone,” Gourley said. “We have a variety of services and approaches to skin care here.”

Building a new building downtown wasn’t always a good experience, according to Gourley.

“We bought a lot that had been vacant for a few years. Dyvig’s and Fuh’s Bakery had to be torn down.”

Author’s note: Both old masonry buildings succumbed to lack of maintenance of brick walls and mortar joints.

“The city kept pushing us to build apartments upstairs, but that wasn’t in our plans. The noise from tenants didn’t fit with my business model.”

Ultimately, Gourley and her father, her partner in building the new building, had to spend two years putting up a building they estimated could be built in six to eight months.

With all that behind her, Gourley said, “It’s going really well. I see new clients almost every day.”

The Business of Health and Healing

It’s no coincidence that Chandler Gourley’s twin, Gabby Gourley, runs Sanctuary Yoga & Healing in the same new building, at 601 Willson Avenue. Working and being together was a big part of “coming home” for both women.

Yoga has been life-changing for Gabby Gourley. Dealing with a lack of energy and an eating disorder when she moved home to Webster City from Nashville, she turned to yoga for help.

Many studies have revealed that hobbies, interests and career paths of twins often follow strikingly similar lines, and that seems to have held true for Gabby and Chandler Gourley.

Like her sister, Gabby Gourley traveled far from home for her professional training. Specifically, to Menla, a retreat center and health spa in the Catskill Mountains, two hours north of New York City.

The intense training program required 100 hours of yoga in the first week.

“I was far out of my comfort zone,” Gabby Gourley recalled. “It was yoga in the early morning, a quick break for lunch, then intense yoga the remainder of the day.”

Still, she signed up for a further 100 hours of intense practice, this time in Sedona, Arizona, and that led to her certification as a yoga instructor in 2018.

Yoga classes are offered Monday to Friday at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. There’s also a 45-minute “express” class daily at 12:15 p.m. for those finding the noon hour more convenient. Anyone can drop in to one of these classes for a fee of $15 per session. A 10-class package is $120, and is valid for 90 days. The $72 monthly membership offers anytime access to all three classes. It also includes two “buddy passes” which allow family or friends to try yoga.

Special events include bring-your-own pet for puppy and kitty yoga and periodic “sound baths,” which employ crystal bowls to produce healing frequencies. Sound baths and yoga are part of somatic healing, which Gourley says “brings together healing of the mind and body.”

In 2020, Gabby Gourley enrolled at the Institute of Authentic Tantra Education in Kelowna, British Columbia, graduating as a licensed tantra practitioner. While some may associate tantra with exotic sexual positions or practices, “that has nothing to do with what we offer here,” she said.

Her services are valued by those who may have experienced sexual abuse or trauma.

Chandler Gourley

Gabby Gourley

Peggy Joslin

The worlds of rodeo and retail come together in an unlikely place: 603 Second Street in downtown Webster City. An eclectic mix of handbags, clothing, accessories, home décor, and even dips and jellies, are all sold under the banner of “today’s modern country,” according to Country Twist owner Peggy Joslin.

She earned her cowgirl credentials the old-fashioned way — at the Dayton Rodeo — and later at youth rodeos across the heart of America, from Minnesota to Texas.

She learned retail merchandising at Kohl’s Department Store in Fort Dodge, where, critically, she was involved in setting up the store when new.

“I can fit people from small to 3X, and because I order from carefully-selected, reliable vendors, I’m never out of stock,” Joslin said, explaining some of her more successful business strategies.

A strong social media presence has paid off too.

“Recently, eight women from Missouri walked into my store. They followed me on Facebook and drove several hundred miles to shop in Webster City.”

Joslin said the shop was profitable from the start and has grown steadily since opening in March, 2024.

“As you can see, I’m out of space here. I’m even using dresser drawers to display merchandise,” she said.

She is carefully considering expanding the size and scope of her selection for the future.

A recent visit clearly shows the path to retail success is the same it’s always been.

“It’s about making customers feel welcome, and helping them buy what’s right for them,” Joslin said, as she greeted another Facebook follower, this one from Texas. “Now look over here, honey, this would look so good on you.”