About Us

Local Hem founder, Colleen King, has been surrounded by neighborhoods full of wonderful, unique small businesses all of her life. Growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia she had access to the many one-of-a-kind shops that sprinkled the Main Line. The owners of these stores took such pride in their offerings; they could speak with a true enthusiasm for each and every piece they had chosen for the shelves. As a child already running her own business flipping vintage Lilly Pulitzer shift dresses on eBay, she found their passion contagious.


Not long after, as an undergraduate at Georgetown University in Washington, DC she became addicted to Wisconsin Avenue, more specifically, to the boutiques that dotted Wisconsin Ave, forming a Bermuda Triangle of independently owned retail. Leaving town at the end of each school year was a challenge for this retail addict; Colleen wondered how she would make it through another summer without access to her favorite local boutiques. That’s when the light bulb went off: Colleen would create a site that allowed people from anywhere in the world to shop all the best brick-and-mortar boutiques from one site.


After moving to Boston to get her MBA at MIT Sloan’s School of Management, the dozens of neighborhoods brimming with treasure-filled boutiques, from Beacon Hill to Harvard Square, provided the perfect backdrop for Colleen to begin building Local Hem.


With the support of a fantastic team, Local Hem is curating its own collection of boutiques offering the highest quality products and service. When you patronize Local Hem boutiques you are supporting the colorful “Main Streets” that make our neighborhoods home, all while treating yourself to something wonderful (no harm in that!). By “shopping small” we can all live a little better.