Iconic Alice Springs boutique takes on NYC
When Alice Springs entrepreneur Anastasia Byrnes opened her high-end boutique in the Todd Mall 18 years ago she never imagined she’d one day be shipping her store’s fashion labels to New York.
Anyone who lives or has visited Alice Springs would have heard of Mixed Lollies - the iconic fashion boutique in the heart of Australia that has been dressing women in designer labels for almost two decades.
But not only does the store provide hard-to-find fashion designs to the women of Central Australia, it has also made its mark internationally.
Anastasia sat down with Her Territory to chat about how she got started and how she has ended up living the life of her dreams.
You cannot miss the inimitable style of Mixed Lollies in Alice Springs
Thanks for your time Anastasia. Everyone knows and loves Mixed Lollies – it is such an institute in Alice Springs now. Tell us how it came about?
Well I was actually born and raised in Alice Springs .. but left when I was 18 because I didn’t like it – typical teenager!
I loved loved loved fashion and moved to Adelaide and then Melbourne where I worked in fashion retail stores.
I eventually moved to Sydney and worked for a boutique called Morgan De Tui. I managed their stores in George St and then ran boutiques like French Conncection in Oxford Street.
I just loved fashion and l loved the city life.
After I married my hubbie in Sydney we decided to move to Alice Springs to help my parents run (popular Alice Springs Italian restaurant) Casa Nostra.
We helped run the restaurant for a year, but then I remember one day thinking ‘OMG there are no fashion boutiques here in Alice Springs outside of Sportsgirl and Susans’.
So I opened Mix Lollies in the Mall in this super tiny space near the Cinema. I remember at the time no one in Alice Springs had even heard of Havainnais or iconic fashion brands like Hussy and One Teaspoon and Seduce.
I started approaching these labels to see if they’d allow me to stock in my store, and they did.
When this new bigger shop space opened on the opposite end of the Mall I jumped at the opportunity to expand - and have been doing it ever since! It will be 18 years in May!
Mixed Lollies has quite the following in Alice Springs. Women love it – and not just locals – its reputation precedes it! Tell us why you think you captured such a dedicated customer following?
I just think there is nothing like it – and not just in Alice Springs but even in some of our bigger cities.
If you go to Sydney in particular, it is dedicated brand/franchise stores – but it is hard to find boutiques that stock a variety of high end fashion clothing.
This shop is my baby and I have made its style and vibe a little like me – it is what I know and love.
It is a bit rock chic, a bit 70s disco, a little 80s – everything I buy is this vibe, and I think people are drawn to that. It is quite vintage and a bit quirky – a bit like walking into my bedroom.
I curate each season and there is something for everybody in the store. It has also gone beyond fashion – I have jewellery and skincare and shoes and babies clothes too. I cherry pick everything.
My customers tell me that when they go interstate they cannot find everything in the one spot like they do at Mixed Lollies.
Anastasia curates her fashion styles herself
Speaking of customers, Mixed Lollies has an international customer base too hasn’t it?
Yep I sell stuff overseas – Canada, New York, Los Angeles, California, New Zealand – I send stuff all over the world and have done for the past 12 years!
It wasn’t until Covid hit and everything shut down that I used it as an opportunity to expand the website and really kick off the national and international sales. It has been fantastic.
Did you ever think you’d be this successful and still running this store for nearly 20 years in Alice Springs?!
No way! I thought 10 years was going to be a long time.
I am a bit of a one woman show .. but I absolutely love it. My customers have grown up with me. I remember some of them coming in as little girls with their mums, and now they are here as adults shopping!
It would be depressing not to be doing something in fashion – it is totally what I grew up with. My mum and aunties loved their clothes and were so stylish.
Speaking of your mum, so your parents were the original owners of another Alice Springs institution – the wonderful Casa Nostra!
They sure are!
My mum came to Alice Springs from Italy when she was 9 years old – she was actually orphaned and came over with her uncle and her brother.
From there my mum has a similar story to me. She moved to Melbourne as a teenager and met my dad. They then came back to work at her uncle’s restaurant before she and my dad opened Casa Nostra in 1987.
My husband and I now run the restaurant – it is definitely an institution in Alice Springs.