It’s an end and a beginning as Edmonds’ NC Concept closes its doors

For the past three years, the NC Concept store at 403 Main St. has offered local shoppers an eclectic mix of clothing, shoes and accessories from around the world, personally curated by owner Natalia Charnetska. Not just another fashion boutique, the NC Concept store is the embodiment of Charnetska’s personal mission to help women find their own style — and then find the right items to reflect, embody and solidify that style.

While the store is set to close at the end of January, a new chapter is beginning for those involved in the venture.

Charnetska opened the store in early 2023 after arriving in the U.S. from Ukraine. Shortly after, she serendipitously crossed paths with Edmonds’ one-of-a-kind artist, visual marketer and creative force of nature Shelly Simmons. For the previous 13 years, Simmons had been applying her talents creating innovative store and window displays for Sound Styles — some of those featuring Simmons herself as a live mannequin. Many of Simmons’ creations became instant Edmonds landmarks — filling the downtown fountain plaza with magic, whimsy, color, texture, surprise and an intangible something that kept us coming back for more. But the February 2023 closing of Sound Styles put Simmons on the lookout for a new avenue to channel her creative energies.

Then she met Charnetska, and the two instantly clicked.

“We felt this amazing connection the moment we met,” Charnetska said. “It was magic from the start, and the more we talked the more we realized our shared vision for the NC Concept mission gave us a synergy that we couldn’t have as individuals.”

Thus began the partnership that shaped the “mission first, merchandise second” philosophy that lies at the heart of NC Concept.

“From day one we’ve been about helping women find their own style, not just selling clothes,” Charnetska said. “We think of ourselves as ‘doctors of style,’ which is really another kind of life coaching where we help women find their own personal style and then assist them in expressing it through clothing, attitude and even personal values.

“NC Concept has always been more than a boutique,” she added. “It’s a kind of women’s clubhouse where style is just the doorway in. Regulars come not only to find clothes, but to try on new versions of themselves, talk through divorces or illnesses, and lean on a community of women who cheer each other on.”

Since opening, the store has built a tight core group of some 50-60 customers that is “like family.” For those customers — and indeed anyone who walks in — NC Concept has become a “girls’ playground,” a safe space where women can vent, get support and celebrate each other.

“Clients trust us with intimate life stories and body insecurities — far beyond normal retail,” Simmons said. “People come as much for our relationship and energy as for the clothes.”

With Charnetska’s European/Ukrainian eye and Simmons’ intuitive American styling, the shop has evolved into a place where fashion, culture and quiet life coaching all live on the same rack.

But with the widespread business downturn of 2025, the war in Ukraine disrupting critical components of store’s supply chain and the slowdown in U.S. consumer spending, the partners concluded that it was time to close the retail store and take the NC Concept mission and spirit in a new direction — on the road.

Instead of racks and registers, their tools will be pop‑up events, trunk shows, home and closet visits, and even trip and interior styling, all built around the same women’s community they’ve nurtured in Edmonds. As they like to put it, they’re trading in the limitations of a single storefront for the freedom to act as “lifestyle design agents” wherever their clients — and their own travels — may take them.

As NC Concept heads into its final weeks, the mood is distinctly bittersweet: Charnetska and Simmons are heartbroken to lose the four walls that held so many women’s stories, yet genuinely excited to be freeing their “minds and hands” from retail so they can carry that same community into pop‑ups, styling work and travel.

The store will remain open through Jan. 31.

“We’re stripping it down to the walls,” Simmons said. “Merchandise, furniture, shelving, racks, décor, displays –- everything. All at up to 60% off.”

“It feels less like closing a store than packing up a beloved clubhouse and taking it on the road,” Charnetska said. “Yes, we’re closing this door, but it doesn’t feel like an ending. It feels like we’re finally free to take what we built here and let it grow in all the places it was meant to go.”