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Website Makes Boutique Fashions Available Anywhere Shoptiques brings cutting-edge creations from brick-and-mortar boutiques online.

By Jason Ankeny Edited by Frances Dodds

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Apparel aficionado: Olga Vidisheva of Shoptiques.
Apparel aficionado: Olga Vidisheva of Shoptiques.
Photo© David Johnson

The arrival of Shoptiques isn't a Cinderella story, but both tales do hinge on a pair of shoes. Five years ago, Olga Vidisheva, then an investment-banking analyst for Goldman Sachs, fell in love with a pair of flats in a tiny boutique she discovered while on a business trip to Paris. She bought the shoes, but because the shop has no website, she was unable to browse its unique collection after she got home.

"I thought it was absurd that in the 21st century I wouldn't be able to get these shoes from wherever I live," says the Kyrgyzstan-born Vidisheva, a recent Harvard Business School graduate (and onetime model). "Clothing is a way for women to say to the world, 'I'm different,' and to dress uniquely, you have to shop at boutiques that stock clothing in small quantities, and most of those boutiques don't have an online presence. They don't know how to handle it."

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