Shelby Cannon decided in 2016 to transform the oversized waiting room in her mother Debbie Hobbs’s decades-old beauty salon into a boutique for the full range of clothing sizes, home décor, jewelry, gifts, baby items, candles, and food she was selling on social media.

Shelby was managing the shop part-time while she taught in elementary school, but the business grew so fast that she went full-time in 2019 and they added 200 square feet, one-third the original space, to the sales floor.

In 2023 Owner, Shelby Cannon, decided to rebrand and change the name to better suit the times, and what direction she wanted to take the store. After creating a family of her own and bringing two daughters into the world Charley Rae and Clara Kae, Rae+Kae Boutique made the best since. 

Rae+Kae Boutqiue, offers toddler to plus-size clothing. Home decor and quick gift items for women, children and men. And the best baby shower gifts around. It sells locally-produced dip mixes and offers gift wrapping.

Rae+Kae, 40 minutes from Joplin and 1.5 hours from Kansas City, was voted Best Boutique of the Four State Area by KOAM and Fox 14 listeners in 2018, 2019, 2021, & 2022 and placed second in The Joplin Globe’s reader-selected Best Boutique, and won The Best Store Front in Kansas in 2018 with The Boutique Hub, and Best Boutique Runner up in Kansas in 2019 with The Boutique Hub and The Best Store Front in Kansas is 2020! The store received a City of Girard entrepreneurship award, and the owners were sent to The Schallert Group’s international Destination Boot Camp in Longmont, Colo., for training to elevate the business, city, and community economic activity and quality of life.

Customers, including students from the local high school and from nearby Pittsburg State University, get their hair and nails done on one side and select clothing, shoes, and accessories for a date night or special event on the other. Visitors also enjoy touring Girard’s historic buildings and monuments that date to the 19th century as well as local specialty shops and restaurants.

Owner Shelby Hobbs and her husband, Travis, have two Daughters named Charley Rae, and Clara Kae, three dogs (Oliver, Mia and Cope). She is a former elementary autism school teacher and strives to better the community. Inviting Local Vendors and Food Trucks weekly, sometimes monthly to help bring a positive shopping and dining experience to everyone that is around all while bringing interest to the local vendor. 

In 2023 Shelby Hopes to continue to give back to the community and to other communitys on a much larger scale by providing more interest and exposure with online!