Tucked Into Green Street: Mary Hodgen's Unplanned Boutique
Standing in front of a hole-in-the-wall shop in Florence, Italy, a young Mary Hodgen takes in floor-to-ceiling shelves packed with color. The store is no bigger than a closet, but it overflows with cashmere. She is in her 20s, an au pair living in Italy for just over two years, and she has never seen a store like it. Hodgen said the European woman, the way she carried herself and dressed, left just as deep an impression. Today, she runs Tuck Pasadena on Green Street, a boutique she describes as a giant version of her ideal closet.
Hodgen’s love for clothing predates Italy. She said she has loved nice textiles since childhood and could always spot a pretty coat or piece of clothing. Her career began on the selling floor at Gucci and Brioni before moving to wholesale, where she ran the West Coast territory for a designer.
After leaving the industry to get married and start a family, Hodgen missed the industry. Once her children were older, she began working again, using vendors she knew from her 20 years in wholesale.
Hodgen transformed her home’s garage into a studio shortly after, selling pieces from the vendors she knew from her 20 years in wholesale. Hodgen’s love for clothing predates Italy. She said she has loved nice textiles since childhood and could always spot a pretty coat or piece of clothing. Her career began on the selling floor at Gucci and Brioni before moving to wholesale, where she ran the West Coast territory for a designer. After leaving the industry to get married and start a family, Hodgen missed the industry.
Hodgen said that after noticing how alike local stores had become, she decided to use her industry background to bring in pieces of her own.
Once her children were older, Hodgen transformed her home’s garage into a studio, selling pieces from the vendors she knew from her 20 years in wholesale.
“I started [selling clothing] out of my garage, and then it turned into something bigger,” Hodgen said. “I got word of mouth, and people were coming to see the garage. At first, I only opened once a year, and then it ended up being twice a year.”
The garage sales continued while Hodgen raised her children, until they left for college. Hodgen said her first pop-up storefront followed.
“I was bored, and so I wanted something [new],” Hodgen said. “I opened up my first door on Washington Blvd for a pop-up store. I had no intention of having a retail store, but that was the beginning of it.”
Hodgen said she spent about five years at the Washington location before moving to Green Street, where Tuck Pasadena has been located for nearly three years. She said opening a store after selling out of her garage has also changed how she shopped for it.
“When I sold out of the garage, I used all my connections from being on the wholesale end of the industry for 20 years,” Hodgen said. “Everything was local, and when I opened up a store, I wanted to be different. I said I’m going to Europe and I’m going to source the clothing there. To this day, I go to Europe twice a year and pick out what I like.”
Hodgen said her favorites are constantly changing, just as fashion does, but the pieces she loves the most share a quality.
“Some of my favorite pieces are from a line in Milan, but it’s a manufacturer who makes a men’s line,” Hodgen said. “I love something so unique, you don’t see it anywhere else. It’s so well made, the fabric’s different, and it fits amazing. That’s what I thrive on.”
Besides hand-picking the pieces she sells, Hodgen enjoys interacting with the women who shop at Tuck Pasadena. Hodgen said she has worked with women who have raised families to working women, and doesn’t approach any of them with a sale in mind. Instead, Hodgen said she asks what they are looking for and helps them find what fits best. She said the worst outcome is a purchase that ends up unworn in the closet.
“I love working with women,” Hodgen said. “When a woman turns around, and she’s happy, or she comes back and says ‘Your things are the only things I wear,’ or ‘They’re my go-to things,’ those are the interactions I remember. I feel like I helped.”
Hodgen said word of mouth carried her business out of the garage, and still drives Tuck Pasadena today. The support from her Pasadena customers is what has surprised her most about running the store.
“If you have something that’s instilled in you, that you really like doing, it’s so fun to watch it veer off into something,” Hodgen said. “For me to be from my garage to this store, and still love what I do, it makes me so happy. I love going to work every day.”
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