By Morgan Pilz, Staff Writer

(Jan. 23, 2020) Best friends Christina Mullaney and Christine Carpenter are moving their boutique and yoga studio from Ocean Pines to Williams Street in Berlin.

By Morgan Pilz
Christina Mullaney, left, and Christine Carpenter hope Beach Gypsy will be open for business on Williams Street in Berlin by Feb. 1.

Beach Gypsy sells athleisure apparel, boho clothing and accessories, crystals, essential oils and yoga apparel and accessories. Throughout the week, the store also offers yoga sessions. The store first opened in Ocean Pines last March.

“We have some kind of middle ground apparel,” Mullaney said. “It’s not too over the top expensive, but it’s not cheap clothes either. We try to find that middle ground for everybody.”

Both women are locals of Worcester County, and became friends after their sons joined the Cub Scouts. Once their children grew older, they decided they wanted to have a career shift and started working together.

“We combined a business that I was in with my son called Happy Trunks, with her business, Seize the Day,” Mullaney said. “Seize the Day originally was more of a holistic type place with yoga and Reiki and things of that sort and the merchandise was geared towards that as well. Then Happy Trunk’s was a Bohemian harem pants kind of company, where it was kind of more like hippy gear and festival stuff.”

The two owners pride themselves on being an environmentally and socially conscious operation. For instance, a portion of the proceeds from sales of Westend thermal pants goes directly to an elephant rescue in Thailand.

In addition, three times a year, Carpenter and Mullaney host a party where friends, clients and guests are asked to bring new or gently used tote bags or purses filled with feminine hygiene items. These bags are then turned over to local outreach programs to be distributed to local homeless and displaced women. The idea is to help bring dignity to those experiencing challenging circumstances.  Beach Gypsy will accept donations on an on-going basis, not just at their parties.

“We definitely have a different feel and outlook and there’s just a different vibe about us,” Carpenter said. “Our lifestyles kind of meld together and we figured out what makes us happy and everything just kind of falls together when you figure out what makes yourself happy. Everybody walks in to our store and says that it just feels good.”

The two best friends are thrilled with the move, and anticipate their official opening will be by Feb. 1, though they hope to be open sooner, around Thursday or Friday.

“We knew that we wanted to be in Berlin,” Carpenter said. “We both fell in love with Berlin and it’s just perfect for us.”

“So far, everybody’s been super supportive of us coming and we just hope that we can add something to their businesses as well,” Mullaney said.

The new store will be smaller, only around 600-700 square feet, but will be more accessible for people since it will be only a few steps away from Main Street. The store will also be pet friendly.

The yoga sessions will take place in the back of the store, though when sessions are not taking place the women will utilize all of the store for their merchandise.

Yoga sessions cost $14 per session, though there are also packages of five or 10 for a discount. Typically, sessions take place before the shop officially opens and after it closes. Sessions tend to occur Tuesdays through Fridays in the morning at 9:30 a.m. and Tuesdays and Thursdays in the evening at 5:30 p.m., though these times might change now that the store has moved.

Since the store will be moving to a new location, Mullaney and Carpenter are not sure what their new hours will be just yet. They do expect to be open on the weekends now, which is something they were not doing at their Ocean Pines location.

For more information about Beach Gypsy, call 410-973-2557 or visit https://seasthedayoc.com/.