One look at Shannon Maldonado and it makes sense that she worked in the fashion industry. She is a natural beauty wearing no makeup, a cool casual outfit, and a sunshine smile.
She was a designer for brands like American Eagle and Ralph Lauren before taking her creativity in a different direction. That’s when she decided to start YOWIE as an online boutique gift shop. It eventually became a brick-and-mortar in Philadelphia’s Fabric Row, just three blocks west of its current location.
“I was traveling a lot for work and kept acquiring things during my trips, so it was like an idea of creating a souvenir shop – but a souvenir shop through the lens of artists and makers,” explains the FIT grad.
How did she come up with the unique name?
“It’s Australian for bigfoot, but I’m not Australian,” she laughs. “It’s just a name I thought was fun and has an upbeat inflection when most people say it.” The shop opened in 2017, selling home goods, art books, and small artworks. It was like a modern gift shop or museum shop.
Maldonado curated the items and designed the space in such an eye-catching, colorful way that it became a popular stop for locals and tourists. YOWIE was named “Coolest Shop in Philadelphia” by Bon Appetit magazine.
“I had always wanted to expand the brand and have some adjacency to a hotel,” says Maldonado. “I thought I might be hired by a larger hotel brand, like the Ace or the Standard, to help them curate their gift shops.”
But little did she know that the hotel would be her own.
Developing the YOWIE Brand
Maldonado’s creative design skills made her a sought-after design consultant for various nonprofit and for-profit companies like the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Nordstrom and the Deacon Hospitality Group, who she’s worked with for years.
This included designing The Deacon hotel from Philadelphia’s historic First African Baptist Church and the Dye House hotel in Providence, Rhode Island. So it was a no-brainer for them to partner in expanding the YOWIE brand to add a hotel and cafe.
Maldonado is the founder, owner and creative director of the YOWIE brand & shop and co-owner of the hotel and cafe. “My partners are Everette Abitbol, his wife Valerie Abitbol and Bill Vessal,” notes Maldonado.
“I jokingly tell people we’re like a Power Rangers group,” she laughs. “I’m the creative, Everett’s the finance person, Val is operations and Billy is construction, so we each bring a very different approach to the table.”
