a family owned and operated business located in a historic bank in the heart of the Sandhills on Valentine, Nebraska’s Main Street.
We offer a wide variety of women and children’s clothing, handmade jewelry, Fair Trade accessories, natural makeup and skincare, gourmet chocolates and candies, local-Nebraska made products, Valentine souvenirs, and so much more!
We are proud to offer unique vendors that not only have one-of-a-kind products, but that give back to society to help make our world a better place for everyone—whether it’s working to rescue victims of human trafficking, planting trees for each product sold, supporting cancer research, feeding children in need, fighting against domestic abuse, helping people in impoverished countries—they are people helping people.
In addition to purchasing from these amazing humans, every order placed ships carbon neutral by planting trees in tree gardens to help farmers with their eroding land, feed their family and livestock, and help to organically fertilize their crops.
We keep very limited quantities of sizes on hand, so if you want it you have to grab it fast!
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with our New Arrivals and to grab them before they're gone!
Broken Spoke Boutique is not just our family business—it's our home.
Whitney
That's Me!
My entire life, I have loved all things fashion and have always enjoyed buying beautiful handmade jewelry when visiting new places. I love that I have the ability to take these things and incorporate them into Broken Spoke Boutique. Over the past decade, I have also become more conscience of all the harmful chemicals contained in many of the products on the market today and am very careful not to put them on our family's skin or pollute the environment with them. Because I'm so adamant about these things, I have made it a priority to offer things like natural and organic skincare and makeup, as well as eco-friendly products in an eco-responsible way!
Phil
''Mr Broken Spoke''
While he may not be on payroll, Broken Spoke couldn't exist without my husband. That's why I call him ''Mr Broken Spoke!'' Phil is my own personal tech support. He built and maintains the website and keeps our social media (and online presence in general) up to date. He's the one who remodeled our beautiful building to my every whim, and builds all the displays for the shop. A lot of our amazing vendors were even discovered by him which is also pretty awesome! But, above everything else, he puts up with me and supports all my crazy ideas! ❤️❤️❤️
Zoey
''Zoey Harper Designs''
Zoey is creating something every chance she gets. Whether it's building with blocks, drawing, or making jewelry, she is always doing something that uses her amazing creativity and eye for design. She started making and selling bracelets at the boutique at the beginning of 2020 as ''Zoey Harper Designs'' to help raise money for underprivileged families around the world and to feed orphans in India. Zoey's big heart and love for others is helping make the world a better place, and we couldn't be more proud of her!
Graceyn
Online Fulfillment Services
This little spit-fire can be found singing and dancing around the shop on a daily basis. She enjoys helping open the boxes of new inventory and greets every customer that walks through the door (full disclosure: she thinks they come to see her). Most importantly, she helps carry packages to the courier every day. She enjoys the fresh air and singing Skeeter Davis's ''I Can't Stay Mad at You'' the entire two-block walk to take our online orders to the lovely ladies at the Valentine Post Office.
Located in Valentine, Nebraska—one of America's 100 Best Adventure Towns according to National Geographic—Broken Spoke Boutique is an adventure in and of itself. The boutique's building was originally constructed in 1915 as Nebraska State Bank and operated as such until the bank closed its doors in 1964. Over the next 50 years, as businesses came and went, so did the building's charm. Its beautifully crafted characteristics were covered up, including its tin tile ceiling, fir hardwood, and mosaic hexagon tile floor.
Whitney Mayhew, a South Carolina native, moved to Valentine in 2016 and immediately recognized the town's charm. Inspired by Charleston's beauty and architectural allure, she saw potential in the building and began to expose the features that time and the community had forgotten. Throughout the remodel process, Whitney made sure to utilize many elements of early twentieth century design and made it a priority to emphasize the workmanship of the era.
Although the building itself gives reverence to the century-old architecture in a new and fresh way, Broken Spoke stays up to date with current trends with new inventory arriving weekly. Style is in Whitney's DNA and that fact couldn't be more obvious. Whitney's grandmother was a talented interior decorator and her mother, a skilled seamstress, professionally crafted ornate curtains and drapery, purses, and children's clothing.
Broken Spoke prides itself on providing stylish and affordable clothing and accessories locally to the small community town of Valentine, to its 50,000 annual tourists, and ships product across the country every day. Broken Spoke Boutique is a must-see destination when traveling through Valentine on one of the three major highways.
Every little bit helps
WE PLANT TWO TREES FOR EVERY ORDER
Planting more than 2,500 trees in just 2020 alone!
AND REMOVE 4OZ OF PLASTIC & TRASH FROM THE OCEAN
For every single online order placed on our website!
WE ARE A CARBON NEGATIVE BUSINESS
Offsetting more than 150% of our net carbon emissions!
We’ve been given an amazing world and it’s our responsibility to take care of it! Being sustainable and eco-friendly is something that is extremely important to us. We are striving each day to make the necessary changes in order to leave a smaller footprint and a better world for our children.
In 2019, we became a carbon-negative business (offsetting more than 150% of our net carbon emissions) through our partnership with Trees For the Future and also began planting two trees for every order we ship to offset the carbon emissions created by the carriers during shipment.
In store, we’ve trashed (if you will) the plastic bags which are neither manufactured from renewable resources nor biodegradable and are using 100% recycled paper bags. Recycled packaging not only requires fewer resources and less energy to create than new packaging does, but gives new life to materials that would otherwise be sitting in a landfill. How beautiful is that!? In addition, all our online orders are proudly fulfilled using 100% recycled, reusable, and compostable packaging materials.
The most recent studies have shown that more than 11 million tons of plastics flow into our ocean every year. That averages out to be more than a full garbage truck worth of plastic being dumped into the ocean every minute! Microplastic fibers have been found in the stomachs of deep-sea fish living in the remotest parts of the South Atlantic Ocean and plastics have even been found in Arctic ice sheets. Because of this, in 2021 we began removing 4oz of plastic and trash from beaches, waterways, and the ocean for every online order placed.
And, if you know us, you know we are adamant about putting natural products on both our and our children’s skin. This is why we choose to offer safe, natural, and organic skin care products here at Broken Spoke Boutique (if it’s not good enough for us, why would it be good enough for you!?). What you might not realize is that these products are not only better for our skin, body, and overall wellness, but for the environment as well. Ingredients like parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde (commonly called “fragrance”), and tricolosan are horrible for our bodies, yet are found in so many personal care products. These dangerous chemicals not only soak into our skin and body when we use products containing them, but they wash off and ultimately impact sea and other animal life. Also, skin care manufacturers that achieve organic certification also demonstrate that all the ingredients and processes they use have minimal impact on the environment and that they adhere to eco-friendly policies relating to conservation, natural resources, biodiversity and waste management. They are committed to using the earth and its resources as wisely (and minimally) as possible, for the benefit of everyone now and our children in the future.
We love the opportunity to offer products like reusable stainless steel straws which are much better for the environment than disposable plastic straws and safer than glass straws. We also have a large selection of reusable produce bags and lunch sacks. These bags, along with our constantly changing selection of canvas tote bags made from 100% recycled cotton, are a perfect substitute for plastic bags at the grocery store! The large array of non-toxic, veggie-dyed screens on them are always a conversation starter!
No one is prefect and no individual person can change the world on their own, but each one of us can do small things, being good stewards of what we are given, and together can make a large impact for years to come.