Zanita Zody, owner of Haus, walking through her boutique featuring women’s clothing as well as industrial objects. Ryan lely/Sonoma Valley Sun
Zanita Zody calls Haus, the shop she opened in March in the former Espace Café on West Napa Street, a women’s lifestyle boutique. In German, the name means house, and is the name of a similar shop she ran for seven years in Indianapolis with a partner who’s German. Haus sells women’s and children’s clothing, as well as old industrial objects – a weathered wooden cart with steel wheels, for example – that can become home furnishings.
The shop reflects Zody’s style. “I buy something because I love it, because it speaks to me and I hope it speaks to the customer.” Zody prefers items that aren’t mass-produced and use recycled and reclaimed material, because it’s good for the environment.
Examples include dresses for four-year-olds by Lola & James made of vintage fabric, at $84. For young boys, she stocks shirts with fronts made from men’s dress shirts and backs that are recycled T-shirts with images of such musicians as Jimi Hendrix, for $72.
For women, a raw black silk dress from Hazel Brown, designed by Ali, formerly a painter in Los Angeles, sells for $340. A purse, made from leather scraps and wood by Chemical Wedding of Seattle, costs $250. In denim, Zody features jeans by 7 For All Mankind and Citizens of Humanity. She also supports local artists, selling earrings and necklaces by Kristin Tanner and displaying acrylic paintings of Alex Cole.
The shop’s décor also follows Zody’s preference for reuse. A row of weathered wooden columns, with peeling paint, holds up the clothing racks on one side of the store. She covered the opposite wall with 75-year-old handwritten ledgers from a bakery in Newark, N.J.
Zody moved to Sonoma last June with her husband Joe, an architect, and daughter Zyla, 6, and sons Sumner, 4, and Hudson, 2. Joining her as manager of Haus is Eric Jones, who had the same job in the Indianapolis store. This summer, she plans to add men’s clothing to her mix.
Haus, 135 W. Napa St., Sonoma; 707.939.6460. Mon. – Sat. 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Sun. Noon – 5 p.m.
