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For Dominique Maciejka, Paper Doll Vintage Boutique has been more than just a store – it is her life’s work, built from the ground up through determination, sacrifice and love.
And in an emotional message shared after seeing her business and all of its contents destroyed in the devastating fire in downtown Sayville eight days ago, Maciejka revealed the deep history and personal significance of the beloved Main Street establishment.
“When I say Paper Doll Vintage Boutique was my life’s work, I don’t think most people understand the scope of what that means,” Maciejka wrote, before detailing her 26-year journey in vintage fashion, which began when she was just 14, selling items on eBay.
The store, located at 23 Main St., was personally renovated by Maciejka and her team.
“Every little inch of that store, I touched and learned to install myself,” she wrote, describing how she researched and helped install everything from flooring to lighting to ceiling tiles.
The boutique’s inventory, now completely lost to the fire, represented years of careful curation, she said.
A community hub
“Every garment to enter the doors was hand chosen, hand restored, hand sanitized, hand steamed and hand priced,” Maciejka explained. Her collection included museum-quality pieces from the 1920s-1940s, many with personal histories from their original owners.
The store became a community hub, hosting fashion shows, art exhibitions and various events that brought people together.
“The paper doll employees weren’t just hired staff. We became a family,” Maciejka wrote, describing the close-knit relationships formed through the business.
The fire, which started in the vacant former Café Joelle space next door to Paper Doll Vintage Boutique, has left Maciejka facing an uncertain future, including concerns about her second location in Patchogue.
“Sayville has been floating and sugar mama-ing a lot of the Patchogue store’s existence,” she noted, “so I’m deeply concerned and undecided about the future of my second location being able to exist without the Sayville store to help pick up the bills.”
Despite the devastation, the community has rallied around Maciejka. As previously reported, the Greater Sayville Chamber of Commerce has established the Sayville Main Street Fire Relief Fund to help affected businesses recover. And a GoFundMe page for Paper Doll Vintage Boutique has raised more than $35,000.
“I don’t really know how I’m ever going to recover from this, but I certainly can’t do it fast, and I can’t do it alone,” Maciejka wrote, encouraging supporters to consider contributing to their GoFundMe campaign and attending fire relief fundraiser events.
Fashion designer Michael Kors, a frequent visitor to Sayville, visited with Maciejka the day after the fire to offer support.
“Michael Kors came by and cried with me … He said he loved the store and I looked into his eyes and he ‘saw, me, and he saw and knows the love I put in,” Maciejka said last Saturday. “He’s been shopping and supporting for years … He may be a big deal, but he’s a person that just saw my heart and my dream.”
The investigation into the cause of the fire, which impacted several other Main Street businesses including The Crushed Olive, Boris’ Barber Shop, Sayville Running Company, and Hammer and Stain, remains ongoing.
Her ‘life’s work’
Below is Maciejka’s Facebook post, with her note in its entirety.
Prior coverage
Top photos: Dominique Maciejka (inset, Instagram) and the destroyed Paper Doll Vintage Boutique (Instagram).
