Influencer Shares Frustrating Experience at Local Boutique, and the Story Takes an Unexpected Twist Months Later

Stock image of store fronts in South Carolina.
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NEED TO KNOW

• In July 2025, TikToker Ashley Owens highlighted a boutique in South Carolina in a video describing a negative shopping experience.
• The store owner, Jessica Zirkland, promptly commented to take accountability and apologize for Owens’ claims of hostility.
• Five months later, Zirkland addressed the situation again, asserting that Owens had agreed to remove the video but later attributed its continued online presence to a glitch.

Months after Ashley Owens, a popular TikToker, publicly criticized a boutique in South Carolina, the owner has revisited the controversy, asserting that the matter was addressed but remains unresolved.

In July, Owens posted a video detailing a shopping experience at a boutique that also functions as a salon, where she alleged she faced negativity from an employee. She expressed her concerns in the video, stating she felt it was necessary for the owner to be aware of the situation.

Owens’ video garnered over 435,000 views, catching the attention of Jessica Zirkelbach, founder of Belle Beauty and Anderson Salon + Boutique. “I’m the owner. Super upset this happened and already reached out to make it right. This is not our standard at all!” Zirkelbach commented promptly.

A day later, on July 26, Owens updated her followers, confirming that Zirkelbach had reached out to her. “She was very, very sweet, very apologetic, and really kind of heartbroken that it had happened, but she was glad that I made the video because she had no idea,” Owens shared.

Fast forward to January, more than five months later, Zirkelbach revisited the situation on TikTok in a video she later removed. She explained that she asked Owens to reconsider and remove her initial posting. “She agreed to remove the video, but then the video gained traction overnight,” Zirkelbach claimed, stating that after more views and engagement, Owens said there had been a glitch preventing its deletion.

Zirkelbach reflected on the impact of the video, noting her acceptance of the negative comments that revealed similar experiences from other customers. “I was OK with that because had she not posted that video, I never would have learned that that was people’s experience over and over,” she stated.

In the following months, Zirkelbach and her team focused on implementing changes based on the feedback received from Owens and other TikTok users. “We just finished a renovation to separate the two spaces more clearly and have worked on so much to better customer experiences,” Zirkelbach said. However, she expressed disappointment at seeing the original negative review video pinned to the top of Owens’ profile.

In a statement to PEOPLE, Zirkelbach elaborated on the lasting effects of the original video. “It was highly impactful on me, my mental health, and my business. I took accountability for the experience and have spent the last six months making real changes and improvements,” she explained.

Zirkelbach noted that Owens’ original video had resurfaced after a separate post regarding another boutique, leading to renewed notifications about the prior comment she had made identifying herself as the owner.

She expressed that a comment from Owens stating, “People love small town boutique drama” struck a nerve. “This is not drama to me. This is my life, my business, and something I have poured endless time, money, and heart into,” Zirkelbach said.

In a response to PEOPLE, Owens clarified that her comment regarding “small town boutique drama” referred to a different incident entirely. She emphasized that her original video about Zirkelbach’s store was not meant as a review but rather as a reflection of her experience, prompting her followers to weigh in on whether she was overreacting.

“I never mentioned the name of the store on purpose because I also own a business. I’m not trying to trash anybody or tarnish anybody. I was just talking about my experience at a certain store,” Owens asserted.

She noted that discussing the store’s layout in her video was not aimed at revealing its identity but rather reflecting her experience. “I was just kind of like, ‘This is the situation that I was in because of the layout of the store,'” she explained.

Zirkelbach maintained her stance that Owens had initially agreed to take down her video before it gained significant traction. “After it blew up, she went back on that agreement and recently pinned the video. That choice continued to drive attention and content at the expense of my business,” she stated.

Owens responded that she decided to pin the video because it was popular and attracted a large viewership. She added that the pinning was a common practice among content creators to highlight their most recognized content. “I pinned the videos because that’s just kind of what people are doing on TikTok right now,” she explained.

Despite the ongoing discussion, Zirkbach affirmed that her previous post was simply her side of the story, not an attack on Owens. “There are several families who depend on this business for their income, and I take that responsibility very seriously. I stand firm in defending what I have built and in speaking truthfully about what happened,” she concluded.