Creating distinctive, inspiring, and memorable retail experiences for the world’s finest luxury resorts, hotels, destination spas, and private clubs.

What We Do

The complete retail experience, thoughtfully designed.

The strongest retail programs come to life when the vision, assortment, presentation, people, and guest experience are considered together. Madsen + Ales partners with property leadership across each of these areas, creating a retail experience that reflects the character of the property, enhances the guest experience, and contributes meaningfully to the business.

/01

Vision + Master Planning

We begin by learning the property, understanding its guests, and defining the role retail should play within the larger guest experience. That understanding becomes a clear point of view for the space, the assortment, the operations, and the decisions that follow.

/02

Sourcing

Through long-standing vendor relationships, thoughtful research, and an ongoing interest in local and emerging talent, we strategically curate collections that reflect the property and feel relevant to the guests during their stay. We source with intention, ensuring each selection reinforces the personality and point of view that makes a boutique unmistakably its own.

/03

Merchandising

We bring each collection together with a careful eye for flow, proportion, light, texture, placement, and seasonal change. The result is a boutique that feels polished, inviting, and consistent with the standard of the property.

/04

Trunk Shows + Pop-Up Shops

Drawing on established relationships with designers, makers, and brand partners, we curate trunk shows, pop-up shops, and special retail experiences that give guests a more personal way to connect with the collections they love.

/05

Team Selection + Structure

We partner with property leadership throughout the selection process, helping identify people with the heart, soul, and passion to care for guests well. We also help shape the roles, responsibilities, and team structure that allow both the people and the business to thrive.

/06

Training + Incentives

We work alongside teams to deepen product knowledge, strengthen relationship selling, and build the confidence to connect with each guest in a genuine and personal way. Thoughtful incentives and continued support help create an environment where people feel valued, motivated, and invested in the success of the boutique.

Discuss Your Property

Our Story

The art of retail.

At the most memorable properties, hospitality is expressed through thoughtful details and genuine care. Madsen + Ales brings that same sensibility to the retail experience, creating boutiques that feel naturally connected to the property and the destination — while inspiring and delighting the guest.

The story began in 1978, when Patricia Madsen-Ales opened The Little House inside the little house on her family’s farm in Iowa. Offering “Fine Fashion for Women,” it grew from Patricia’s natural love of fashion and style and her belief in dressing beautifully for the occasion.

Friends were invited not simply to shop, but to discover the distinctive pieces and luxury fashion Patricia selected at market, talk, laugh, and spend time together. The Little House became an intimate gathering place where fashion, friendship, and genuine hospitality came together.

In 2014, Patricia’s daughter, Carrie, carried that heritage and philosophy into luxury hospitality at a Five-Diamond resort in Scottsdale, and Madsen + Ales — retail by design — was born. Today, a third generation continues the legacy, curating collections with the same instinct for style and the same commitment to caring for people.

That instinct now shapes every partnership. We take a thoughtful approach to hospitality retail as a whole, creating experiences that reflect the spirit of the property, enrich the guest experience, inspire teams, and deliver real results for the business.

“We create retail experiences that invite people to discover, connect, and remember.” — Carrie (Ales) Ummel, Owner + CEO

Why Madsen + Ales

A thoughtful partner for exceptional properties.

Madsen + Ales has had the privilege of partnering with landmark hotels, celebrated beauty and wellness houses, destination spas, and distinguished private clubs across the country. These environments call for discretion, imagination, and a deep understanding of how exceptional hospitality is expressed through every detail.

Experience shaped by exceptional places

Our work spans iconic city properties, Five-Diamond resorts, nationally recognized spa and wellness programs, and private clubs where the expectations are exacting and the guest experience is deeply personal.

From Los Angeles to New York

Headquartered in the Mountain West and working across the country, we travel to understand each property in person. We prefer to spend time in our client spaces, learn how guests move through them, and collaborate closely with the people who know the properties best.

One connected point of view

Vision, sourcing, merchandising, team selection, training, and special events are considered together. This continuity allows the original idea to remain clear as it moves from planning into the daily life of the boutique.

Relationships at the center

Relationships are at the heart of our work. We take the time to know the people behind each property and build trust with the teams, vendors, designers, and makers who help bring its memorable retail experiences to life.

House Rules · The Madsen + Ales Approach

A legacy refined across three generations.

Taegan with Carrie in their original professional portrait

Honor what came before

Take joy in building relationships that last

Seek moments to surprise & delight

Face each day with grit & gratitude

Retail is detail

Family first

Design with the future in mind

Be excellent — always do your best

Walk a mile in our guest's shoes

“Retail has always been another way of caring for people. When we take the time to understand the property, build the right relationships, and bring the collection, the environment, and the team together thoughtfully, retail becomes part of the hospitality experience and a meaningful part of the business.”

Carrie (Ales) Ummel · Owner + CEO

Questions, Answered

Curious? Here's what you might be wondering.

No two engagements are exactly alike, because no two properties begin in the same place. Depending on what's needed, a partnership may include vision and master planning, sourcing, merchandising, team structure and selection, training, incentives, or special retail events. For many properties, the relationship continues well beyond launch — through ongoing sourcing, select services, and support as the retail experience evolves.

Yes. Much of our work begins with an existing retail experience that is ready for a more defined identity, a fresh perspective, or closer alignment with the property as a whole. We look at the collections, presentations, operations, and team together and consider where thoughtful changes can make the retail experience more cohesive and more successful. We begin with the end in mind, looking carefully at where retail stands today, what it could become, and the full opportunity ahead.

A guest doesn't shop at a resort the way they shop at home. They're buying a memory — a piece by a local maker, the product they first experienced in the spa, something that captures the feeling of the place. Thoughtfully led retail honors that difference, deepening the guest's connection to the stay while becoming a meaningful and consistent source of revenue.

When collection, environment, and service are considered together, retail becomes another true dimension of hospitality, giving guests more reason to linger, more reason to connect, and giving the property a more consistent contribution to the bottom line.

Our perspective has been shaped over three generations and through years of working directly within luxury hospitality. We consider the complete retail experience, knowing that the collections, environments, operations, and team members are most successful when they are aligned around a shared vision.

Just as importantly, we lead with relationships. We listen closely, immerse ourselves in a property, work alongside teams, and remain present as the vision becomes part of everyday operations. That ongoing partnership ensures the work feels personal to the property and practical for the people who bring it to life each day.

Yes, being on property is an important part of how we come to understand the work. Being present allows us to understand the setting, observe how people interact through a retail space, see how the operation functions, and work alongside the team. Just as importantly, it gives us a true feel for the property. The energy, relationships, and small details we notice in person often reveal what the retail experience needs to become.

As the partnership continues, the work may move into a combination of on-site visits, virtual collaboration, and ongoing support. We shape that rhythm around the needs of the property, the stage of the work, and the resources available, remaining closely connected while using time and travel with care.