The dampening effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on retail business may be slowly coming to an end, but it’s helping a local fashion business move into the future.
Patti Perrault, who runs Simply Beautiful Boutique in Prince George, says that they have seen success this summer with a small, mobile version of her two stores. The Little Street Boutique hit the road and has helped open up new markets.
Perrault began her business five years ago by designing and selling jewelry at local craft and artisan fairs, and now she concentrates on selling clothing from two, brick and mortar retail shops.
“We are a step up from the mall stores, but not an expensive option,” she says, adding that over the years she’s used her experience at judging what the market wants to determine the styles and lines the boutique will carry. “Plus, we tend to offers styles for every body type.”
This summer, Perrault teamed up with Vicky McCroary, Simply’s store manager, to invest in a trailer that they glitzed up in the style of their stores with wallpaper and chandeliers, and took her lines of casual, affordable and unique clothing to customers across the region.
“The mobile boutique is an add-on to our stores,” explains Perrault, who plans to travel throughout Northern B.C.
“We had looked at doing the mobile boutique last year, but then Covid-19 hit, so we postponed it. So, this year we were able to go on the road with the idea of serving smaller communities that don’t have a wide range of shopping available to them.”
And it’s been a success as word quickly spread among customers outside of Prince George that the mobile boutique was making the rounds.
“People were really excited we were coming their way,” Perrault says. “Plus, it’s a chance for us to market our online store for those customers who like what we had in the trailer and are keen to see what else we have in stock.”
That will help keep the boutique’s sales turning over during the fall and winter months when the mobile boutique trailer will be parked due to weather restrictions.
But there will also be opportunities for the business to offer pop-up, temporary store locations in selected communities year-round.
“We are getting so many contacts for people who are interested in our products that it’s pointing us in that direction,” Perrault says.
For more information about Simply Beautiful’s mobile boutique, the pop-up stores, and the existing retail locations, visit their website at simplybeautifulpg.ca.
