If you’re tired of the large crowds and disorganized piles of merchandise found in department stores this holiday season, Allure Boutique in the Santa Maria Town Center mall offers a more intimate shopping experience.
The boutique’s molded tin ceiling, bright coral walls, and black crystal light fixtures give it a cool, modern feeling unlike that of its Big Box competitors. The affordable price tags on the clothing offer a welcomed reprieve for your bank account, too.
“I’ve had comments ranging from, ‘this looks like a small Forever 21’ to ‘oh, this looks expensive,’” owner Tavo Medina said. “And then they look at the price tags and they’re happy.”
Medina told the Sun he opened the store in November because he saw “a need here at the mall for trendy, casual, and affordable clothing for juniors and women.”
He said he was inspired by the mall’s ongoing transformation, and that the addition of stores like his will encourage Northern Santa Barbara County residents to shop locally rather than traveling to San Luis Obispo or Santa Barbara.
Medina, who has experience in retail, hired two consultants to help him select merchandise for the store.
“We shop with designers and labels that specialize in selling to boutiques, so we carry things that you can’t find in department stores,” he said. “The feedback from customers is that they really like the quality and styles of our clothing.”
A quick perusal of the boutique reveals all the components of a killer outfit: jeans, jackets, dresses, blouses, sweaters, shorts, and skirts. For the winter season, Medina is also selling knitted headbands and scarves, along with such perennial staples as shoes and jewelry.
“The knit headbands have been really popular,” he said.
As for prices, many of the scarves sell for as low as $5.99 and the jackets for as low as $15.99.
“Since I’ve been [in Santa Maria], there really hasn’t been a store that carries what we carry at these prices,” Medina said.
Allure Boutique is located in the Santa Maria Town Center mall, 142 Town Center East, next door to Leisure Time Games. Medina said he’s in the process of launching a store website and setting up a profile on Instagram.
Managing Editor Amy Asman wrote this week’s Biz Spotlight. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, e-mail, or mail.
This article appears in Dec 5-12, 2013.