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City Chat | Apparel boutique with roots in western Kansas opens in downtown Lawrence | News, Sports activities, Work

City Chat | Apparel boutique with roots in western Kansas opens in downtown Lawrence | News, Sports activities, Work

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photograph by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-Planet

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Bling Glamour in downtown Lawrence options a selection of women’s outfits and add-ons, like the Kendra Scott jewelry line.

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It was about 14 years ago that Nicole Campos took a $500 investment and began advertising distinctive outfits to the somewhere around 4,000 people of the rural local community of Scott Metropolis in western Kansas.

Speedy ahead to this weekend, and there is a great opportunity that her Lawrence retailer — her 20th shop — will have more than 10 times Scott City’s total populace standing exterior its doorways.

Granted, Campos’ new Lawrence shop, Bling Glamour by Nicole, is in close proximity to Eighth and Massachusetts streets, which comes about to be the approximate epicenter of the downtown Lawrence celebrations encompassing the KU men’s basketball team’s participation in the Ultimate 4.

Bling had several thousand people today in entrance of it last weekend as crowds descended on downtown pursuing KU’s Elite 8 victory to punch its ticket to the Ultimate Four.

“I have been loving seeing all individuals shots of individuals coming to downtown Lawrence and looking at our retail outlet in the qualifications,” explained Sammy McBride, director of operations for Bling. “We really like the electricity in Lawrence. That’s 1 of the motives we wanted a store in this article.”

Just visualize how lots of persons may possibly be outdoors the store if it sold Closing 4 shirts. It does not.

Bling focuses on women’s clothes, jewelry and other accessories. But Campos reported the products and solutions seriously ended up more of a means to an stop.

“What we actually want is for girls to sense far better when they depart the retail outlet than from when they entered it,” Campos reported.

Obtaining an stock that is wide sufficient to charm to numerous generations is an crucial section of that formula, Campos explained. 


“We have a large amount of grandmothers who shop with their granddaughters, and we want both of them to be capable to locate anything,” Campos stated.

Obtaining an inventory that may differ from shop to retailer is also component of Bling’s method. McBride claimed managers at each and every retailer make a point to recognize certain manner trends in their market place.

“We will have parts that are trendier for our gals seeking for those on-craze items, but we also have common objects as effectively,” Campos stated.

The Lawrence retailer opened before this thirty day period, right after Bling’s outlets in Manhattan and Emporia captivated a truthful amount of Lawrence buyers, Campos reported. She mentioned she experienced extensive required a location in Lawrence, but the corporation was insistent that it be in downtown Lawrence in a higher-visibility place. Bling’s place at 742 Massachusetts St. — which utilized to household Francesca’s — matches the bill, mentioned McBride, who grew up in Topeka and spent a ton of time buying in downtown.

When the Lawrence retailer is a person of Bling’s most recent, it is much from its last. The company by now has leases signed to open up four new merchants, like its first location in Missouri. When that retailer opens in St. Joseph, Bling will have areas in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri.

“We grew very slowly the first 10 yrs as we definitely learned our consumer,” Campos claimed. “But now we have the infrastructure in area, and we are escalating rapidly.”

The firm now considers itself centered in Wichita, where it operates a keep and a distribution heart. But the rural group of Scott City — and then Backyard garden Town, wherever Campos opened her 2nd keep — nonetheless hold exclusive sites inside of the company. Not only are both of those stores nevertheless open, but they also are highlighted as examples of how a great idea, even in the environment of manner, does not have to arrive from a large town.

“We hardly ever ignore that all those western Kansas shoppers created us who we are,” Campos stated. “And they even now assist us today.”

picture by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-Environment image

Bling Glamour by Nicole has opened at 742 Massachusetts St. in downtown Lawrence.

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