Happy birthday to us! Join us as we celebrate 35
fashionable years. We can’t thank all of our loyal customers enough for shopping with us over the years. It means so much to be able to do what we love, everyday. Cheers to 35 more!! Here’s an inside opinion about why we’ve made it this long…
How does a ladies boutique last 35 years?
1. We attribute our success from being able to change our way of thinking.
Constantly analyzing–Desire to learn, grow and get better year after year. This feeling isn’t necessarily ambition, but something that is innate. Status quo is not an option. The fashion industry moves fast, so we are always looking ahead. We realize that the needs of today’s woman are always changing. That’s what we believe keeps The Emerald Isle Boutique relevant. We constantly ask ourselves how we can better service the ladies of our community.
2. Multi-generational ownership means longevity and perspective.
Mother/daughter: so important that we respect and trust each other in the different facets of the business. We have each other’s backs and tend to agree on important business decisions even though we come at it from different angles. We really like each other! We’re both very down to earth and funny people. We laugh a lot!
We also work very hard. In a small business, you have to do everything yourself: you’re the maid, gardener, etc. Also, most would be surprised at how much paperwork is involved. Our greatest reward for all that hard is when we get to help our customers. That brings us JOY.
We have one part-time employee, Lupe Saiz, who has been with us for over 20 years. Also, Hetty Smith is our go-to when we need an extra hand and has been working with us for over 30 years!
- We sincerely appreciate our customers and this community.As our business is our livelihood, we are dedicated to our customers and our craft. It all starts with our buying. It’s exhilarating that when we see something fresh and exciting at market. When it comes into the store (between 2 and 6 months later) we immediately get excited to show it to customers…when they get excited about it, try it on and it goes home with them then we feel like we did our job right!!We love to help! Some of our most rewarding customer experiences begin with a lady who says she hates to shop. With our knowledge of how our inventory varies in fit and style, we can often select items for women that they might have never picked and walk out if the store with a bag of new clothes and a smile on her face!
We believe it’s our duty as a small business to give back to our community. Over the years we have supported many organizations. Some by sponsoring fashion shows like the Tough Enough to Wear Pink fashion show we started 9 years ago. Also, our annual Mother’s Day luncheon benefits a different non-profit each year. We give auction or raffle items to anyone who asks for our support. Kelli has served on boards including Boys & Girls Club and currently, the Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra. We also support and donate items to La Tienda de Jardin.
4. Offering something different and quality products.
We offer an enormous variety for a small business. We carry widely known brands that are sold all over the world like Brighton, Desigual and NYDJ. We also carry lines that are very small and only sold to limited boutiques throughout the country. Our goal is to always offer something different from other area stores. Inventory changes on a daily basis. At least every 10 days you will have an entirely different experience. We believe we have something special for everyone.
A quality product is key to maintaining our reputation. We thoroughly inspect every item that comes in and will happily accept a return if a customer finds a problem with their purchase. We can’t tell you how many times a customer will tell us they have something in their closet that they bought from us 20+ years ago!
While we always look forward to offering hot trends, we believe that most of fashion has a lot of longevity to it. We don’t encourage our customers to buy something just because it’s “in,” rather, we encourage our ladies to buy something because it gives them joy! We want the items they buy from us to be their favorites that they pull out time after time.