Most trendy fashion shoppers are used to spending their time in spacious boutiques. Now shoppers will have to look out for fashion on wheels, as some of El Paso’s finest shops are expanding their market to mobile boutiques or fashion trucks.
Headlining the bold move out and into the streets is Le Trendy, a west side boutique located at 4935 N. Mesa St. Four months ago, Le Trendy opened their mobile boutique for a simple reason: a different experience.
“We knew it was going to be something that people have not experienced before,” said co-owner Abel Gonzales. “Also we have a lot of customers from the east side of El Paso that, for a reason, cannot come and visit us often, so we try to reach them.”
Gonzales also said that for the remainder of the year, the Le Trendy truck will spend more of its time on the east side of town, but customers will be able to find the fashion truck at festivals and events in the city.
Gonzales wants the mobile boutique to be an extension of the store. The dimensions might be different, but the products inside are the same.
“It’s more like giving people the experience to shop with us at the store,” Gonzales said. “And it gives other people, the ones who haven’t had the chance to visit the store location, the opportunity to shop at festivals or local events.
UTEP freshman Amanda Pracht is a fan of boutiques and usually shops at the stores around El Paso in the summer and spring. She said she likes the idea of a truck that sells clothes and accessories. In fact, the pre-business major has even had some unique experiences with mobile boutiques.
“I think they’re good, it’s more unique,” Pracht said. “That’s one way to get more people to know about your boutique, and you can spread the word about it more. I’ve seen a few at the Sunset Heights block party and it was really cool.”
Although fashion trucks have become somewhat of an attraction in fashion markets such as New York and Los Angeles, it is still a foreign concept in the Sun City.
“We have had the mobile boutique for four months, but people are surprised when they read mobile boutique,” Gonzales said. “There are a lot of people that don’t believe we have the store inside the truck, but we like all the people’s faces when they see that we have a store inside a truck.”
While Le Trendy leads the way in fashion on wheels, other boutiques in El Paso have been slow to catch on. Despite having the momentary monopoly on fashion trucks, Gonzales believes it would be great to see more trucks around town.
“We haven’t heard about any other store opening their mobile boutique, but we think it will be great to show El Paso that we are a full of potential, people with great vision and good taste that are opening cool and unique businesses in the city,” Gonzales said.
Sophomore speech pathology major Vibrianna Avila is not a frequent shopper, nor a someone who frequents boutiques, and she said she does not know if El Paso is the right place for mobile boutiques, but nonetheless will go if she sees one.
“I think, in El Paso, we are barely getting to that point of there being boutiques, and it’s starting to be like a trend-setting thing,” Avila said. “I think that’s really cool. I would think of something like that happening in bigger cities. I’m not sure exactly how it will take off, but that’s something I would definitely go to.”
Anyone who wants to know where the Le Trendy truck will be can find location notifications on their Instagram page, @le_trendy. The next time you go out to shop, you just might find the best option on wheels sitting in the lane right next to you.
Javier Cortez may be reached at [email protected].
