‘Boutique Week’ to make Lexington debut as shops work to reopen, reconnect

Most Lexington residents have heard of Burger Week, Pizza Week and even Craft Beer Week, annual celebrations put on by local businesses to celebrate the city’s food culture.

But this year, a new themed week full of discounts and deals is making its Lexington debut—Boutique Week.

From Saturday, June 27, to Friday, July 3, over a dozen clothing stores will be offering discounts on popular items, a category of items or their entire inventories.

John Nunnelley, a sales representative with no affiliation with event planning, came up with the idea after listening to a podcast episode about a woman who organized a similar event in Long Beach, California.

“It made me start to wonder what we don’t have,” Nunnelley said. “Especially at a time like right now, I thought it might be helpful if we celebrated (boutiques) in a way similar to how Burger Week gets people out and about to restaurants.”

Nunnelley called local boutique owners, and once enough seemed receptive to the idea, he created an email account, FaceBook Group and Instagram profile to organize and publicize the event.

As of June 24th, 23 boutiques had confirmed participation: Cotton Patch of Kentucky, Peggy’s Gifts & Accessories, JamesC Boutique, Violets Boutique, AJ’s Casuals, Sugar Belle’s, Pirie Boutique, Peacocks & Pearls Boutique, As You Go Boutique, The Black Market Boutique, Story Boutique, Steel Mill and Co., Two Chicks and Company, Monkee’s, The Fluffy Flamingo Boutique, Peplum, Omar + Elsie, Bella Rose, Serendipity, Worlds Apart, Morton James, Calypso Boutique and Street Scene.

Nunnelley said he is open to other stores that wish to be part of Boutique Week and encouraged them to contact him through the event’s social media pages or at boutiqueweek.lexky@gmail.com.

Peggy Queen, owner of Peggy’s Gifts & Accessories, said she is excited to be a part of the event.

“I just think it’s a great way to highlight the boutiques in Lexington and maybe get some customers that aren’t aware that we’re here,” she said.

Peggy’s Gifts & Accessories will likely offer a discount in the clothing category during Boutique Week, Queen said.

Other boutiques are looking at this event as a chance to retain some aspects of pre-coronavirus normalcy in their stores.

Peacocks & Pearls Boutique owner Sidney Lamanna said they are excited to be open again after the COVID-19 shutdown and see new and returning customers visit their store.

Lamanna said that her boutique is working on ideas for the week and hopes the event helps further increase store traffic for all small business owners.

Nunnelley said he is unsure how much foot traffic the event will attract, especially since he isn’t organizing a marketing budget or requiring interested customers to sign up beforehand.

“I didn’t want to presume to ask anyone to pay for something that’s never happened before,” he said. “I thought that we’d just try to do a grassroots effort this first year and if it’s successful, maybe the stores will be interested in putting together some kind of marketing budget next year.”

As long as the store owners think that it is a success, Nunnelley plans to make Boutique Week an annual event.

“I’d love to have it again next year,” he said. “It can grow into something as popular and official to stores and customers as Burger Week or Pizza Week.”