by Haven Lewis–
Sundee Best, a local retail business, is taking over the previous location of Clothes Rack on Main Street in Blacksburg, Va. The boutique is set to open its doors April 8.
The business began as an online store in April 2015. By the end of that following summer, Sundee Best launched their fashion truck.
According to Stacey Jischke-Steffe, co-founder and president of American Mobile Retail Association, the industry is growing significantly with nearly 1,000 fashion trucks nation wide.
“A lot of it’s been blood, sweat and tears,” says owner, Ashleigh Garnes. “We refurbished the truck ourselves. It took us all summer but it was paid with love and hugs and free dinner.”
Sundee Best’s fashion truck has traveled to numerous festivals and fairs within a two-hour radius. It’s made additional appearances on Virginia Tech’s Drillfield and Radford University’s campus.
Despite the opening of the boutique, the fashion truck will still be an integral part of the business.
Garnes says it was her goal to open a store within 3-5 years of her online launch, but she wasn’t looking for a spot at all when she heard about the Main Street location.
“It’s meant to be because of the way that it fell into place and all of the things that have happened to lead up to this point,” says Garnes.
The property’s “for rent” sign went up at the end of January. Garnes toured the site and thought it was the perfect size – not too big, not too small. Everything was finalized by February 1 and she was given the keys on the second week of March.
Garnes is enthusiastic about the future of her business. She says that she wants Sundee Best to be known not only for great clothes, but for great customer service.
An in-store celebration is planned for April 29 with new arrivals and surprises.
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