High-end boutique brings glamour to Goodwill

Upscale merchandise. Upscale location. But this was not your typical upscale Summerlin shopping experience.

Goodwill of Southern Nevada unveiled its high-end store, Deja Blue Boutique, Sept. 6 at 10300 W. Charleston Blvd., Suite 1. Deja Blue is a new concept for Goodwill of Southern Nevada: a shop carrying only high-end and designer gently used items.

Dark laminate flooring gave the space an upscale feel with Goodwill blue painted on the walls. Lady Gaga sang over the speaker system as patrons selected items. Shoppers reached over one another in their quests. The wall of purses was a particularly hazardous zone. The two dressing rooms had a line to the door as shoppers waited to try on clothes, their selections in blue pull-behind shopping carts.

Shoppers were happy to snatch up bargains. Vicki was from San Diego and staying at nearby Red Rock Resort. She said she saw an ad on television about the store. Her shopping cart was filled to the brim as she waited for a dressing room.

“I thought the name was catchy and the … selection here is outstanding,” she said. “There are so many top brands. Here, look at this top. It’s a Bebe.”

Another patron, Cheryl, lives in the northwest. She said when she hears the word “Goodwill,” she automatically thinks of shopping for a good deal. She came to find purses but said there were “a ton of people at that display, and you can’t tell whether they are knock-offs or not.”

Overall, what did she think of the new store?

“It’s a lot cleaner and organized,” she said. “The items are nicer.”

A back corner had toys and children’s clothing. Nearby were a selection of home items — paintings, lamps, wall decor, coffee tables and mirrors. Some items were tastefully placed around the store. One weary-looking man took advantage of a claw-foot chair to sit down and wait as his wife perused the racks.

Brands available included St. John’s Bay, Ann Taylor, Calvin Klein, Kasper, Tahari and Antonio Melani.

Jeans were in all the hot styles, with brands including Guess, Blue Asphalt and True Religion. High heels had barely worn marks on their soles and designer names worth bragging rights such as Walter Steiger and Calvin Klein. Prices are set at about a third of whatever the original cost was. Like everything else in Goodwill stores, the items are sold without charging any sales tax.

Shopper Debbie stepped outside to phone a friend. She sent photos to them and asked, “Do you like this? Do you like that? … Come up here and check it out.”

Alyn Reeves, chief operating officer of Goodwill of Southern Nevada, has been with the nonprofit for 17 years and oversaw similar Deja Blue operations — he called them “boutiques” — in Florida and California. Las Vegas, he said, was a perfect fit for the concept, and Summerlin was the perfect location.

What was his priority?

“I want to make sure that we have the quality of donations for a boutique, so name brands or collectibles or antiques,” he said. “A lot of this product we used to sell online. When you do that, you can sell to anyone in the country, but a lot of people don’t like to buy clothing online because you can’t try it on and you can’t return it. So we felt we could give a better value … out of a location like this, in Summerlin, where it is a higher household income demographic and where people are willing to pay more for it and all consolidated in one location.”

The store’s footprint is 5,000 square feet, with about 2,800 of that actual selling space. Roughly 20,000 items, Reeves estimated, are on the floor at any one time. People in Goodwill’s signature blue smocks were on hand for the feeding frenzy. As shoppers snapped up items, sales clerks replenished the racks from the back room.

Goodwill sent fliers to homes within 1.8 miles of the location, offering a $5 off coupon. But well into the first day of operations, sales associates said only about 25 percent of customers presented the coupon. Customer service people who were working the cash registers said the day’s top-sellers were jeans and women’s spaghetti strap tops.

The merchandise in the store came from any of the 42 donation locations around the valley, but only items considered the creme de la creme were selected for Deja Blue.

“There is a huge customer base that maybe does not want to shop a traditional Goodwill store, but they would like to shop a Goodwill boutique store,” Reeves said. “There’s always a customer for every thing. Everyone has different wants and tastes and desires.”

The opening of Deja Blue created eight new jobs, and the sale of merchandise, as with every Goodwill store, funds its job placement and training programs. Since Jan. 1, Goodwill of Southern Nevada has helped more than 1,300 people find jobs at businesses around the valley. Anyone who is interested in Goodwill’s job placement help can call Career Connections at 702-214-2025.

Deja Blue is open daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information, call 702-586-1100 or visit sngoodwill.org/shop/deja-blue-boutique.

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 702-387-2949.