20150706_155151By Celeste McLaughlin

For clothes and customer service you can’t find at the mall, visit la Pink Boutique in The Walk at Highwoods Preserve shopping center, off of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd, in New Tampa, next to Men’s Wearhouse.

Amy Crumpton owns la Pink, which opened in its current location in 2006 when Amy named it for her favorite color. “Everything in my world should be pink,” she laughs, but adds that the store offers much more than just her favorite color.

“We are a ladies boutique that offers clothing of all types,” Amy says. “We have dresses for most occasions, although we don’t carry formal wear. We currently have a great collection of summer styles, and we also carry shoes, jewelry, scarves and other items such as Vera Bradley totes, purses and backpacks.”

Meadow Pointe resident Marge Brush says la Pink is her favorite place to shop. “It’s a fantastic store with an incredible staff,” Marge says. “They are so nice and always greet me by name. They make me feel so comfortable, and a little bit special, too.”

Marge says boutique shopping is often thought of as too expensive, and that many people think there’s not enough in a single store for them – or that nothing will fit them — but none of that is true at la Pink. “It’s actually very affordable,” Marge says. “And there’s something for everyone, no matter what size you are.” 

Marge likes to shop at the store with her daughter, Tracy Dachisen, who also lives in Meadow Pointe. 

20150706-1259486577“I always find quality products at a great price,” Tracy says, “and I enjoy the entire experience from the moment I walk in the door.” 

In addition to buying clothes for herself, Tracy says she likes to shop at the boutique for gifts for her son’s teachers, such as fun jewelry or Vera Bradley bags. 

“My husband knows my favorite gift is a la Pink gift card!,” Tracy smiles.

Marge adds, “People who shop anywhere in that plaza, The Walk at Highwoods Preserve, should definitely stop in la Pink Boutique and see what you’ve been missing all these years. If you don’t go in and see what they have, you’ll never know.”

Tracy says she and her mom are frequent shoppers of what Amy says is one of her most popular items: a line of bracelets known as Bourbon & Boweties. “These bangle bracelets are made locally in Brandon by an artist who has collected stones over many years of travel and began fashioning them into gifts for her friends. She started out making bracelets in her garage and is now selling to Nordstrom’s.”

Amy explains that the bracelets include stones, coins, pearls and other decorations. Because they are handmade, each one is unique. 

“If you’ve traveled and have coins from the places you’ve visited, Bourbon & Boweties can make them into a bracelet for you,” Amy says. “A couple of our customers have brought their items into our store and done just that.”

She adds, “We just started carrying these bracelets about a year ago, and the number of them that we’ve sold is amazing.” You can see pictures of the Bourbon & Boweties bracelets in la Pink Boutique’s current ad on page 45 of this issue.

“Boutique shopping is different,” Amy explains. “People come here (instead of a mall) because they don’t want what everyone else has. What we offer here is unique.”

In addition to the Bourbon and Boweties bracelets, la Pink Boutique is proud to offer many other items from local designers. 

For example, the store carries Lindsay Phillips shoes, a line of footwear with interchangeable snap embellishments so ladies can change the look of their shoes without buying a new pair. All they have to do is purchase a new emblem and snap it onto the toes of their shoes. The designer was born and raised in Clearwater, and actually came up with the concept for her shoes in a high school art class, and has now built a thriving business from her original ideas.

la Pink also was the first boutique to sell shirts, camis and leggings from Lutz designer Tees by Tina, who now has five stores of her own, in cities such as Sarasota and even Charleston, SC. 

20150706367703032The Business Of Giving Back

Amy is passionate about supporting businesses that give back, so she carries several lines of items in her store that support people in need around the world. For example, 31 Bits gives displaced women in Uganda an opportunity to combat their poverty by becoming artisans. Pilgrim Imports is a line of “fair trade” gifts and ornaments made in Thailand, and proceeds from these items help to send children to school. Simbi bracelets provide jobs for the people of Haiti, and a portion of the sales is used to provide water filtration systems throughout the country.

“We’re all going through our regular days and don’t always think about what’s going on in the world,” says Amy. “If we’re going to spend our hard-earned money on something, why not do it helping people in bad situations? We all have to work together to make a difference in the world.”

In addition to these global impacts, la Pink is dedicated to supporting local schools. 

“We donate to schools pretty much whenever we’re asked,” Amy says. “Mostly, we provide items from the store to be used in supporting events, silent auctions and raffles.”

la Pink’s Staff

la Pink recently hired Emily Wingate, a University of South Florida student who will graduate in August, as the store’s social media specialist. She’s in the store “pretty much every day,” Amy says, and keeps its products and specials front and center for customers who follow la Pink’s social media accounts.

 “We’re on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter,” Amy says, “and we’re constantly updating our social media to post a lot of pictures of items available in the store.”

She explains that they also keep a list of all the “crazy holidays,” as she calls them, so they can recognize them. “For example, on ‘Zipper Day,’ we offered 30-percent-off anything in the store with a zipper.” Other “holidays” the store has created a special for include “Chocolate Day” and “Button Day.”

Amy says these specials are only available on Facebook, so be sure to “like” and follow the store’s Facebook page to get these exclusive offers. Simply type in “la Pink Boutique Tampa” in the Facebook search engine. You’ll know you’ve found the right page if the address is on Highwoods Preserve Pkwy.

 “Also, we expect to have our website live within a month,” Amy says, who is excited to share the store’s offerings through this new channel, although she notes that items in the store will not be available to purchase online. “If you see something you like online, we’ll gladly hold it for you until you can get to the store.” To find out when the website is up and running, be sure to regularly check la Pink’s Facebook page.

In addition to Emily and Amy, the staff includes two long-time employees who offer excellent customer service to everyone who walks through the door.

Of the nine years la Pink has been open, Judi Kusha has worked there for seven years and Lori Hairston has worked there for eight. With that kind of longevity, the sales group really works as a team and is very much in synch when it comes to both knowing the products and serving the customers.

Amy has lived in Hunter’s Green for the past 15 years, and lived in Tampa Palms before that. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Management from the University of Tampa in 1990. After opening la Pink in its current location in 2006, she expanded it in 2010, taking over the vacant space next door to approximately double the store’s size to its current 2,000 square feet.

“My plan is to stay put,” Amy says. “I’ve been told to move my business to South Tampa because people think I’d do much better there, but I live in New Tampa and this is where I want to be. New Tampa needs this type of shop, and embraces it.”

la Pink Boutique (18035 Highwoods Preserve Pkwy., in the same plaza as Best Buy), is open Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.- 6 p.m., and 10 a.m.-5 p.m on Sat. It is closed on Sun. For more information, call 972-2862, “like” the la Pink Boutique Tampa page on Facebook or see the ad on pg. 45. 

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