Her Passion For Fashion Is In The Groove
Omigosh. Real bell-bottoms - and the denim’s faded just right and worn to that soft stage that feels so good against the skin. How much?
“$28,” says the stunning salesgirl who’s so young she probably lumps together bell-bottoms and togas in the same chapter of ancient history. What’s she doing in a place called “Groovin’ Garb?”
But wait. Look at what she’s wearing: a Kool-Aid green, knee-length, waist-less dress right out of the ‘60s. A fluffy white cardigan sweater. Plop a pillbox hat on her wild dark hair and she could almost replace Jackie in any 1962 White House family photo.
“I’ve always liked these clothes,” she says, motioning to racks of polyester shirts, wrap-around skirts and plaid pantsuits. “This is my dream.”
Melissa Peterson’s dream is a midtown Coeur d’Alene hole-in-the-wall shop decorated with cloth tapestries and mildly scented with incense. Her Fourth Street store’s a step above yard-sale and a floor below Nordstrom’s Rack in that ever-growing category called “vintage.”
She opened it last month, five months after graduating from Coeur d’Alene High. At first, Melissa joked about owning a store. She’d collected so many clothes from years of garage-sale shopping that her parents were annoyed with the mess.
But the more she thought about it, the more appealing a store became. She expanded her hole-free, second-hand clothes collection to include funky ashtrays, glassware, patent-leather purses.
Melissa deflected questions about college. She’d go, someday, but the store came first.
Once she found a spot she could afford, opening was easy. Her father built her clothing racks and she moved in, Tupperware cash-box and all.
“Business has been a lot better than I expected,” she says. “I already made way more than the rent.”
Expansion already is on her mind. Vintage clothing by day, a coffee house by night.
“I get things in my head and just do them,” she says. “There’s something about being your own boss. Every sale’s exciting.”
And so are those bell-bottoms. Have any in size 9?
O Christmas Tree
Don’t underestimate the power of a small town. Bonners Ferry came through big-time for Boundary County Community Hospital’s first Festival of Trees earlier this month.
Janice Hunter pulled together the decorated tree auction and added some wreaths and centerpieces. She turned it into a formal affair and people piled in.
“I don’t know what happened to Bonners Ferry,” she says. “But people couldn’t buy enough.”
The festival raised $30,000 - three times the amount Janice had hoped. The money will buy trauma equipment for the hospital’s urgent care unit.
Cheap escape
The Coeur d’Alene Public Library, with help from Windermere Coeur d’Alene Realty, Idaho Forest Industries and the Windermere Foundation, gave books to Anchor House, St. Vincent’s Transitional Housing and some select seniors for Thanksgiving.
But you can do the same anytime. Give the book that thrilled you most recently to your local senior center, hospital, shelter, even food bank.
If it took you far away from snow, bleak skies and everyday chores, help someone else escape this Christmas.
Thanks for the memories
My Christmas present to me is a glance at the year’s columns that included warm-hearted Coeur d’Alene mailmen Ray Jobes and Larry Strobel, feisty Harley-riding Mary McFarland of Clark Fork, Coeur d’Alene’s gracious Moto Sato the embroiderer and Sandpoint’s Africa-adventurer Tina Friedman.
Who’s given you hope this year or opened your eyes to something new? Sing his or her praises to Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID, 83814; FAX to 765-7149; call 765-7128; or e-mail to cynthiat@spokemsman.com.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo