I absolutely love downtown!  I  love the owners and the businesses that find their way there.  With a locally owned business, the store becomes an expression of the owner, of their personality.  Its merchandise, design, merchandizing, and mission – are like a microcosom, a mini representation of the person whose in charge.  Most people are in business because they passionately believe in or love what they are selling.  Every day, they get to share their expertise with you, the customer.

Take me, for example, I love fashion and literature and I think women are pretty cool cats, so I totally enjoy how clothing can be an expression of our unique personalities. When you dress how you love, it is like a poster board that says, “this is who I am.” Similarly, when you come into our stores, you get a sense of who I am.  I am an Audrey Hepburn with a little Amelia Earhart and Jane Austen mixed in.  That’s why you’ll find classic styling paired with a little adventure and punctuated with a desire to see women be themselves, even if it is a bit counter culture.   I dig classy, bohemian, lacy and feminine, rocker, artistic and outdoorsy all because either I have a bit of all of those in my own personality or I have a friend who does.  My desire is that within our two stores and 10,000 square feet, women will find a style that is an expression of who they are and who they want to become.  I bet if you asked any other small business owner, they would say something similar about their passion and its expression within their business.

So why am I ranting about how cool local business people are?  Because if you don’t shop your local stores, you are just, plain missing out!  In about two weeks, we at Fashion Crossroads will be joining a locally owned marketing firm to be a part of their summer fashion show event that celebrates shopping local.  It will feature several downtown Casper businesses. This is just the kind of thing that makes me LOVE downtown.  We’ll have some food from a local restaurant and great brews from our fabulous downtown brewery.  We will meet in the future location of of the downtown plaza on a summer night.  And we’ll combine a boutique, western store, gift store, second hand store and a bead store to create a spring trend fashion show that will be a whole lot of fun.  How cool is that?

So mark your calendar for Saturday, May 30th to join us for this great event if you are lucky enough to live in Casper, Wyoming.  If not, get your hiney downtown and visit your local businesses.