El Paso's 1st Mobile Boutique
Malorie D. Mckinney is an entrepreneur, business owner, and designer. Her latest business venture is a boutique on wheels, Love Alumni Boutique. It is El Paso’s 1st mobile boutique! Malorie was motivated to create such a unique storefront inside a bus to reflect the resiliency of the amazing women who fill it. The lavender bus is able to travel anywhere in the city but also anywhere across the U.S. They focus on investing in small women-owned brands instead of investing in traditional operational expenses such as rent. The boutique still has its own operational costs just as any business does. However, being mobile allows them to be more accessible to their customers and can offer them a more convenient shopping experience. In turn, this allows customers to feel the magic, love, and hard work that comes with every single product that speaks to them when they enter the mobile boutique. Beyond being an entirely different shopping experience, it serves as a vessel of love, opportunities, and empowerment for women-owned brands, designers, and artists, and as a hub for their clients and community who are searching for visionary and original clothing, jewelry, accessories, and even art and gifts from some phenomenal entrepreneurs and designers from across the U.S.
What makes Malorie the most proud of El Paso’s 1st Mobile Boutique are the incredible, hard-working women who fill it and the incredible people who support them. Malorie and her husband pushed through to reconstruct the bus from its original state because they knew this boutique on wheels was going to help a lot of people, and it has. They are able to help women-owned brands by investing in their business to stock the mobile boutique’s shelves instead of using big mass producing corporate brands. In turn, they are able to offer these amazing products to the community, who are able to shop quality styles and products from hard-working women in El Paso and from across the U.S. The boutique not only helps these women sustain their families through their business just like their own but also, it allows the boutique to give back to their community further by investing in local non-profits and in the community. After their first month of business, the boutique was able to make a donation to the Mija Yes You Can organization. During the month of May, they are collaborating with the 21st Century Women organization and sponsoring 3 lucky young ladies to attend the digital empowerment conference that aligns them with their goals and with incredible mentors. Malorie is looking forward to giving back every month to the community that has welcomed the lavender bus so lovingly. Between the talented women who fill the boutique, their esteemed customers, supporters, and amazing market organizations such as the Upper Valley Market giving them an opportunity, they are very grateful, humbled, and proud to just be here! The outpouring of love and support from all directions makes Malorie so proud.
Fun Fact: This cute, aesthetic, and captivating lavender bus was formerly a black ice cream truck that a man had not driven for about two years. The bus needed a lot of love and a complete teardown and restoration inside and out, cosmetically and mechanically, but Malorie couldn’t be more proud of how far the bus has come!
Follow the lavender bus!
