By John Burton
HIGHLANDS – Retail has changed. It now has wheels.
Parked along Bay Avenue’s Veterans Park on the borough’s main commercial thoroughfare, visitors will find a 2001 model 350 Ford box truck on Thursdays and Friday with racks of brightly colored women’s fashion items, hanging behind the truck and in the truck. There is also a small curtained dressing room for customers to try on clothing.
This is how Jillian Jaques approaches women’s clothing retail.
Her Penelope Traveling Boutique has been using roadside space in Highlands since April after securing a permit through a raffle. She also appears at the Saturday farmer’s market in Huddy Park, the weekend flea market in Keyport and business-to-business events.
“Anywhere they’ll let me park” is where she will go.
Jaques sells new fashion items, many of them one of a kind, that she handpicks and purchases in New York City at manufacturers’ closeouts and sample sales from various vendors and fashion insiders she has dealt with in the past.
Her selections, which she describes as “eclectic, bohemian chic,” range in size from extra small to extra-extra large.
“I’ve been compared to Urban Outfitters and Anthropolgie,” she said.
“That’s certainly the look,” Jaques said, “but that’s not the price.”
The idea of mobile retail is relatively new but has been gaining momentum, she said.
It has become hot, especially on the West Coast, following the success food trucks have had in recent years. The concept has become a fresh way – especially for young business owners – to embark on a career in fashion and retail beyond the traditional brick and mortar and even online, she said.
Jaques knows about traditional retail. The 33-year-old Middletown native, who now lives in Long Branch, earned her degree at the Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.) and then worked in fashion merchandising, fashion wholesale marketing, fragrance marketing and product development. She opened a traditional storefront boutique in Campbell’s Junction, a small collection of shops in the Belford section of Middletown. The shop was also named Penelope Boutique, with Jaques naming that venture in honor of Penelope Stout, a 17th– and 18th-century woman who was one of Monmouth County’s first and earliest settlers. She was taken captive initially by local Native Americans after landing on Sandy Hook and lived to be 110.
“I’m a local history buff,” Jaques said. “It was an interesting tie-in to the area … I don’t think she is ever given enough credit.”
Jaques operated her store for about five years, giving it up for “a too-good-to-be-true job offer in the (New York) city.” Unfortunately, Jaques eventually was laid off from that position She moved on to selling items on eBay and Instagram before tackling mobile retailing.
“It was the right move,” she said about getting the truck and taking her show, and business on the road.
“Instead of waiting for customers to come to me,” the venture also spares her the cost of renting store space.
On a recent Friday as she rummaged through the collection, customer Eileen McCoy, a Highlands resident shopping with her sister and a couple of friends, announced, “This is wonderful! It’s so eclectic and fun.”
Jaques was happy her customers “seemed pleased” and advised them if they saw something they should buy it now, because the limitations of her stock made it likely the item wouldn’t be there when she returned.
Some communities, however, don’t share McCoy’s and Jaques’ passion for the idea of buying and selling out of the back of a truck – at least not yet, Jaques said.
“I approached pretty much all the municipalities along the shore,” she said. So far, with the exception of Highlands, officials have not been not been won over by the idea.
“The concept is so new and many towns feel it may hurt their established businesses,” she said.
She disagrees. “I don’t think I’m competition” to existing stores, but one more attraction for shoppers. “Each business has its own identity.”
This fall Jaques will look to partner with restaurants in Highlands as part of a weekend happy-hour promotion. If her traveling clothing boutique takes off, Jaques hopes to maybe get a bigger truck or maybe a couple of them if things go really well. She also hopes to expand her inventory, branching out to children’s and possibly men’s items down the road.
“I’m thinking about having some flannel and thermal (shirts)” for men, who increasingly are pulling over to look for something for their wives and girlfriends when they see Jaques’ truck.
Information about where Jaques and her truck will be located is available by checking the Facebook page for Penelope Traveling Boutique.
