This summer, Laraine Babbitt took over as the new owner of the longtime local clothing boutique, Sunflower Fashions and she recently celebrated her new life’s venture with a grand reopening.
Taking place Thursday, Sept. 12, the Grand Reopening included a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony as well, to mark Sunflower Fashions’ new membership with the Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce.
“Everything went fantastic! I probably had 25 ladies here,” Babbitt raved afterward, clearly delighted with the turnout. “The majority of them were my friends with Ms. Senior Golden Years and Nevada Silver Tappers and they were all buying stuff! I had to order more purses, I had to order more clothes. I did very, very well for a grand reopening. It also happened to have been my birthday, too, so it was great, some of the ladies brought me gifts and things. It was just wonderful.”
Babbitt said she is thrilled not only with the results of the grand reopening but with her success overall thus far. Sunflower Fashions has always maintained a strong clientele base and Babbitt was excited to report that even more residents are learning about what her store has to offer.
“I have gotten so much feedback from the Times article last month about me taking over the store,” Babbitt remarked. “I’ve had people come in and tell me, ‘Oh, I saw that article and I didn’t even know this was here!’ So it’s definitely helping to get the word out more and draw in some new customers.”
One of the goals Babbitt set for herself when acquiring Sunflower Fashions from former owner Patti Vitz was to continue Vitz’s legacy of philanthropy and Babbitt is already living up to that goal. She hosted her first fashion show in Las Vegas for Green Valley Methodist Church’s City Chorus Choir and it was quite an experience. She said she learned a lot and is looking forward to her next, which is coming up in just a few weeks in Pahrump.
“We’ll be doing a fashion show for the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Foundation in October, to help raise some funds for their scholarship program,” Babbitt explained. “I’m really excited, it should be a great time and it’s such a great cause.”
Babbitt is also planning an initiative in November to support the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #10054 Veterans’ Food Bank in honor of both Veterans Day and Thanksgiving.
Readers can look for details on those event in an upcoming edition of the Pahrump Valley Times.
Sunflower Fashions is open Monday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The shop is located at 1141 S. Highway 160, Suite #7, in the shopping plaza off Postal Drive.
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com