Chapter 37: Shopping

Toni, Dana and Melanie collapsed into chairs at a café in Denver's Cherry Creek Mall, dumping packages and bags on an empty chair. A server appeared and they ordered Cokes. As they were finishing their order, Jenny appeared and ordered the same. She sat down with them and Sylvia followed closely after.

"You keep wandering off, Jen, what are you looking for?' Toni asked her.

"I'm checking every clothing store I can find for shirts.' She looked at her friends. "I've been looking for a really nice, sheer white blouse, and I can't find one anywhere.'

"What kind of sheer blouse. See-through?' Melanie asked.

"Well, sort of, ' Jenny replied, "I want something that almost shows my breasts, but not quite. It's pretty hard to find really sexy tops.'

"Don't even talk to me, ' Sylvia said.

"Funny, ' Dana said, "I've been looking for something sexy in skirts. That's hard, too.'

Melanie waved her hand dismissively, "You mean those knit tubes they call skirts?'

"No, Mel, ' Dana countered, "not those — they're awful. I mean real skirts, different lengths, with slits and stuff that look sexy. Real hard to find.'

"That's different, ' Mel agreed. "They are hard to find. Maybe we should start a new product line — Tops and Bottoms. What do you think of that?'

"You'll get every lesbian in town in your store — once at least, ' Dana said, grinning hugely.

"So?' Melanie asked, with a leer. "Just as long as they buy something, what do I care?'

Toni looked thoughtful. "You've got a point, Dana. I know some people who can come up with tops; it's not as hard as you think. But I think I'll have a fling at some of those bottoms. See what I come up with. The trick we should be able to pull off is to get them all into a single line that stands by itself. Sort of like the old Mix 'n Match idea.'

Melanie waved at the server, ordered a salad and a glass of wine. The rest followed suit. "Now, ' Mel said, "what have we got, today?'

"Not a hell of a lot, ' Jenny said. "We've checked everything in Lower Downtown, Larimer Street, then the 16th Street Mall and now Cherry Creek. Nada. Not one place that sells the kind of stuff we're doing.'

Sylvia volunteered, "I went into a couple of sex shops on Colfax. They haven't got a thing that isn't trash. No imagination. Didn't get too much time to look around, though.'

"Why not?' Jenny asked.

"Soon as I'd get in and start looking at the lingerie, they'd think I'm a kid and throw me out. No point in making a fuss, though, so I went.'

Melanie was jubilant. "Hey, that means the field is wide open. We can open stores of our own, or franchises, or get established lingerie stores to take us on as an added department, a boutique. We may have hit a niche in the market.'

"The field may be wide open, Mel, ' Toni observed, "but that doesn't mean smooth sailing. Don't forget that Victoria's Secret has a lot of really sexy clothes. We're going to have to really merchandise our stuff, if we want to get established. At least in Denver — that's all we know about. We need more information about other markets. And, Frederick's of Hollywood has upgraded their line a lot, too.'

Melanie sighed. "I just don't see why there can't be a place in that market for the independent, for the little girl, like me.'

Jenny noted, "I went through the yellow pages last weekend, you know. Called just about every lingerie shop in town. There's really no one in that business here. I agree we need to check other markets. I can get CD-ROMs of the yellow pages in some other markets, find out what's going on there.'