It’s late Friday night and Jill Tanner is hoping more than five people attend the grand opening of her new women’s boutique store in Hobbs the next morning.
When she arrived Saturday at 8 a.m. — two hours before the grand opening — shoppers were already standing in line. By the time the ribbon cutting took place, around 100 eager shoppers formed a line reminiscest of a Black Friday sale. “This is crazy!” Jill said minutes after the front door opened0 to Southern Honey Boutique, located in the southwest corner of Hobbs Plaza at Bender and Turner streets. “My goal was to have more I never expected it to be like this. This is so exciting. I just hope they all like what we have to offer. I think they will.”
What’s offered are enough women’s tops, pants, shoes, jackets and jewelry and other items to build an entire wardrobe.
“Hopefully lots of outfits,” Jill said. “We wanted to bring in items that are affordable to the ‘everyday girl.’ Whether you want to dress up, or go to the grocery store or to a football game, we want to have clothing that you feel comfortable with and pretty in.”
With Saturday’s opening, Jill is now an owner of two stores. The Monument native and Hobbs High graduate opened her first store in her current home of Stephenville, Texas. She brought three employees from Stephenville to help with the set up of the store. Her goal was to open before the end of October, just as the holiday season begins.
“We know that this is the busiest time of year for retail,” she said, “and we wanted to get here and set up as soon as we could. We put the whole store together in three weeks, from the time we signed the lease until now. My girls from Stephenville, of which three came here to help, have been working overtime, seven days a week trying to get the store ready.”
Along with the three Stephenville employees, Jill has three employees from Hobbs and a host of friends who have volunteered to help with the grand opening. And all of them were busy. Jill’s father worked as crowd control, working the front door letting a few shoppers in as some exited.
“I didn’t even plan for that,” Jill said. “My dad is working the door, how crazy is that. We had each girl assigned a task to do today, but we didn’t think we would need crowd control.”
The big opening proves how excited Hobbs shoppers are for another retail outlet close to home, and that excites the new business owner.
“It makes me feel really happy that they want us here,” Jill said. “Because you never know. Especially for me, living in Stephenville and being gone from home for about 10-12 years. I come home often to visit my family, but the crowd has changed so much and now something like what we offer is wanted here in Hobbs. That makes me happy because you never know.”
With tops ranging from $15-$40 and jeans from $40-$80, Jill said the store’s tops and staple pieces are kept around $20-$30.
“For ‘cute and affordable’ the shoppers will come,” Jill said. “I am one of those shoppers. I live on a budget and I want cute stuff that I can buy.”
Southern Honey Boutique is open Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.