A Personal Touch
The boutique of our dreams

When you walk into Sassy Lady, the last thing you could expect is to be ignored. In fact, Sassy Lady prides itself on its personal, one-on-one service. The four women who own Sassy Lady - all of whom own other businesses - aren’t worried about competition from the bigger chains or department stores.

“We talked about why we leave town to go shopping, and we thought that’s what we need to focus our attention on,” said Lynne Johnson, one of the owners of Sassy Lady. “That personal touch. Where do you find that anymore?”

“When we get something in that we know one of our customers is looking for or might like, we will pick up the phone and call them and say it is in the store - come see it, “ co-owner Pat Drake said. It’s the things you just don’t get anymore with larger stores. Sassy Lady also maintains an extensive e-mail list and will advise customers when a new line arrives.

Sassy Lady started in January of 2003 with the little idea of holding several truck shows each year. However, the business quickly grew and is now open Monday - Friday 10 - 6 and Saturday from 10 - 4 at 4111 N Prospect in Peoria Heights, IL. Sassy Lady offers brands names that aren’t available in the area and the store targets women aged 30 and older.

Sassy Lady helps shoppers find the perfect outfit by assessing the customer’s body type, fashion personality, color season and offering suggestions about what looks good. “We won’t let our customers out the door in something that just doesn’t look good on them,” Drake said. “You’ll definitely get honesty from us!”

Upon walking inside the store, a customer is greeted by music and a comfortable seating area at the back of the store. Each piece of clothing on the racks was selected because of its “sass” or flair and uniqueness. While being unqiue, Sassy Lady strives to carry clothing that looks wonderful, but is comfortable to wear.

“All of our clothes have some zip or sass to them, some beading, embroidery,” Diana Gustin, co-owner stated, such as handpainted artist pieces, along with evening wear and everything in between.

Each owner also has some sassiness to her personality, hence the name, Drake said, who, along with Johnson, are described as the “dramatic” ones. Gustin and Cindy Neal are more conservative, which is a nice balance. “We don’t want to get too far out,” Cindy quipped.

The idea for the store was hatched shortly after the four women - all admitted shopaholics - returned from a four-day shopping trip to Texas. “We were talking about our desire to open a clothing store,” Drake said. “The idea grew and flourished after that trip.”

The women started planning and researching, scouting locations and settling initially on the Peoria Riverfront. Before a year was up, Sassy Lady knew it needed to have a larger space, centralized location and more convenient operating hours. We started looking and, shortly thereafter, 4111 N Prospect went on the market and we were fortunate enough to buy a lovely building that now houses Sassy Lady, a beauty salon, Express Personnel and a church office. Sassy Lady has two large display windows, free parking, a great location and the wonderful business networking of Peoria Heights! We also hired Becky Frankel-Clifton to run the store on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. That enables the four of us to still work one day every other week at the store and every fourth Saturday with Becky.

We also bring our collective knowledge of the business world to the store. Lynne owns a real estate company called Lynneterprises, Diana owns and operates Joan’s Trophy & Plaque Company with her husband, Don; Pat owns and operates a medical staffing business called Fidelity On Call; and Cindy owns Express Personnel Services, a staffing business.

We have known each other for many years, are members of the National Association of Women Business Owners, and have traveled extensively together to business conferences. “We all get along really well,” Diana said. That helps when making tough business decisions. We have one fast and true rule - at least three have to agree. Our suppliers say they’ve never seen a group agree the way we do.

Business aside, perhaps the best part of running Sassy Lady is that it’s fun! And, we all love the customer service and the friendships that have occurred because of the store.

Sassy Lady has a lower level with a kitchen (including a microwave, refrigerator and dining area) where we host parties or conferences. Red Hat Clubs, church groups and others have all enjoyed a time shopping and then celebrating with fun and food in the basement. WE also offer seminars on how to know your body type, fashion personality, and fashion season.