Chrisie Styles Fundraiser

About this campaign

Hello and thank you very much for your support and interest in my business. My name is Christine Hooper, I am the owner of Chrisie Styles Boutique. Chrisie Styles is an online and mobile boutique for full-figured women, featuring a variety of affordable plus size clothes and accessories and was established in May 2015. I started my business out of frustration; due to the disparity between straight and plus size options readily available in my local mall and in retail stores in my area. The selections that were available were sub-par, so I decided to start my own plus size boutique. After a year of being online only with the occasional pop-up or participating in vendor events, I decided I needed an offline presence. I couldn't figure out how to exactly achieve this until I saw a fashion truck at the local flea market near my home. I explored this new trend and realized it was very popular and widely accepted on the West Coast and is picking up steam in other countries. A year later I had my own boutique on wheels. I purchased an old 1988 Chevy P30 Step Van from a man who had a Wise Chip route in NYC. After getting her home and beginning the build out to refurbish her into a beautiful mobile boutique, I began to experience a tremendous amount of mechanical issue and was ripped off by two contractors. Once the truck was complete on the inside, I hit the road! I ran out of money and couldn't remove the old vinyl nor was I able to get new tires as stated in the revoked NJ State Motor Vehicle Commission Inspection report. Despite an immaculate aesthetically pleasing interior design with the decorative ceiling tiles, wood floors, and accent wall painted with a vivid floral motif, I wasn't able to attract customers or get them to come inside of the truck. It was that moment I realized I couldn't take her out without removing the old lettering and getting her painted or wrapped. Both of which are extremely costly and I was unable to do. I scrapped together some pennies and was able to remove the old vinyl and paint the truck purple and pink. Currently, I do not have my logo, web address, contact, or social media info on the truck, which neccessary for my business to grow. I have completely depleted my savings and have had a few more mechanical issues that took precedence over the lettering tires. I am elated to have been able to drive the truck and participate in a few street fairs since this Summer's festival season has begun. I decided to launch this fundraiser to raise funds to get the lettering on the truck and to purchase two tires which are still needed according to the new mechanic. Thanks again for your interest, all contributions to my business will be greatly appreciated. I appreciate you and the time you took to read my story and participate in this fundraiser.

Thank you,

Christine Hooper

Chrisie Styles Boutique