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NORTH LIMA – After operating as a mobile business for for nine years, Kerry Florie-Wilson will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at her new boutique in North Lima on Aug. 19.
She is known as the “Bling Bling Lady” and her Bling Bling Ladies Boutique grew from her mobile boutique which has seen throughout the tri-state area.
The new boutique is located at 11440 Market St. in North Lima, but she will be located squarely on the midway with two tents at the Columbiana County Fair starting on Monday.
It will be her fifth Columbiana County Fair and for a 1989 Lisbon David Anderson High School graduate, it’s always a great homecoming.
Bling, which is pretty much rhinestones and glitter, is her passion and she keeps reaching higher and higher.
Now, with a permanent boutique location and two 36-foot buses performing as mobile showcases, Florie-Wilson is gaining market share and positioning her business to dominate the Tri-State area.
The buses are stocked with Miss Me jeans and plus sizes, Vocal Clothing and along with purses, wallets, jewelry, belts sunglasses, shoes, there are many more “Queen of the Bling” items.
It’s a year-round business with five employees.
“Two for each bus,” she said, “and one back at the boutique. I am the first mobile boutique in Ohio. I’m the original Bling Bling Lady.”
There’s a salute-the-flag certainty in her voice when she says that and it’s with good reason.
Competitors have sprung up and Florie-Wilson knows they are trying to copy her marketing techniques, run knock-offs of her products, and dig into her customer base … they’re also learning it’s hard to beat “the original.”
It took about three years for title “Bling Bling Lady” to stick, she said.
“Nobody knows me by Kerry.”
She was a vendor at Salem Bike Week three weeks ago and despite two days of rain, said she did well and expects to return next year.
One of Florie-Wilson’s specialties is custom shirts and a week ago at the Niki Feezle CF Explosion of Hope Foundation concert in Petersburg she was set up as a vendor.
She took advantage of an opportunity to meet Steve Branch of the country and western duo, Branch and Dean.
She noticed that Branch “blinged out” his country shirts for the stage.
“I have unique items,” she said, but custom-made goes further.
“I met him after the show and he was wearing bling on his shirt,” she recalled.
“I told him, I never met a guy who loves bling as much as I do and asked him, ‘Who does your shirts?’ He said that he did them himself but didn’t have the time.
“I said, ‘I’d be blessed if I could do them … and I will be, ‘” she explained.
“He’s going to promote my business in different states and hopefully I’ll be making many trips to Nashville.”
From the Roger’s Sale to Nashville.
“This is going to open up a big opportunity,” she said, adding, “God’s always opening doors for me.”
Her personal history is that, “all through high school I was called ‘Sparkles.’
“Even my teachers called me ‘Sparkles’ because I wore a lot of jewelry … my mom said I was going to kindergarten with bling on.”