Price Cuts Fashionable at ‘Bargain Boutique’

Need a three-piece wool suit for $18.25? Or a wedding gown for $67.50?

The Salvation Army has opened a “bargain boutique” for high-end clothing at its South Main Street store in Santa Ana.

Five other Salvation Army thrift stores in Orange County already have boutiques dedicated to designer clothes, and new or nearly new clothes.

But the low prices at other boutiques--$36.50 for the gray wool suit--were not always enough to move the merchandise.

So the Salvation Army opened the “bargain boutique” in Santa Ana, where prices were cut in half for clothing that did not sell in other boutiques.

The Salvation Army hopes that proceeds from the bargain boutique will benefit the organization while offering good deals for the low-income residents who live near the store at 710 S. Main St.

“It can help people who can’t afford to shop in regular stores,” spokeswoman Dawn Marks said. “It also helps the people who really need it: The people who are using drugs and alcohol who are in the streets.”

Proceeds will benefit the Salvation Army’s drug rehab center for men in Anaheim. The organization also is raising money to open a center for women.

The boutique, on the second floor of an existing Salvation Army thrift store, opened Dec. 26. Marks said that opening day sales totaled $2,700, and daily sales after that have averaged $600.

Santa Ana resident Guadalupe Rojas, 67, said that she did not have a lot of money to spend and that the boutique clothes are a good bargain for her.

“This material is very nice,” said Rojas, fingering a mint-green Talbot’s silk dress that will go for $5.25.