Moses Lake clothing store closing after 45 years
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald Pinky’s Shop of Fashion owners Kim Jasper and her mother Barbara Bailey, who have decided to close the boutique after 45 years selling women’s clothes in Moses Lake.
MOSES LAKE — Forty-five years is a long time to be in business.
But after 45 years, Pinky’s Shop of Fashion in downtown Moses Lake is going out of business.
“It’s emotional,” said Kim Jasper, daughter of founder Barbara Bailey and one of the shop’s co-owners. “Our customers are our friends.”
“We’ve worked here half our lives,” she added.
Founded in the early 1970s, Pinky’s still feels a bit out of time, like it still belongs to another era. Bailey said that she and her sister started Pinky’s Shop of Fashion as a place to sell a nicer kind of women’s clothes.
“We had an opportunity to open a store, that’s what my sister always wanted,” Bailey said. “We named it Pinky, after my sister. It was more of a catchy name. She had red hair.”
Jasper said that Pinky’s will be open as long as it takes to clear out the current stock.
“Until the merchandise is gone. There’s a storewide sale,” she said.
In a letter posted on the Pinky’s Facebook page, Jasper said “prices will be reduced up to 70 percent off throughout the store.”
“We want to thank you, with all our hearts, for being our loyal customers throughout these many years. Our wish for all of you is good health, love and joy,” she wrote.
As Bailey and Jasper talk, customers come and go, exchanging hugs and sad words and “thank you’s” for all the years.
“I first came down here in the Christmas of 1983, when we moved from California,” said Cindy Fancher, a long-time customer. “I was a sophomore in high school.”
“That’s a nice memory,” Fancher said. “My mother still comes in here when they visit from California.”
She added that her three daughters once called Pinky’s “a mom store,” but have now started buying clothes there as well.
“Quality clothes that last,” Fancher added. “Just like our friendship.”
Nothing specific has driven Pinky’s from business, Jasper said. It’s just time to close and move on.
“I own an RV Park, and I will still be working there full time,” Jasper said. “And I do agility trials with my dog Ruckus. So I’ll be busy.”
Jasper owns and manages Cougar Campers, an RV park on Wheeler Road about 5 miles east of Moses Lake.
“I also plan to take my mom to lunch,” she added.
Bailey, however, isn’t sure exactly what she will do once the store sells the last of its merchandise and closes its doors.
“It’s been wonderful, we have a lot of friends, it’s been a lovely time,” she said. “What’ll I do? That’s a good question.”
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.