A passion for shopping at second-hand stores made Auburn resident Noelle Green want to open her own upscale resale boutique.

She and longtime friend Vicky Orbea of Roseville opened Chic Boutique in mid-January in North Auburn. The two have been friends for 15 years.

“I love shopping in general,” Green said this week. “This is something fun I enjoy and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

The store is on the site of a previous used clothing store, also called Chic Boutique.

“The previous owner put up a sign that she was going out of business, so I bought it from her,” Green explained.

She officially took over the business in December and after a big sale to move out most of the inventory, she remodeled.

“We repainted the ceiling, added track lighting, did more of a boutique style feel,” Orbea said. “We did faux finishing on the walls. We tore out the carpet and redid the floors.”

“We want to have people feel like they’re in the boutique atmosphere and want to focus more on the designer high-end items,” Green said.

Orbea, who works on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, is quick to point out that they don’t use a consignment shop formula. In fact, they don’t accept consignments.

“We pay cash and buy (the items) outright,” she said. “We offer 50 percent of what we’d sell the item for in-store credit or pay 35 percent in cash. We give you the option.”

The shop carries clothing, purses and jewelry — both new and used items.

“We have suits, dresses, casual and dress pants, lots of jeans, skirts — short and long, shoes, lots of purses, lots of jewelry. There also are coats and jackets,” Orbea said.

The jewelry includes a few items by local designer Holly O’Banion.

One corner is devoted to upscale purses, with items from Betsy Johnson, Dooney & Bourke and Coach.

“We’re very selective,” Orbea said. “The designers we’re trying to bring in add the quality. No one wants to buy damaged clothing. Right now we have selected winter items on sale and we’re bringing in spring items — capris and summer tops.”

Green brings experience as a business owner with West Coast Imaging, a company handling X-ray exams for dentists. She and her husband, Chris, are raising five sons and a daughter.

Orbea and her husband have four children and own their own painting business in Roseville, specializing in faux finishes.

With the doors open a month and a half, response to the new business has been good, Orbea said. She attributes that, in part, to the ambiance they’ve created.

“Typically when you walk into a resale store, there’s a kind of odor,” she said. “We don’t have that odor. All our clothes are specially laundered and steamed. We put lavender water in the steamer and we steam everything. It feels like everything is new.”

Customer Louise Ackerman was browsing through blouses Tuesday. The owner of nearby O’Shea’s Flowers is a longtime customer as well as a longtime fan of consignment and used-clothing stores. It was her second visit to the newly refurbished shop.

“I bought some sweaters (on the first visit),” she said. “I’m always looking for a good deal, something I can’t resist.”

Orbea has found she enjoys working in the store

“I think that it is just helping people when they come in,” she said. “I’m pretty eager to help them find something that makes them feel better about themselves and to help them put items together and maybe find things they wouldn’t normally try because they have an image of what they can and can’t wear.”

The shop always has some items on sale, and customers are notified by e-mail of each week’s promotions, she said.

Green and Orbea hosted a grand opening celebration Friday and Saturday. In April they are supplying the clothing for a prom fashion show, Orbea said.

“In today’s economy, (it’s important to use) recycled items,” Green said. “People are getting designer items at bargain prices and helping out with the whole economy. I think Auburn really needed a fun kind of store like this.”

The Journal’s Gloria Young can be reached at gloriay @goldcountrymedia.com or comment online at auburnjournal.com.