What’s in Store: Junky Trunk
October 19th, 2007, 5:19 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Sam Mittelsteadt
Junky Trunk
3458 E. Southern Ave., Mesa (northwest corner of Southern and Val Vista Drive)
Hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday
Information: (480) 854-4441 or junkytrunkboutique.com
When Kadence Bawden and her mother, Audrey Ryan, first opened their boutique it was laden with the trendiest brands recently spotted on Hollywood starlets and celebrities. “We missed so many sales,” Bawden says in retrospect. “We’re in 
Mesa, not Scottsdale, and women aren’t ready for a $500 outfit every day. We learned our way into that.” A year and a half later Junky Trunk still dabbles in designer, but much of the stock instead mimics the high-dollar looks at decidedly more budget-friendly prices. And bowing to the area’s high Mormon population, most garments err on the cute, but still conservatively cut, side.
On the mannequin (left): Wool tweed hat, $18. Black rayon bubble-sleeve tunic by Lush, $36.99. Two-button baby doll jacket with three-quarter sleeves, $46. “Rylen” boot-cut jeans in 
Bardot wash by Brown Label, $172. Silver bangles and bracelets, $22-$29. Bejeweled metallic silver vinyl clutch, $32.
High price point (right): Zip-up hoodies by Faith Connexion, screen printed and emblazoned with crystals or leather appliques 
with phrases like “God loves you” and “Truth,” $156-$198.
Low price point (left): Vigoss jeans have “an amazing fit, and don’t ‘grow’ on you as the day goes on,” Bawden says. “They fit like a $200 pair of designer jeans, for $54.”
The core customer: “Wants to get an outfit for under $100,” Bawden says. “Look,” she says as she proffers a pair of $44 silver flats by Yellow Box that are dead ringers for a pair of designer skimmers that go for more than five times as much in department stores. “The new shopper is savvy. We’re not going to spend $200 just because it says ‘Juicy.’ We’re going to shop it out.”
Local lines: Sozo crystal-embellished Havainas flip-flops, $90.
Top-seller (right): Jewelry. Rings, bangles and pendants begin at $10 and go up to designer pieces by CC Skye, $214.50.
She’s excited about: Ed Hardy sunglasses, which should be in store — at $150 to $250 — by the time you read this. “They’re bling to the max,” Bawden says, “the love, the roses, all the designs.”
