My Las Vegas Adventure for the 2023 Magic Retail Convention

It was mid December of 2022 that I officially made the decision to pursue my dream of creating my own online boutique. I had just finished performing my solo show about "Marilyn Monroe" for the 16th time. It was time to move onto something new and exciting! I had wanted to open a boutique during the 2020 Pandemic, but talked myself out of it for a number of reasons.  I'd gotten the domain name KikisParis.com during the Pandemic.

In December while doing the initial research of getting a shopify account, a PO Box, the EIN Number, the DBA, a new business email address, checking social media for the name of my business to make sure it was available, I decided to look up when the retail clothing conventions were taking place and I found out that there was one happening in February. So I registered at one, got my hotel room and booked my plane ticket and then I realized that it wasn't the one I wanted to go to.

The one I'd registered for was for more than just clothing products, it was for everything under the sun. I wanted to go to MAGIC, the strictly retail convention where about 700 clothing vendors from all over the nation come together to sell wholesale clothes to boutique owners across the USA. That's the one that my cousin Bootsie had taken me to years ago when she had her boutique in St. Augustine.  And even though the dates were falling on February 14th, Valentine's Day and my 22 year Anniversary with my long time boyfriend, he said, "You have to change the reservations and the flight. You have to go to the one you want to go to!"  Thank God for him, because that's exactly what I did. 

I registered for Magic, changed my flight and got a new hotel room at the Flamingo in Las Vegas.  The only thing is that I have to jump thru all of these hoops to qualify to get accepted into Magic.  They had to have all this proof that I was a serious buyer of wholesale goods and that I had a real boutique.  I'd given myself the deadline of Launching Kiki's Paris Boutique on March 23, 2023.  It's always good to have a deadline with things like this!  So all these hoops just pushed me further to get my things in order! Well, I got everything in order and got accepted. I was so excited!! It was all happening! 

I convinced a friend from LA to meet me out there so I'd have someone to hang out with at night after spending all day at the convention buying products. So my friend Stephanie came out and she ended up staying in the next hotel over, which was perfect because I like my privacy, so does she.  

First of all the airport was completely empty when I flew out of LA because the Super Bowl was on TV.  That was great!  I found a Barney's Beanery Bar in the airport to watch the game on and I sadly watched the Eagles loose.  My boyfriend would be devastated. 

The flight was easy breezy.  I got a shuttle to the Flamingo hotel for about $16. I got an upgrade on my hotel room when I got there! That was a blessing for sure.  When I got up to my room, I discovered that there was a Marilyn Monroe painting on the wall!! 

And not only that but I had an amazing view of Ceasar's Palace across the street! To me, this was all a sign that I was in the right place at the right time and that God was blessing me! I was so very happy! 

To Be Continued!