4 • April 2021
BUSINESS NEWS
Coast River Business Journal
Reign readies for grand opening in Long Beach
Story & Photos by Luke Whittaker
Coast River Business Journal
lwhittaker@crbizjournal.com
LONG BEACH — A new women’s apparel
store is gearing up for a grand opening in downtown
Long Beach.
“We’re going to open by the end of April,” said
Reign Boutique and Design owner Lacey Bautista,
who along with her 15-year-old daughter, Sofia,
has been busy preparing the space, located at 408
Pacific Avenue.
Reign Boutique and Design
Lacey Bautista, owner
408 Pacific Ave. South, Long Beach
21706 Pacific Highway, Ocean Park
www.fashionxreign.com
The store will carry a hand-selected array of
women’s cosmetics and clothing “for all ages and
sizes,” Lacey Bautista said.
“It was basically started for the women who live
here on the Peninsula because there’s not a lot of
clothing options for them, especially locally. Plus I
have a teenage daughter and we were going to the
mall a lot. I just decided to bring something here
locally for the girls.”
Trendy and affordable
A majority of the clothing inventory at Reign
comes from women-owned businesses, and ranges
from $10 to $40.
“Almost everything we have in here is from
women-owned and operated businesses,” Lacey
Bautista said.
Lacey Bautista, a mother of five children (ages
15, 13, 10, 7 and 4), was inspired to bring a clothing
and cosmetic option closer to the coast after experi-
ences shopping for herself and her kids.
“I’m a mom of five, so I shop a lot. And it just
didn’t seem like we had a lot of options here. My
teenage daughter would get ready for the dances and
stuff, and always had a lot of girls her age over at the
house. They would be getting ready and it always
seemed like they were talking about how they wish
they had somewhere to shop around here, a place
where they could get stylish clothes and makeup. It
originally started out to be for young girls, but why
not include everybody else?”
Lacey Bautista and her daughter, Sofia, previ-
ously traveled the roughly two-hour drive to Wash-
ington Square in Beaverton to shop for clothing and
beauty products, which ultimately motivated them
to open a store with similar products on the coast.
Exclusive cosmetics, including Ulta and
Sephora, are among the brands the store will carry.
“You have to go all the way to Beaverton to get
a lot of the beauty products I carry in here. A lot
of people still aren’t comfortable ordering online,
The store has been a beehive of activity in recent weeks as the mother-and-daughter duo ramp up for the grand opening, which they anticipate later this month.
“Right now we’re just moving in and getting our spring stuff for this year,” Lacey Bautista said.
so for people who don’t want to order online or go
far away, I’m bringing it here,” Lacey Bautista said.
The store will also have plus-size clothing, ath-
letic gear and lingerie.
“It’s another thing that’s really hard to find,”
Lacey Bautista said.
Online clothing shopping can be tricky, partic-
ularly for those that need plus-sized or have unique
fits, Lacey Bautista explained.
“That’s why we put our dressing room in here.
It’s really necessary for women to be able to try
clothes on and feel good about it before they leave
and not want to bring it back.”
Ready for spring
The store has been a beehive of activity in recent
weeks as the mother-and-daughter duo ramp up for
the grand opening, which they anticipate later this
month.
“Right now we’re just moving in and getting our
spring stuff for this year,” Lacey Bautista said.
“We added a dressing room. It will be fun. I’m
pretty excited about it.”
Lacey Bautista said the young adult clothing,
largely hand-curated by Sofia, is “mainstream and
trendy” yet affordable.
“Our average price is $20, we range from $10 to
$40. We’re just trying to keep it like a cheaper ver-
sion of American Eagle kind of thing,” Lacey Bau-
tista said.
Opening the location in Long Beach was largely
decided on a whim in March, she said, adding that
she hopes to capture some of the spring break rush.
“We’ve done this all in like three weeks. We
painted, redid the floor — everything,” she said.
“I’m going for the industrial vibe mixed with a
feminine aesthetic. We’re leaving it a little rough
with a little luxury feel.”
Ocean Park store
While many businesses downsized or delayed
expansion during the pandemic, Reign is among the
few who have grown. Bautista held a quiet opening
for the first location at 21706 Pacific Highway in
Ocean Park in June.
“As soon as we opened (the Ocean Park loca-
tion) we crammed it full of stuff because it was such
a boring time last year,” she said.
The Ocean Park location, currently open on
weekends, carries a slightly different inventory
skewed more for the locals, including an array of
women’s clothing and personal care products from
healthy teas to organic bath bombs.
“We have a lot of self-care and beauty products,
stuff to make women feel pretty,” she said.
“It’s doesn’t get a lot of business, but it gets a lot
of grandmas. It’s got some good stuff in there and a
lot of people don’t know that.”
Royal ancestry helps inspire name
The name of the business (Reign) was inspired
by her son, who shares the same middle name, and
their royal ancestry.
“We recently did an Ancestry.com test and we’re
related to quite a bit of Scottish and British Roy-
alty. Our closest relative is Anne Boleyn’s sister,
Mary Boleyn (1500-1543). Mary Boleyn is my 12th
great-grandmother.”
Anne Boleyn (1501-1536) was second of six
marriages for King Henry VIII, who was rumored
to have had two children with Mary as well.
“When you’re related to one noble person, they
lead back to many generations,” Lacey Bautista
said.