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Day of boutique-hopping will aid charity
Day Out
When: Shopping hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday. The after-party with a fashion show is 6-9 p.m. Saturday.
Admission: $30 buys a daylong pink shopping pass and admission to the after-party, if you are driving yourself. For limousine service, it will cost $125 for the day. The after-party alone costs $15. Most participating stores have on-site ticket sales, or tickets can be purchased by calling the number below.
Where: The shopping will be at participating boutiques in Shadyside, Downtown and the South Side. The after-party will be at The Firehouse Lounge, 2216 Penn Ave., Strip District.
Details: 412-281-6560 or online
Kellie B. Gormly can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7824.
Ultimate Girls Day Out, which organizers call "retail therapy" for Pittsburgh gals, provides a full day of shopping -- with special offers and/or discounts -- at about a dozen of the hippest and finest boutiques in town, event officials say. Shoppers can either drive themselves from participating store to store, or upgrade and take a limousine with other participants.
Nannette Staropoli, the event's founder, came up with the idea on one of her own shopping trips, when a boutique owner mentioned that few Pittsburghers seemed to know about her store. Staropoli says she realized that the city's fine shopping needs to be promoted.
"Women of Pittsburgh do not realize that all of the boutiques in Pittsburgh carry the lines that they go to other cities to shop for," Staropoli says. She is the owner of Fusion Private Club, a Downtown social networking event club. "I thought, 'How can I unify and bring awareness to all these cool boutiques?'"
Staropoli says she also wanted to help a good cause with the event. Because October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, she says she thought the Bloomfield-based Cancer Caring Center, which provides support and services for cancer patients and their loved ones, would be a great beneficiary. Ticket sales, as well as some donations from the boutiques, will benefit the nonprofit.
Participants will pick up a pink "shopping pass," which they can use at the merchants -- including Sugar, South Side; Larrimor's, Downtown; and Bondstreet Shoes, Shadyside -- to get their special offers and discounts. The pass comes with a shopping map, with information about each location. Each store will have special gift bags to distribute to the first 50 shoppers.
After shopping, participants can go to the evening after-party at The Firehouse Lounge in the Strip District. The Twilight Party will include a fashion show, manicures and massages, complimentary makeovers, henna tattoos and more. Save your receipts; at the party, the Ultimate Shopper of the Day, who spent the most money, will receive $500 worth of gift merchandise.
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