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| Business World Magazine |
October 2012
and third store and began plans to franchise
the concept. It was at this time that Scott Ja-
cobs joined the partnership.
In 2007, Apricot Lane Boutique was
introduced by supporting franchise com-
pany Country Visions as the first franchised
women’s fashion and gift boutique. “As we
looked at the fashion industry, we saw there
was a big void. There was nobody franchising
in the fashion industry. You had the fashion
boutique operators and the really big nation-
al companies, but nobody in the middle,”
CEO Ken Petersen says.
WINNING COMBINATION
What sets Apricot Lane apart from the com-
petition is the merchandising flexibility that
allows each store to cater to their customer
demographics. They have the ability to be
different because they’re fast to react and
respond to new fashion trends. They’ve got
new products arriving weekly and their cus-
tomers know to act quickly if they want to
stay on the cutting edge. “If they like it, they
better buy it because it won’t be there tomor-
row,” Petersen says.
The brand has 15 corporate staff, in-
