By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

PELHAM— Many boutiques in the Greater Birmingham area don’t have a storefront of their own, relying on online sales and markets to distribute their products.

To give those boutiques an opportunity to network, meet customers and get their name out there, Jessie and Billy Barnhill decided to start Birmingham Boutique Blowout at the Pelham Civic Complex.

“We really like the idea of bringing together local businesses, especially those owned by women,” Jessie Barnhill said. “This gives them an opportunity to make money and to network.”

They’ve been hosting the blowout for about a year now, and they held their fifth event Oct. 17-18 in Pelham from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. This was the first time the Boutique Blowout stretched over a two-day period, and Jessie said they had a great turnout.

“Yesterday it was incredible,” she said. “We had a line going all the way to the parking lot 30 minutes before the doors opened. We average at least 100 shoppers an hour, in past years. Yesterday, it was definitely above that.”

The whole event is free and open to the public, and guests can also purchase a wristband for $5 that gets them discounts at the booths. There were about 55 vendors total, according to Jessie.

Boutique Blowout is four times a year, and Jessie said it has grown bigger and bigger over the past year. Almost all the vendors are repeats from previous blowouts, and she said more than half of the vendors have participated in every Boutique Blowout.

The Barnhills also said they have been able to make room for more vendors and attract more shoppers over the past year. The event has doubled, according to Jessie.

“We’ve refined our process a lot and made it a lot easier for vendors and shoppers,” Jessie said. “Our publicity has just taken off, so now people know our name and look forward to it.”

The Barnhills keep up with their vendors and guests on social media. Jessie said many of the vendors do giveaways on Facebook for the boutique event.

The Boutique Blowout has also allowed boutiques to team up with each other to gain publicity. Jessie said Highland Candle, one of the vendors at the event, teamed up with another boutique with a shop. Now the store carries Highland Candle’s inventory.

The next Birmingham Boutique Blowout will be Dec. 6 at the Pelham Civic Complex. Jessie and Billy have already started planning ways to make this one better than the last.

“We have a blast,” Jessie said. “It’s kind of funny when we are out on date-night, we are like, ‘What do other couples talk about if they don’t own a business?’ We are always talking about Boutique Blowout and what we can do to make it better.”