Electric Lemonade flavored with a heavy twist of vintage

Two sisters with a longtime plan of operating a vintage store made their dream come true in February by opening Electric Lemonade, 220 E. Charleston Blvd., near the 18b Arts District downtown.

Courtney and Kinsey Peters run the vintage boutique open from noon to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday. The space has a flashback 1970s look, with bright-colored walls and display cases filled with vintage sunglasses and artisan jewelry.

"We like quirky, eclectic, novelty-type pieces," said Courtney, the oldest of the sisters. "We like to carry independent designers and try to stay on the cutting edge."

The Ohio natives grew up shopping at vintage stores with their grandfather and sold items on eBay as a way to make money in college.

Their passion for collecting vintage clothing and accessories stems from their studies in fashion and a few years of living in Brooklyn, N.Y. The sisters initially moved to Brooklyn together until Kinsey returned to be with her mother in Las Vegas, and Courtney stayed behind to work with vintage boutique owner Francesca Neville at her store, Odd Twin.

During that time, Courtney and Kinsey worked on Electric Lemonade's concept, sharing a 250-page business plan with each other via Skype and telephone conversations for more than a year. Once the two settled in Las Vegas, they decided to open the boutique in the heart of the arts district.

"We came back here when we saw what was going on downtown," Kinsey said. "We think there needs to be more small businesses down here, and we want people to know there's still vintage (items) in this area."

The clothing and accessories sold at Electric Lemonade range from men's denim jeans to 1960s-inspired dresses, cowboy boots and everything in between.

Kinsey said Electric Lemonade's most popular items are throwback concert T-shirts, which start at $35 each. Courtney said no item runs more than $200.

"We like to carry (items from) independent designers from Brooklyn and Los Angeles," Kinsey said. "We make sure no other stockers have those items so (customers) can get something that's truly one of a kind."

The women said they've received feedback from the community, mostly from local entrepreneurs and tourists.

Electric Lemonade is near the former site of The Attic, a vintage clothing store on Main Street near Charleston Boulevard, that closed in March. The Attic offered clothing and costumes from several decades before closing because of legal disputes surrounding an NV Energy substation explosion in 2009, causing significant damage to the store.

Electric Lemonade may fill the void of a vintage boutique downtown, but Courtney said the sisters' store has a unique twist compared to similar ones throughout the country.

"We want everything to have a very modern feel to it," Courtney said. "We don't want you to walk into polyester shirts and walk out looking like you're part of the Brady Bunch. The main focus of our store is to have a marriage between modern and vintage."

They're only two months into owning Electric Lemonade, but Courtney and Kinsey have goals for expanding the boutique in the near future.

"We definitely plan on growing," Courtney said. "We're waiting until we have growth in the storefront and then have a bigger online store. We'd like to open the store in other cities, and we want to start our own clothing line."

Courtney said she and Kinsey hope to utilize the empty space upstairs to stock inventory and hold photo shoots. They want to build an archive of clothing and accessories available for rent and for use on photo shoots for magazines and movie sets.

Although Courtney and Kinsey are looking forward to Electric Lemonade's future, the sisters are happy with what they've already been able to establish.

"When it all came together, I was so proud," Kinsey said. "Our dream came true, and to see it come through, I have no words to describe how it feels."

For more information on Electric Lemonade, call 776-7766 or visit etsy.com/shop/ electric lemonade shop.

Contact Paradise/Downtown View reporter Lisa Carter at lcarter@viewnews.com or 383-4686.