Imagine That

Mary Ann Allen-Parker has owned Imagine That, a "one-of-a-kind" retail boutique, for about 13 years.

Originally, Allen-Parker ran a kiosk selling jewelry, and slowly worked her way from jewelry to purses and from a kiosk to a store.

"What really got me started is I had an idea about a pair of cowgirl boots that I wanted to do," she says. "So I made them up and I wore them to a wholesale show, a market, and a lady stopped me and asked me where I got them."

The woman had a high-end clothing line and invited Allen-Parker to Dallas to present her boots during a runway show.

"I ended up selling 30 to 40 cases in just that one show," she says.

Jody Parker and Mary Ann Allen-Parker are co-owners of Imagine That at West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

She then moved on to her own line of hats and jewelry for about 10 years, but she eventually got tired of traveling. She decided to come back to retail and open Imagine That, inside West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau, which she now runs with her husband, Jody Parker.

Allen-Parker says what sets her store apart is that it constantly is evolving.

"I'm a boutique, an independent boutique that when the styles change, I do, too, and I keep up with the latest trends because I'm not stuck on one fashion," she says. "I try to carry everything and I try to make it a one-stop shop where I carry everything."

The store is host to an array of products, such as clothing, jewelry, home decor, greeting cards and more.

Recently, the manager from the West County Center near St. Louis came to see Allen-Parker and she worked to open another branch of Imagine That in the mall there in November.

Mary Ann Allen-Parker and Jody Parker are co-owners of Imagine That at West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

Allen-Parker says she has worked earnestly to bring hard-to-get clothing lines such as Vineyard Vines, Southern Tide and others to her stores. Having U.S.-based products is a priority for Allen-Parker, and she says she enjoys knowing she is helping small businesses continue to produce unique products.

"I don't like to buy mass-produced items; I think people value -- they want something different, they don't want something there's a hundred on the shelf made the same," she says. "They want something unique, and some of my manufacturers, they're a one-man shop. They make it themselves and that's all they make. They work out of their home, they work out of their garage, they work out of their basement just to make ends meet."

Allen-Parker says she is considering moving her St. Louis store to a larger location, and also is looking at opening stores in San Diego and Branson, Missouri. She also plans to take an exploratory trip to the United Kingdom this fall to look for interesting European fashions to bring back to her stores in the states.

More than anything, Allen-Parker says she wants to deliver quality customer service and unique styles for her customers, and she says working with her loyal employees and husband has made owning the business a labor of love.

"Everybody says that if you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life, and I haven't worked in almost 13 years," she says. "And it's wonderful working beside somebody that supports you like my husband does. He works just as hard as I do and it pays off."