Jacque Inc. Photography opens in Old Town

Feb. 25, 201111:42 a.m.

WICHITA — There’s a new photography studio in Old Town Square.

Jacque Waite has opened Jacque Inc. Photography in the former Reb and, before that, Beadazzled space next to Caffe Moderne.

Waite started her company five years ago as a side business. Her main job was at DigitalBrand Communications.

“I just recently decided to try it on my own,” Waite says of taking her business full time.

She’s done a lot of shooting in Old Town prior to deciding to locate her business there.

“I love shooting down here, portraits for sure,” Waite says. “I had so many people wanting to shoot down here last fall, and I’m assuming people will want that this spring.”

She likes “the combination of having a nice open space within (my studio) and then having all the great spots around Old Town outside.”

Waite wants to focus on more commercial photography. She says it’s different than shooting portraits of, say, children.

“Although I love spontaneous shoots like that where I have to make spontaneous decisions on the fly, I really like to have more control,” Waite says.

She likes the planning involved in commercial shoots.

“That’s what I loved about working at DigitalBrand,” Waite says. “We’d spend three weeks planning and then a day to shoot and a day to post.”

She plans to hold an open house in her new 1,600 square feet on March 12.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , Filed under Old Town, Photography, Retail | Comments Off

Reb Boutique split leads to two new Old Town Square stores

April 12, 20104:59 p.m.

WICHITA — Reb Boutique never made its planned February debut to sell textiles, clothing and furniture in Old Town Square.

Now, the collapse of a business partnership there is leading to two new businesses opening two doors down from each other.

Rebecca Simpson had planned to open Reb in the former Beadazzled space to the east of Caffe Moderne.

Glenda Sue Morris and her husband, AJ, were the money behind the business.

“The one thing that I told them is I want complete creative rights, period, and they just didn’t abide by that,” Simpson says.

“Sometimes if people have more money than you do, they feel like they have a right . . . to just take over. That’s what I did not want to happen, but it did. It just wasn’t theirs to do.”

Glenda Sue Morris says that’s a “very distorted” view of what happened.

“We backed her totally for four months,” Morris says. “We had left her completely alone.”

Morris says Simpson had been in the space since the fall but was nowhere near ready to open in February.

“We did not have any, any say in what she did until the first of February when we saw that she was sitting and doing nothing,” Morris says.

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , Filed under Old Town, Retail | Comments

Reb Boutique fabric studio to open in Old Town Square

Jan. 27, 20103:51 p.m.

WICHITA — Fiber artist Rebecca Simpson is opening a new retail shop in the former Beadazzled space next to Caffe Moderne in Old Town Square.

Reb Boutique, which will open in late February, will have a variety of dyed fabrics such as silk, linens and cotton.

“I hand-dye everything,” Simpson says. “I have all kinds of specialty pieces that I do.”

That includes kimonos, hand bags and “big, beautiful bedding.”

“Just whatever my heart desires,” Simpson says.

She’s been working from a studio in her home and does a substantial amount of work out of state, including designs such as opera coats for Kristin’s in Santa Fe, N.M.

Simpson likes Old Town for a number of reasons.

“I’m an artist first and foremost,” she says. “This area . . . has a lot of great artists already here.

“I just felt like I fit in better here than anyplace else.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , Filed under Leases, Old Town, Retail | Comments