Karla Kehres was having lunch with a friend when the idea arose

Karla Kehres was having lunch with a friend when the idea arose to open a luxury consignment store, and although she had never set foot inside such a business, within three weeks she had opened Boutique Classique at the Promenade on the Peninsula.

Kehres was perfectly suited to turn notion into reality in no time flat. For more than 20 years she had helped build multimillion-dollar retail and wholesale businesses, and had served as a general manager for the Chanel fragrance, skincare and fashion powerhouse in the Asian Pacific, using her expertise in merchandising, operations and brand development.

“If you would have asked me 10 years ago [about opening a consignment store], while I was sitting above the Chanel boutique in Paris, I would have never imagined,” said the Rancho Palos Verdes native. “But do you know what? I’m really proud of this because it’s my own. This is the first time that I’ve had my own retail brick and mortar. I have set up retail all around the world for other companies and now it’s ours, and I don’t treat it any differently, I’ve always treated it like it was mine.”

The store carries lightly-used luxury handbags with a spectacular range of sought-after brands, some lesser known brands, and shoes, jewelry and accessories.

The fashion-loving Kehres had developed a wide-ranging collection of high-end merchandise over the years, many of the items Chanel. With her own inventory, and that of colleagues and friends with high-end merchandise untouched in their closets, she had plenty to open the store with, just before Christmas of last year.

And she really likes the consignment model. She finds satisfaction in selling things at a lower price, helping others sell their merchandise, and passing it forward.

She also loves meeting the varied customers who come to Boutique Classique.

She knows where every item came from, who it belonged to, and the back-story behind everything in her store. The customer could point to a Hermes handbag, and right off the bat Kehres would giggle and tell how the bag was brought in by a young girl who bought it while she was traveling through Italy with her ex-boyfriend, and now doesn’t like it anymore.

“Everything has a story,” Kehres said.