Jody Mallonee, owner of Swank Boutique Inc. in north Spokane, is driving women's fashion to new customers, literally, by taking to the streets with a bright pink former tool truck that holds a sampling of the store's merchandise.

Called Swank a-go-go, the boutique's fashion truck first wheeled to a customer base in April when Mallonee parked it on the Washington State University campus in Pullman for the WSU Mom's Weekend. She followed that WSU visit up with another mom's weekend at the University of Idaho.

"We sold out the mobile store both times," Mallonee says. "It's pink, so you can't miss it. You park on a college campus, and the girls run. We had a huge response."

She has since parked the truck in Riverfront Park for Bloomsday and downtown at Hoopfest, and she scheduled space in Coeur d'Alene for its Fourth of July celebration.

"We go up to a 200-mile radius that includes the Tri-Cities," says Mallonee, whose last name was Jones until she got married and took her husband's name earlier this year.

The back of the truck is remodeled to look like a small shop, with dress racks that line the interior walls, some shelf space, and a curtained dressing room. It's 18 feet long by 12 feet wide, providing just over 200 square feet of space to display clothes, purses, jewelry, and other fashion accessories.

Mallonee says the mobile shop has room to accommodate up to 10 or 12 people comfortably. Usually, either she or one employee has room to run operations inside, she adds.

To retrofit the truck, Mallonee estimates she spent $12,000 to $15,000, including purchase of the 1984 vehicle. She hired Spokane-based marketing firm Rainmaker Creative Inc. to design the truck's exterior logo, slogans, and a website promoting Swank a-go-go.

Inside the truck, she designed and had installed flooring, drapes, shelves, a music system, and decor. The vehicle also has self-contained power from a battery. She or an employee uses a point-of-sale system integrated with a smartphone and store computer system, working from a small counter near the truck's cab. Behind the counter, drapes veil its driving console.

Customers enter from the back of the truck, where double doors open to expose the retail space. Mallonee stocks the racks and shelves with top-selling inventory. She estimates the wholesale value of the truck's contents at any given time range from $2,000 to $5,000.

"It's a smaller version of what I carry in the store," she says. "It's like a sampling of our store."

Mallonee is the sole owner of the brick-and-mortar boutique located in the Northtown Square, at 4727 N. Division. She says the advantage of the new Swank a-go-go truck is the ability to take merchandise to a public event where thousands of potential customers can see it.

Mallonee says she frequently travels to Los Angeles to buy fashion merchandise that caters to ages 16 to 55. During those visits, she saw a rising popularity in California of mobile retail trucks that focus on reaching customers at public events or at outdoor attractions.

"They're kind of exploding across the U.S.," says Mallonee, who is a member of the American Mobile Retail Association and its West Coast division. "As far as I know, this is the first one in Spokane. There are several in Seattle."

She adds, "It allows me to retail in the area of my choosing, and it advertises my store," she says. "It plops me in the middle of Bloomsday, where there are 55,000 people, or in the park for Fourth of July, where there are 40,000."

Formed about two years ago, the American Mobile Retail Association offers how-to information and events, Mallonee says. The association's code of ethics includes items that call for members to secure required city permits, insurance, and to "refrain from operating a retail truck near any brick and mortars selling the same or similar goods, unless invited."

"Food trucks have been around for years," Mallonee says. "Now, you'll find florists trucks, and there's a swimsuit and surf gear shop in Santa Monica. They're becoming tailored to their environments. You don't have the overhead like you do with the brick and mortar."

She contends that the truck's presence has drawn clients back to her main store, because they're looking for similar apparel in the boutique that they saw while visiting the Swank a-go-go truck.

"It's increased traffic in the store," Mallonee says. "We're up 14 percent for the year to date compared to this time last year."

Prior to launching the mobile business, Mallonee says she also had plans to expand with two Swank outlets in leased retail space in both Boise and Pasco. She says she currently is negotiating to secure leases in both of those cities, with plans to open the stores by this fall.

Mallonee says she expects to hire three to five new employees with the expansion, which would add to the five employees who currently work in Spokane.

"I'd like to add another truck eventually," she says.

Mallonee says she also can bring the fashion truck to people at private house parties and office events, adding that she doesn't charge customers who reserve it, instead offering the host a percentage of retail value that buys merchandise based on the total party's purchases.

In order to follow any city's requirements, she says she calls ahead to check on vendor rules and is usually referred to a public event's organizer. The city of Spokane requires what's called an itinerant vendor permit, but other municipalities in the area don't, she says.

"Typically, there's a special event fee charged by the event organizer that goes to the event," she adds. "I arrange to get an insurance rider certificate to show them."

After checking for permission from a university, she says she typically just pays a parking permit fee. So far, she estimates she's recouped at least half the cost invested to refurbish the truck.

"It will pay for itself definitely by the end of summer," she says. "I'd love to see more fashion trucks in the Spokane area. The mobile retail association has a caravan tour right now on the West Coast. They have a rodeo-type environment where they circle up and hold events. It's kind of a destination."

For now, when the Swank a-go-go truck isn't parked outside of the retail store on Division, it draws plenty of attention whenever she or an employee drives it somewhere.

"You get crazy looks as you drive down the street in a pink truck," she adds. "At first, some people aren't sure what it is."