Joanne Vitale-Lenzie opened her online boutique, Whiskey Skies—named after her favorite pet goldendoodle—just as a way to sell clothes and make some extra money.
Three years later, Vitale-Lenzie now runs the viral retail shop from a 7,000-square-foot warehouse south of the Strip, and has served more than 100,000 customers across the country. She buys and sells a vast inventory, from clothes to home decor, often doing so via livestream with her thousands of followers on social media, modeling products herself.
Vegas Inc sat down with Vitale-Lenzie to talk about Whiskey Skies and what makes it stand out.
Can you walk me through the retail process for Whiskey Skies?
I’m always looking for other small businesses to support, so a lot of our products are from other women-owned businesses, other small businesses from the U.S. that are handmade. … As far as clothing and finding our decor, the best way to describe it is, you go on a shopping spree. Like if somebody just gave you all the money in the world, and they’re like, “Go spend it. You have three days to shop till you drop.” That’s literally what I do at markets.
You launched in 2020 just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. What was it like overcoming challenges caused by the crisis?
Looking back, I never want to say that was a great time—but to start an online business, it was a really great time, because people who did not shop online were forced to. And so that was really good.
There were definitely challenges, because product lines, delays, not being able to touch and feel things in person, and to go off a photo on a website and not know the quality, especially being new to the boutique world, I didn’t have my preferred vendors yet. … So there were a lot of learning curves through the first year and a half. … This next year is going to be the first time I’ve been able to operate my business like a business should be run.
You’ve recently moved into a new warehouse. Talk about the growth your business has experienced.
We came here in February 2021, [and] I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. During COVID, you were at home, and then I was at home with all the clothes and all the boxes, and I couldn’t access my house anymore. And I needed something different for my sanity. I never thought I needed this space. … We went from literally me and my husband packing and shipping every single item to having seven employees now. … We’ve grown, and I feel like a lot of it is due to our staff. I can’t operate a business without our staff. I give a lot of credit to them.
What do you think draws customers to Whiskey Skies?
For clothing, we carry all sizes, and we have decor. So maybe you’re not looking for clothing, but we have decor or fun gifts or shoes or whatnot to offer people. And then also the personalized shopping experience—live selling, I get to know my customers. They recognize me, they see my face every day. I don’t see theirs, but I know everything about them. I know where they live. I know their kids are graduating college again, or I know their dog’s sick this week.
We have a great community. It starts with me, but it’s the girls who shopped with us as well, who create that, and it’s very uplifting.
You’re also a content creator. What has that experience been like?
It’s almost like I have an influencer mindset, but for my own products. When I’m watching people online, I really don’t want that company that is trying to hard-sell me on something, but you resonate with those influencers, or those celebrities who are just talking about a product, and you’re like, “Oh, I want that. She seems cool. I would get along with her.”
Your company accommodates women of all sizes. Why is it important to make that a priority?
The average size of a woman is—it varies year to year—it’s a 16W or an 18W, but so many stores stop at a size 14. But the average woman isn’t even that size. So including more is amazing [and] really important for me.
I’m still plus size, but when I was in high school, I was like 300, 350 pounds at a point. So finding clothes sucked. I was really good at makeup. I could find cute shoes, but the outfit and everything in between was like, it’s black, because that’s all I could find. Can’t go wrong with black.
So being able to offer more options to everyone of all sizes is just huge. We live in a social media world, too, where so many people are just so cruel online to people, and people might be ashamed to go in a store and try something on—that it won’t fit or maybe a salesperson is judging them. So having an online experience where they can get their own clothing at home, try it on—they’re surrounded by other people of all shapes and sizes who are super uplifting—is huge for me.
What’s your favorite part of the job?
Shopping. I get to shop for a living—how freaking cool is that? And not just for me. I get to shop for everybody and pick out their next season or that outfit they’re going [to wear] to a concert. I get to shop for a living—that’s wild to me. That’s what it really comes down to.
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