Iowa City is going to be a little less chic.

Cheap & Chic, 105 S. Dubuque St., will close, but the boutique is having a final farewell with a massive sale, beginning today.

“I’m not sad about it; I’m happy,” owner Catherine Champion said. “Now is the time. I’ve been sort of like stocking up for a liquidation so we can give people really great deals, with sort of rock-bottom pricing.”

Cheap & Chic opened in May 2009 and has been used as an outlet store for Catherine’s, 7 S. Dubuque St., also owned by Champion. The outlet primarily sold goods that Catherine’s had small quantities of or wasn’t selling. Champion said the boutiques target young women 16 to 25 years old.

Catherine’s will remain open, and Champion said the liquidation of Cheap & Chic will last for about six weeks. After the outlet has been liquidated, she plans on starting a new, branded boutique in the same location.

“We opened Cheap & Chic, and it was awesome, but now I’m ready for something new,” Champion said. “I like to do new things, and I wanted a new idea.”

Champion plans on opening a French Connections concept store, which would sell shoes, accessories, and clothing for both men and women from the global retailer.

“I was looking for an idea of something that had more depth behind it,” Champion said. “I also wanted something that would appeal to things that we don’t have. One, to have a branded store downtown and two, something that reached out to young men as well.”

Champion said she wanted to add men’s clothing to bring in more variety for customers especially since a men’s store, named Champion, occupied the location before Cheap & Chic came along.

Champion said she took out a short lease in order to see how the new store prospers in the area.

Terry Dickens, the co-owner of Herteen & Stocker Jewelers, neighboring Cheap & Chic, said the sale should bring a good crowd to the area.

“It will draw people by, looking in the windows, so I can only see it as a positive,” Dickens said.” 

UI junior Caitlan Ledin has stopped by the stores a few times, but she isn’t surprised by its closing.

“I think it’s a great boutique. It caught my eye when I walked by,” she said. “There are so many other boutiques around here, so I can see why it’s getting shut down.”

But another boutique will fill its place, and UI junior Kaitlyn Kobida thinks she will shop there regardless of which store it is.

“I definitely think I would return there. They sell great brands, and whenever I bought things there, they’ve been on sale,” she said. “If it’s the same owner, it would probably be the same pricing, and I would think about shopping there again.”