honeyreplicas

Nancy Waesche of Greenwich is tickled pink. The former buyer for Macy's and Frederick Atkins Inc., a New York buying office that closed in the mid-1990s, recently opened Pinky, a 250-square-foot shop at 58A William St., in Greenwich, to sell her line of handbags highlighted with bright colors -- including pink. "No matter what's going on with trends, I'm always offering a lot of color," said Waesche, 50, who has a degree in retail management from Simmons College in Boston. "I always use black and white and play color off of it." The former space for The Antique Store Around The Corner is filled with several types of handbags costing from $100 to $400 and a variety of jewelry and accessories, said Waesche, who recalls childhood trips into Manhattan with her mom, who worked as a buyer. "She'd take me out of school to shop and dress me in all of these beautiful clothes," said Waesche, who decided to open Pinky last month after raising her third child as a stay-at-home mom. "I have been in retail all of my life." Waesche said her experience with Macy's and Frederick Atkins during the 1980s and 1990s will serve her well. "You need to be able to spot trends fast and make sure you develop them and have them in your store," she said. "You're making products on your fashion know-how." The slow economy should spur sales of Pinky's handbags and accessories as consumers look to spend less, said Waesche, who saw the demand for such items escalate during the not-so-prosperous early 1980s. "Accessories do well as a category in a slow economy because they are impulse items and they cost less than buying a whole new outfit," she said, adding that her store carries items at a wide range of price points. "If someone doesn't want a $300 faux-fur handbag, they may walk out with a $20 impulse item such as a wristlet bag." Handbags and other fashion accessories provide an economical way to spruce up one's wardrobe because they can be used with different outfits throughout the year, said Karen Giberson, president of the Accessories Council in New York. "And often these pieces will become classics in your wardrobe, items you will use season after season," she said.