While most store owners open doors, Janet Gonzalez simply opens the back of her truck.

Known as a “mobile fashion boutique”, the locally owned branch of the Little White Fashion Truck travels all around the metropolitan area. Blouses, dresses, accessories, and all the items one might spend hours walking through the mall to find is now available in the back of a truck.

This innovative business design visited McLean on Sept. 30. Gonzalez was invited by Fashion Marketing teacher Debra Fargo to speak to her class on the world of entrepreneurial business, and to give a tour of her mobile store.

“I was hoping that she would be able to give the class an idea for an alternative style of business,” Fargo said. “It’s not as much risk as running your own place in the mall; you’re pretty much mobile…”

From Farmer’s Markets to Rocco’s, Gonzalez switches locations every day all across Fairfax and Arlington Counties. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are vital in helping her business survive; she is constantly posting her location and schedules.

“We are the first [mobile store] in the U.S. to be a chain. [Shelley Sarmiento’s] truck has been in business for over a year, it’s in Severna Park, and I operate out of Fairfax County and Arlington County, and I am the first fashion truck [in these counties]…our third truck is in Nashville, Tennessee,” Gonzalez said.  “We plan to have ten trucks on the East Coast within a half year from now.”

The business concept of a mobile store not only lowers financial risks and makes operation easy, but also helps to reach a wider variety of customers at more flexible hours.

“That’s the beauty of the truck. I don’t have an alarm system, so if I keep getting customers I just keep it open. People want to come and I keep it open,” Gonzalez said.

 Only one year since it’s creation, and the Little White Fashion Truck chain has already grown incredibly. Gonzalez  and the business founder, Shelley Sarmiento, have revolutionized the fashion industry with this speedy and pioneering business plan.