Apricot Lane—Ann Marie Valdez   When Ann Marie Valdez walked into an Apricot Lane clothing boutique at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, California, she was immediately smitten. Apricot Lane is a women’s wear chain that features trendy designer clothing and celebrity-inspired fashion. Valdez noticed a few placards around the store that mentioned franchise opportunities. It was just what she and her husband, Arne, a salesman, had been looking for. “I still have the original piece of paper,” she says of the moment more than three years ago. “I was immediately super-excited. My husband and I had been investigating franchise opportunities for years.” The couple, who have two teenagers, wanted a business that would work in Anchorage, where the couple has lived for twenty years. “We were looking for something I could run and could kind of be my thing,” Valdez says, noting she had been a stay-at-home mom for years. Her teenaged daughter is a big supporter. “I don’t have a lot of experience in the fashion industry,” she says, although when she was younger she did some modeling in the Seattle area and worked at a Limited clothing store. The Valdezes settled on a location in the Fifth Avenue Mall in Downtown Anchorage. “The demographics and anchor stores here in Fifth Avenue were more along the lines of my customers,” she says. “I’m a ‘mom and daughter’ shopping together store.” The store also hosts fashion shows and trunk parties. Apricot Lane sells mostly brand-name items, but it’s not a high-end boutique as far as prices are concerned, Valdez says. “Our price points are really good. We try to cater to the mothers and the daughters, but our demographics are pretty wide-ranging—eighteen to fifties and sixties.” JULIE STRICKER IS A JOURNALIST LIVING NEAR FAIRBANKS. This article first appeared in the December 2015 print edition of Alaska Business Monthly.