Specialty boutiques in downtown Spokane were able to come out of the recession mostly unscathed, and some even say they've fared quite well over the last few years, despite drops in consumer spending.

Some downtown shop owners say they believe their success is due mostly to the fact that they work together to create variety between their stores so customers have a diverse shopping experience.

"What's made us successful is that we collaborate with the other boutiques to try and keep our lines of communication open so we're not having the same product and that we aren't overlapping," says Patricia Sampson, owner of Tangerine Boutique, located at 1019 W. First. "We are trying to create a dynamic shopping experience that is unique to each individual store, and we believe in collaboration versus competition."

Sampson, who also is a real estate agent here with the Spokane office of Century 21 Beutler & Associates, says she opened her store in mid-2008, right when the economy started falling, but despite that, its sales have grown each year since.

Tangerine has one full-time and three part-time employees, she says, and is located in an 850-square-foot-space.

Lolo Boutique, a women's clothing, accessory, and home decor boutique here that opened at 319 W. Second in 2006, has seen its sales dip a little each month since mid-2008. Owner Beth Hitch says, however, that the decline in sales isn't enough to make her worry she'll have to close her shop.

"I feel like I've done better than a lot of others, and I feel I have a strong enough following, so that is helpful," Hitch says.

She says currently her store has three part-time employees besides herself and that she's been able to retain all of her employees despite the sales declines.

"I could cut back on things, but to me it's important to keep the vitality and newness and keep things coming in, so a lot of what I make I turn around and spend on the store," she says.

Despite declines in sales that some stores here have noticed, shop owners, including Sampson and Hitch, agree that Spokane's boutique market has experienced steady growth in the number of new shops that have opened here in the last several years.

Susan Carmody, owner of Jigsaw, located at 601 W. Main, says since she opened her store more than 10 years ago, she's seen the downtown retail segment grow, including the addition of about six boutique clothing shops.

"I think that we have lots of choices is a really good thing," Carmody says. "Ten years ago I would hear that people would go to Seattle for the weekend and shop, and I don't ever hear that anymore. People feel like they have a wider variety of choices, and the reality is that our specialty store retail is lovely. It's diverse in price point and target market, and all of that is really good."

Sampson adds that when she opened her store three years ago, there were about four other women's clothing boutiques in the downtown area, but since then that number has grown to about seven now.

"So it's a slow growth, yet, for the short amount of time in the last two years, that is more than Spokane has had in a long time," she says. "I see more than just retail and boutiques; I see all of our downtown growing. I think this year we we'll see a lot more of that happen."

Lolo's Hitch agrees that there's still a window of opportunity for more shops to open in the downtown retail market, in terms of the space available and customer demand.

"There is still room for growth, and again I have to look at my own customer base and I love it that so many people come here and say they want to buy from an independent business and want to support the community," she says. "It would be really fun to see more as Spokane 'grows up' as far as with shopping and having places stay open later."

Having owned stores in the Seattle area in the past, Carmody says she believes Spokane's specialty boutique market has its own qualities that draw shoppers in, including both Spokane-area residents and out-of-town visitors.

Tangerine's Sampson says, "I've heard people come into the store and just rave and say they love the look and feel. How we compare to other cities isn't a fair comparison, but when downtown finally fills in and our commercial spaces are full and we have that synergy going on, then we can compare ourselves to other cities."

Marla Nunberg, vice president of Downtown Spokane Partnership, the nonprofit advocacy group that seeks to promote a sustainable downtown core, says she also perceives that the boutique market here has been fairly stable in recent years.

"Retail downtown has been pretty good," she says. "A few (stores) have left, but more have opened and the fact that with the economy we've been able to retain the retail we have says a lot, too. With the changes in the economy, more people are taking risks to open locally-owned shops, and they are being unique with that, so that's good to see."

While the Downtown Spokane Partnership doesn't specifically track sales for retailers located downtown, Nunberg says she's heard from several retailers that the 2010 holiday season was profitable for their stores.

"It's a good sign we're seeing people come out of the recession a bit and spending more money on smaller items and that kind of thing," she says.

Jigsaw's Carmody says one of the trends she's recently noticed in her customer base is that if people are going to spend money on something that's not a necessity, such as clothing, they're going to buy something "special."

"Specialty stores are faring well," she says. "There is a real sense that if you are buying at a major store there could be 10,000 pieces of that item produced and distributed, so people are looking for 'special' in their purchases."

Sampson says rent and utilities for downtown retail spaces likes hers have increased in recent years, but that commercial agents often are willing to negotiate downward on rates for spaces that have been vacant a long time.

"It's always challenging because you have to look at where you're spending your money and what's working best," she says. "You can't get away from rent and utilities, but you can control other expenses, such as marketing."