By Steve Wehrly, Journal reporter

“I shopped here. Always liked the clothes. Tasty and classy, like Nordstrom, but with a touch of fun like Jay Jacobs was when I was a teenager.”

So said Kim Wickman, when asked why she made the move from being an insurance agent at Swanberg Judkins to owning a boutique clothing store. She knows retail fashion is a far cry from selling insurance, but says, “It’s more fun to sell nice clothes, and I really like it when I see clothes from my racks on women around town.”

When Wickman saw the “For Sale” sign in the window, she knew this was what she was looking for. “My mother keeps reminding me that when I was 15, I said I wanted to own a clothes store,” she said.

Wickman did some bookkeeping for Swanberg, so she says she could tell that former owner Teri McPadden was actually making money.

“She had done the work, bought good lines that I liked personally, and I didn’t have to reinvent the business to get it going,” Wickman said.

Asked if she will change anything, Wickman mentions her passion for running – and the fact that nobody in town has good running clothes.

“I want things that look a lot better than sweatpants and a hoodie, but that I’m not afraid to sweat in,” she said. “I also want to find clothes for kids my teenage daughter’s age, sassy clothes with great colors.”

Open seven days a week, Be Chic Boutique is located at 125 Spring Street; for more info, 378-6454, or www.bechicboutique.com