When Haley Penney graduated from Auburn in 1999 with a degree in human development and family studies, she didn't pursue a career in that field.
"I took some time to try and figure out what I wanted to do," Penney said.
She worked at a gift shop downtown for a few years before deciding to open her own store.
"I just wanted to do my own thing with clothing instead of gifts," she said.
In 2006, Penney opened her first store, Simply Charming.
"I remember shopping at Simply Charming my freshman year," said Liz Howerton, senior in animal sciences. "It was really cute, with higher-end clothes than many boutiques now."
Penney said when she opened the store there was a need for the merchandise in the community.
"I just loved clothing," she said. "When I was a student here and from 1999-2002, there really wasn't a selection. There was nothing to choose from. When I opened Simply Charming it was for people to be able to find collection type dresses to wear not only everyday and to wear out, but to wear to cocktails and formals."
In February 2011, Penney opened a new store downtown.
"When our lease ran out (at Simply Charming), we were supposed to move immediately, but our plans fell through," Penney said. "We had to wait like five and a half to six months to open up here."
Her new store is The Pink Room, and the location isn't the only thing that differs from Simply Charming.
"With the new store and the new location I wanted to lower the price point," she said. "I didn't want people to assume it was higher-end merchandise. With Simply Charming, that was the reputation it had. The economy was much better then, so we changed the name, lowered the price point and got a different type of merchandise in."
Penney said she feels the changes were welcomed by the Auburn community.
"I love The Pink Room," Howerton said. "It's by far my favorite store downtown. I had no idea Simply Charming had become The Pink Room. It feels like a completely different store."
Penney said business in a college town has ups and downs, but it's been great at the new store.
"It's been wonderful," she said. "When the students leave obviously it slows down, so I'm glad everyone is back. December was slow, but now that everyone's back they're slowly trickling in. And the summer actually wasn't bad."
Penney said while there are more boutiques downtown than when she opened Simply Charming, it hasn't been bad for business.
"Obviously now there are a lot of boutiques here, but that's fine," she said. "I think we complement each other well."
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