DOWNEY – One local family has taken the treasures they have found while traveling and turned them into a new storefront boutique opening this weekend.

Mother, daughter, and niece trio Loraine Medina, 48, Alyssa Hilton, 23, Kassandra Medina, 15, will open The Gypsy Trip on Sunday, selling clothes, accessories, and other items collected from their own personal travels.

The store began as a former mobile library truck they purchased in October 2018.

“We love to travel all over, and (Hilton) loves fashion,” said Loraine. “I was telling her this would be a really good idea, to buy this truck…We fixed it up, all of us fixed it up. We converted it; a little mobile library to a mobile boutique.”

The business started off small, doing little pop-up shops for family and friends, to great success.

“The more we went to, the more positive feedback we would get,” said Hilton. “We loved connecting with the people, the experience, and all that.”

When the Covid-19 pandemic set in, The Gypsy Trip was forced to take a hiatus, only just starting back up around a year ago.

Now, the entrepreneurial family have set their sights even bigger with their first brick and mortar shop, located at 7823 Florence Ave.

Hilton is currently committed to the store full-time. Kassandra, still a student at Downey High School, works on many of the graphic and design elements. Loraine supervises and serves in a mentor / assistance role.

They say the shop is catered and targeted to “free spirited” women of all sizes.

“Since we travel, we try to bring things from all over,” said Loraine. “Little things you wouldn’t really find at the mall, or hand-made stuff.”

“We cater to all women, from size small to 3x, so that’s another thing (our customers) like.”

“We carry plus-sizes that most boutiques don’t,” added Kassandra.

Loraine specially mentioned that she had recently brought back items from Baja and Romania, but future stock is only limited by their travel.

“I’m going to bring back something,” said Loraine. “Usually, I take a big luggage bag…because I know I’m going to bring (product) back.”

Gypsy Trip will be holding a grand opening celebration on Sunday, featuring music, drinks, and special deals.

They hope this will be the first of many stores, but do not necessarily want to become a chain. The original truck will also still be used as well.

“I want us to grow,” said Loraine. “I don’t like the word ‘chain,’ but just to have a lot of Gypsy Trips all over, but still having the small vibe feeling, like shop small boutique. We don’t want to be a Walmart or Target. We want to grow, but we want to keep it small at the same time.”