{"id":280082,"date":"2026-04-22T10:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T10:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/280082\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T10:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T10:51:12","slug":"how-economics-killed-a-beloved-l-a-plus-size-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/280082\/","title":{"rendered":"How economics killed a beloved L.A. plus-size shop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

About two-thirds of American women are plus-size<\/a>, but here in L.A., you\u2019d never know that by looking at the shifting retail landscape. Mass market plus-size retailers like City of Industry-based Torrid are closing dozens of stores<\/a>, while big-box stores including Target and Old Navy have been stealthily<\/a> reducing<\/a> the amount of plus-size stock they carry on shelves, choosing instead to direct shoppers to their online portals. <\/p>\n

The few locally owned plus-size boutiques aren\u2019t faring much better. Recently, Marcy Guevara-Prete<\/a>, owner of Atwater Village\u2019s Perfect 10+, announced her intention to close her store on April 27. All clothes and accessories will be 60% off, and she is selling some of the store\u2019s fixtures and mannequins.<\/p>\n

After shuttering her decade-old, hot-pink, plus-size resale shop, the Plus Bus<\/a>, in Highland Park last fall, she thought paring down her store\u2019s stock and slightly expanding its sizing could save her business. Her rent in Highland Park was up to $6,000 a month, she says, and the move to a smaller space in Atwater Village cut her expenses in half.<\/p>\n

But almost six months into running her new space as Perfect 10+, Guevara-Prete says it\u2019s become increasingly clear: She was fighting a losing battle. \u201cIt feels really obvious that the store has to close, but it\u2019s so heartbreaking,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Operating the Plus Bus and Perfect 10+ was more of a labor of love for her than a money-grab, she says, noting that she never once turned a profit on either store. A reality TV producer turned boutique owner, Guevara-Prete says she kept the stores running because she felt the plus-size community needed them. <\/p>\n

\"Books <\/p>\n

Books and accessories for sale at Perfect 10+.<\/p>\n

\"Marcy <\/p>\n

Marcy Guevara-Prete had high hopes for her store Perfect 10+ in Atwater Village. She previously operated the Plus Bus store in Highland Park. It closed last fall.<\/p>\n

Not only were her stores well-curated retail oases \u2014 they featured mostly used clothes, but also a few new pieces \u2014 for those who couldn\u2019t find a plethora of styles that could fit them at, say, Westfield Century City, but they were also stores that fostered community through sponsoring events such as plus-friendly pool parties and drag shows. And they were known for donating outfits and styling to members of L.A.\u2019s transgender community.<\/p>\n

The stores became a first stop for Hollywood stylists pulling looks for celebrities like Nicole Byer and Megan Stalter and an essential destination for out-of-town plus-size travelers who often came from communities where a store like the Plus Bus didn\u2019t exist. (Byer and Lizzo also frequently sold or donated<\/a> their used clothes to the store to sell.) <\/p>\n

The Plus Bus also got national attention, getting acknowledged in an episode of \u201cHacks\u201d as well as featured in an episode of Avery Trufelman\u2019s \u201cArticles of Interest\u201d podcast about clothing.<\/p>\n

So what happened?<\/p>\n

Starting in 2023, Guevara-Prete says, the store\u2019s sales began to dip. \u201cThey took this nosedive, and it seemed inexplicable,\u201d she says. \u201cSome people related it to the election or to uncertainty coming out of COVID, when people had that extra $600 a week to spend on things like clothes, but either way, the last three years have just been a total slog.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guevara-Prete says the downturn caused her to lay off most of her eight employees, and ultimately, she found herself taking out a few ill-advised business loans with less-than-favorable interest rates. All of this was happening while she was also struggling to land full-time freelance work in the entertainment industry, which is experiencing its own struggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was essentially making irresponsible decisions in order to keep [the stores] going, whether for spite, for ego, for the community or for the dream,\u201d she says. \u201cI really just had to face the music and make a choice that was really, really hard, especially when every single day people tell me how much the Plus Bus has changed them and how wonderful and affirming it\u2019s been. Like, I don\u2019t think anyone is going to talk about any episode of \u2018Top Chef\u2019 I produced at my funeral, but they absolutely will talk about the Plus Bus.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some sense, they already are. Guevara-Prete says there\u2019s been a big outpouring of love from fans and shoppers who have supported the stores over the years.<\/p>\n

At Perfect 10+ on a recent weekday afternoon, people poured in one after one, both to shop the deeply discounted racks and to pay their respects to Guevara-Prete, whom everyone met with hugs and lamentations about their collective loss. <\/p>\n

Everyone visiting left with something: a pair of leopard print boots, a dress for a brother\u2019s upcoming wedding or a red tango-friendly gown. Guevara-Prete says the oversize outpouring of support has been present online as well. But she wishes some of those fans had been shopping at her stores on a monthly or quarterly basis in recent years rather than now bemoaning what\u2019s been lost.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A large selection of formal, casual and professional outfits hang on displays and racks at the Perfect 10+ in Atwater Village. The store will close Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of chatter online about who isn\u2019t selling plus sizes and who doesn\u2019t carry your size, but there isn\u2019t nearly enough promotion of the places that do,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Although the occasional plus-size pop-up like Thick Thrift<\/a> still happens in L.A. and a few local plus-size resale shops remain, including Qurves<\/a> in Burbank, MuMu Mansion<\/a> in Mid-City and Hannah\u2019s Hefty Hideaway<\/a> on the city\u2019s Westside, Guevara-Prete says she\u2019s increasingly worried about where her store\u2019s plus-size customers will be able to shop going forward. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are people going to go in a pinch when there\u2019s no brick-and-mortar that\u2019s consistently open?\u201d she asks. \u201cStores [like the Plus Bus and Perfect 10+] not existing is scary to me, because I need them. It just makes me feel like the plus-size community is being devalued even further as a population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Customer Dina Ramona Silva happened upon the Plus Bus\u2019 initial Glassell Park location after moving to L.A. in 2015. For her, Guevara-Prete\u2019s stores weren\u2019t just retail outlets, they were also a sort of intellectual salon or spiritual sanctuary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a big girl my whole life, like I came out of the womb 10 pounds, eight ounces. There has never been a point when I\u2019ve been skinny,\u201d Silva says. Finding a place like the Plus Bus, where \u201ceven the people who worked there were big, bodacious [and] fashionable\u201d felt nourishing, like just stopping in to chat with people in the store could give her a boost of confidence that she might not find anywhere else.<\/p>\n

\"Marcy <\/p>\n

On a recent day, shop owner Marcy Guevara-Prete sets a sign outside her store that reads, \u201cEntire Store 40% off, Size 10+.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt changed my entire conception of who I was in the community,\u201d Silva says. \u201cA lot of times in female friend groups, there\u2019s one single fat girl amidst all the other slender women and allies. Having a place like the Plus Bus helped me because then, it was me and a whole bunch of other plus-size baddies. It was like, \u2018Oh my god, this is so cool. We could all share clothes and they\u2019d fit!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Guevara-Prete\u2019s stores have also been important spaces for L.A.\u2019s trans, queer and gender-fluid communities. Eureka O\u2019Hara, a drag performer who\u2019s appeared on \u201cRuPaul\u2019s Drag Race\u201d and HBO\u2019s \u201cWe\u2019re Here,\u201d says she found the Plus Bus about six years ago when she started to explore her gender identity, ultimately transitioning from presenting as nonbinary to being transfemme.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Plus Bus was so important to the queer and gender-fluid community because it gave us a place to feel comfortable trying clothes on,\u201d O\u2019Hara says. \u201cOftentimes I would show up, and they would have clothes already pulled for me. Also, I\u2019m coming up on a year sober, but when I last relapsed, I came back to L.A. after having a relapse in Vegas. I ended up putting all my stuff in storage and went straight into a rehabilitation clinic and then sober living, so I didn\u2019t have any of my belongings. Marcy made sure I had clothes to wear so that I could still present myself publicly on social media as a trans woman talking about my process of recovery, and she did it at no cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Hara says she knows other trans women whose wardrobes are almost entirely from the Plus Bus, saying that if they couldn\u2019t afford the clothes they wanted, the store would often give them \u201cextreme discounts, if not free clothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Shop <\/p>\n

Shop owner Marcy Guevara-Prete, left, thanks customer Katie Pyne for coming in for one last visit.<\/p>\n

Guevara-Prete says that while her stores\u2019 closing has been \u201cmore bitter than sweet,\u201d she\u2019s still proud of the work she\u2019s done with the Plus Bus and Perfect 10+.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never in a million years thought I would own a boutique or have the kind of healing that\u2019s come from the Plus Bus community,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat I\u2019ve experienced and learned about body positivity, body neutrality, fat liberation, fat acceptance and how that\u2019s been translated from my clothes to my actual soul \u2026 There\u2019s nothing like it. And I\u2019d like to think that I\u2019ve also healed people through this project and that people have made friendships and memories they\u2019ll have for lifetimes at my events.\u201d<\/p>\n