City Bus Driver Runs Mobile Fashion Boutique Out of 125th Street Truck

 February 21, 2013 6:51am | By Jeff Mays, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

HARLEM — The truck that Nneka Green-Ingram uses to house her mobile boutique, Celebrities, was once used to deliver Cheetos.

The metal shelves that held bags of Frito-Lay chips are gone, sold for scrap and used to finance $3,000 worth of renovations to the truck.

Now, there are giant eyelashes around the headlights and visitors to the truck looking for items — say, the glasses they saw on "Real Housewives of Atlanta" — might find them on the glossy red Ikea shelves that hold rows of glittering costume jewelry.

"Location is everything," said Green-Ingram, 36, a city bus driver who drives the truck herself and parks it on 125th Street between Lenox Avenue and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard Thursdays through Saturdays, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The location is a prime spot to find customers. According to the 125th Street Business Improvement District, nearly 136,000 people visited West 125th Street at Frederick Douglass Boulevard during the first week of February, a 2.4 percent increase over last year at this time. So far this year, the street has seen more than 734,000 visitors.

When she's not on 125th Street, Green-Ingram, who lives in The Bronx, scouts exclusive merchandise she keeps tabs on by watching reality television or reading fashion magazines. She takes the motto for her boutique seriously: "Where everyone is treated like a star."

If someone comes in, for example, and describes a piece they are looking for, she'll find it or put in a special order. That's what she did for a woman who wanted her name on a charm bracelet.

"I love to see a woman look and feel good," Green-Ingram said one busy afternoon. "That makes me feel good."

Customers who stepped into the truck were greeted by Green-Ingram, who was wearing crystal coated, cat-shaped glasses, giant hoop earrings, and fingernails painted a bright turquoise and studded with glitter.

"I love anything with bling," she added.

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