Attending a “Girls Night Out,” every now and then gives women the opportunity to connect and build relationships while sharing information and stories of common interests.

At Take2Chic, it’s an important night to gather women from across the city for a night of conversation and fashion.

Mari Alstin, owner of Take2Chic, located at 547 N. 20th St., hosted a “Girls Night Out” last Friday at her boutique for fashion tips, wine and cheese in addition to discussion on healthy living.

This is Alstin’s second event at her boutique and she wanted to focus on health last Friday night.

Throughout the night as women gathered, Alstin gave her friend Bernadette Golden the opportunity to share Juice Plus, a dietary supplement that Golden sells, to allow Alstin’s guests to sample.

“Mari is really the type of individual who goes for what she wants. She doesn’t let any doors get shut. I like to see young African-American women aspire to what they want,” Golden said. “I sell a product called Juice Plus--Mari gives other people the opportunity as well, to show their products.”

As guests browsed through Alstin’s merchandise, they sampled Juice Plus drinks and fruits and vegetables and grains in capsule form.

When Sapna Patil heard of the event, she brought her two girlfriends along to enjoy a peaceful girl’s night at Take2Chic.

“I just saw this place with all the clothes in the display and heard about this girl’s night and spread the word to my friends,” Patil said. “I liked the fact that it was a wine and cheese theme—girls love to eat and we like to shop,” she said.

Alexis Young, Alstin’s mother, thought the event was a true success. She is proud of her daughter’s accomplishments and thinks it’s important to have nights where women can come together.

“This is a wonderful thing, we look forward to this — girls just being girls, food fun and fashion, and we cannot just have enough of this,” she said. “Mari is dedicated; she wants to do this every month as an appreciation to our customers—we have a loyal customer base. If you check the fine print on our birth certificates, it says ‘born to shop’— this is girl’s night and we are going to do what girls do.”