You may not know it at first glance, but business is booming in the quiet streets of downtown New Plymouth, Idaho, all thanks to a company that has become one of the fastest growing private businesses in the country. It's called Cheekys, and as founder and "boss lady" Jessi Roberts can tell you, the business' clothing lives up to its name. "We're kind of, tell it like it is, no B.S. girls," she laughs.
Cheekys designs modern western wear and accessories for women and men, calling their clothing "." Roberts founded the business with her husband Justin back in 2011, after moving to New Plymouth and realizing rural southwest Idaho was limited when it came to clothing choices. "I just wanted to do something fun and feminine and our town had none of that."
Roberts describes Cheekys clothes as "sassy with a side of country," saying, "We've always kind of ridden the edge, like, I love Jesus but i also drink a little." That attitude led to clothing and accessories that are fun, funky, and - most importantly to Roberts - affordable. "I wanted girls to come in after school and have like 5 bucks and have done a good job and could still leave with something," she says.
And that concept caught on, so much so that Cheeky's quickly outgrew its original building and is now spread across a total of eight buildings throughout the small Payette County town. Roberts explains it this way: "It's like a little anthill inside behind all the windows."
Their success has been so big and so fast, in fact, that Inc. magazine recently named Cheekys one of the top 500 fastest growing private companies in the country, success that Roberts is quick to credit to her Cheekys crew. "It is a family and friend owned and ran company," she tells us. "There's no way possible I could do any of these things without our staff."
And while Roberts admits that doing big business in a tiny town has its challenges, she says helping her small community flourish is part of what makes Cheekys so cherished. "We're just middle American folks that want to provide comfortable stuff that people can put on and it kind of makes them smile."
While the bulk of the company's business is done online through their website, which you can find here, Cheekys clothing is also currently available in over 3,500 retail stores across the country, including a few right here in southern Idaho. Jessi has also written a book called Backroads Boss Lady that will come out in March.
