By Kate Reardon

Herald Writer

EVERETT — The white beaded wedding dress complements the woman’s alabaster skin and flowing red hair.

Gracefully, she models the gown in the window of Dale Preboski’s new import store, Beyond the Blue Imports. "She looks kind of like Nicole Kidman, don’t you think?" Preboski said of the reconditioned mannequin.

The redhead is just one of many mannequins wearing wedding dresses from Asia and Mexico in the new store, which has brought a sense of elegance to the corner of Wall Street and Hewitt Avenue.

Preboski says she realizes she is taking a risk by opening the unique import store, the first of its kind for Everett.

The store, open for just a month, carries a selection of imports including colorful, hand-painted kites from Vietnam, wedding dresses and framed artwork. Some artwork and bridal veils offered there are made locally. Gift items go for as little as $5 for a Mexican knickknack bird to $45 a kite and as much as several hundred dollars for various artworks.

Preboski has either personally hand-picked each dress or had it custom-designed to offer something different for brides. The dresses range from $450 to $1,500.

"The goal is to provide exciting fashions at modest prices," Preboski said. "Our goal is to bring unique products and value to our customers, profits to our company, an improved standard of living to our wholesalers and new energy to downtown."

Whether it ends up being a hit in this community or not, Preboski said she’s glad she’s doing it.

Her inspiration mostly comes from her love of meeting new people during travels to Vietnam, Mexico, Indonesia and Europe, among others.

She bought 100 kites in Vietnam from a man named Nguyen Van Be, who told Preboski that although he will never visit America, through her his kites can fly free. And in Vietnam, a woman who stitches designs into 3-D artwork impressed Preboski.

She told me all she does is sew, she said.

"I told her she does much, much more than that," Preboski said, pointing out the delicate stitching.

More than anything else, what pushed Preboski to move on her dream of two years to open the store was her mother.

"When mom died, she never had a regret of what she did do, but she regretted the chances that she didn’t take and the places she didn’t go," Preboski said. "It made me see that you don’t want to get to that place in your life when you say you wished you had done that or this."

Preboski still works a full-time job as a spokeswoman for Everett Mayor Ed Hansen, a job she plans to continue. That’s why she has buyer/consultant Peter Nguyen and a staff of six part-time employees at the store, she said.

Her employees include a retired U.S. Customs inspector, a Berlin-born dancer and a Scotland-born journalist.

"We are a diverse group, and we seek diversity from our wholesalers, products and customers," Preboski said.

Preboski hopes the past history of the store’s location won’t haunt her chances of creating a successful business. Businesses seem to have a hard time staying alive at the location. The 2,500-square-foot space used to house, at various times, a Frontier Bank, a consignment shop and most recently a day-labor business.

Preboski hopes a new awning outside the store will welcome and encourage foot traffic in the area. She also said she hopes a variety of new items on a regular basis will keep shoppers intrigued and interested.

"If it doesn’t succeed, I’ll be sad … but I won’t be sorry," she said.

You can call Herald Writer Kate Reardon at 425-339-3455

or send e-mail to reardon@heraldnet.com.