A Coupeville handbag shop is getting exposure that she said she hopes will resonate throughout Whidbey’s business community.

The Handbag Consignment Shop, historic Front Street’s newest business, will be featured on Evening Magazine’s Thrifting Thursdays segment 7 p.m. Thursday, July 25 on King 5. The broadcast is sure to draw value-conscious shoppers to Whidbey Island.

“I’m excited,” said owner Kim Hoctor before her interview with the television crew. “It’s going to be good for Coupeville as well as Whidbey Island.”

Evening Magazine’s Kim Holcomb and a cameraman visited with Hoctor and toured her business, talking about her selection of high-end, used handbags.

After spending several years selling consigned handbags on the Internet, Hoctor opened her first store about four weeks ago. Since then, the bags have been flying off the shelves. After being open for a little more than a month, she has sold around 150 handbags and she is looking for more people to consign with her store.

Before the interview, Hoctor negotiated with a woman from La Conner to sell one of her handbags, and she pointed out several shoppers in the store also consign their bags with Hoctor. She noted she’s found people as far away as Seattle for her inventory.

She said she hopes the Handbag Consignment Shop will become a destination that will be a popular place for shoppers to visit all year long, winter or summer.

“I think it will be good exposure for the community,” Hoctor said.

The consignment store will soon be the home for workshops slated to begin in the fall that will be a service to her customers. Workshops include how to properly care for a handbag and how to spot a knock off.

Evening Magazine’s visit to Coupeville is one of several stories focusing on Whidbey Island that appeared in local and tourism publications.

Recent stories that have appeared include an article in the Express, based in the United Kingdom, that featured Coupville residents Jan and Marshal Bronson in a profile about Whidbey Island along with an article in Live Better Magazine about sustainable farming taking place on Whidbey Island.

Sherrye Wyatt, marketing and public relations director for Whidbey Camano Islands Tourism, said she has been busy hosting travel writers who have been visiting in recent weeks.

“We want to showcase the region when it’s at its best,” Wyatt said. She said she’s visited with writers from regional travel magazines and family-friendly publications.

She said she sometimes searches for travel writers while others approach her to write about Whidbey Island.

Writers sometimes visit Whidbey Island in the fall. Wyatt hosted six travel writers in the fall of 2012 during the farm tour.

Coupeville Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lynda Eccles said the chamber has also advertised in publications such as American Road and Waterside Magazine. She noted area chambers of commerce partnered with Visit Seattle to further increase Whidbey’s visibility in the region.

“We all work very hard promoting and encouraging people to visit Whidbey Island,” Eccles said.