ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s favorite consignment shop has been forced to change its name after she brought the trendy, upscale Anchorage boutique unintended legal problems during last year’s presidential campaign.

Out of the Closet owner Ellen Arvold said she was served a cease-and-desist letter by a Los Angeles-based chain of thrift stores with the same name – same trademarked name, it turned out – after Palin mentioned her store in an interview.

Rather than fight, Arvold agreed to change the name to Second Run.

“We don’t have the resources to fight,” Arvold said. “We just decided to change the name. We really had no choice, legally.”

Ged Kenslea, spokesman for AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the owner and operator of the Out of the Closet thrift store chain, said if it weren’t for Palin, the duplicative name “wouldn’t have landed on the radar.”

“We’ve invested a lot of time, energy and money or resources branding Out of the Closet, tied specifically to our HIV/AIDS mission to provide care and advocacy regardless of a patient’s ability to pay,” Kenslea said. “She was very gracious and agreed to change the name of her store.”

Arvold said Palin was last in the store a few days before McCain made her his surprise pick for vice president in late August, and sent a photograph from the campaign trail, showing her wearing a pink Dolce & Gabbana jacket she bought at the store.

Included was a note that “thanked us for the clothes, and apologized for all the flak we took, so that was really thoughtful of her,” Arvold said.

As for Palin’s high priced wardrobe, the Republican National Committee has said it would be donated to charity. Neither Palin nor RNC officials immediately responded to interview requests on Friday.

If the campaign duds haven’t been distributed yet, Kenslea said the charity would be happy to take them.