Consign On The Dotted Line

(Monday) March 15, 2010

Alexandria Consignment Shops on the Rise

By James Cullum

alexandrianews.org

Shoppers can find a designer look at an everyday price at Diva in Old Town. (Photo: Regan Kireilis)

Digging inside a cardboard box or sifting through racks to buy cheap, used clothing isn’t what it used to be. The number of specialty consignment stores in Alexandria is rising, a sure sign of opportunity for business owners and shoppers looking for a deal.

Trish Schumann lives in Alexandria and recently shopped at Diva, a designer consignment boutique at 116 South Pitt Street. “The quality of the jewelry is great… I bought these great boots that I’m wearing here for $5.00,” she said. “Right now, even though times are tough, we still have to go out, whether if it’s to the work front, or just everyday wear. This is a place where you can get very good merchandise at a price that’s comparable to Marshalls.”

Dress found at Diva in Old Town. (Photo: Regan Kireilis)

Cindy McCartney opened Diva three-and-a-half years ago. The three-level townhouse is decorated with the clothing, shoes, jewelry and other accessories of more than 1000 consigners. The merchandise is sold at a discounted price and 40% of the sale goes back to the consigner. “When I started the store there weren’t a lot of upscale consignment stores around,” she said. “Now there’s a whole crop that are out there. I think people realize now that consignment is not really a bad word anymore. People come in and say, ‘This is consignment? Really?’ and that’s what we want.”

Other specialty consignment stores in Alexandria include: Purple Goose, which sells new and consigned designer baby clothes and accessories; the King’s Own Shoppe; Eclectic Nature Gift and Garden Center; A Show of Hands; Mint Condition; Elinor Coleman’s Vintage Mirage and Methodz USA.

In January, the National Retail Federation predicted that retail industry sales will increase by 2.5% in 2010 – up from a 2.5% loss in 2009. “As we continue to see signs of improvement throughout the U.S economy in 2010, overall sentiment will begin to lift, making way for slight increases in consumer spending,” said NRF Chief Economist Rosalind Wells. “While we still expect shoppers to continue to be frugal with their discretionary spending, retailers will soon be able to reap the benefits of leaner, smarter inventories and a year and a half of pent up consumer demand.”

Shoes and purse from Label Exchange in Del Ray. (Photo: Regan Kireilis)

Last December, Monique Drummond opened Labels Exchange at 2607 Mount Vernon Avenue. She sells vintage designer clothing and accessories from $5-$20. A light-blue vintage women’s Samsonite handbag/small suitcase recently sold for $10. Because of the economy, Drummond also decided to sell consigned merchandise.

“We’re doing pretty well, although the snow was difficult. We’re waiting for the Spring so that we can get more traffic on the Avenue,” Drummond said. “I do the consignment to keep a variety of merchandise in the store.”

Furniture from Not Too Shabby in Del Ray. (Photo: Regan Kireilis)

But the merchandise consignment stores sell isn’t limited to clothes. Not Too Shabby Antiques and Consignments opened three years ago next to its sister store, Potomac West Interiors & Antique Gallery. “It’s going like gangbusters over there,” said Sarah Ide, co-manager of Potomac West. “It’s gone off like a rocket. It’s going so well that we’ve moved some of the consignments from over there to this store.”

Antique perfume bottles from Not Too Shabby. (Photo: Regan Kireilis)

Not Too Shabby’s collection includes dressers, beds, rugs, lamps, jewelry and art. “The consignment period is only 90 days because we want our merchandise to get stale. And it doesn’t because everything gets marked down 20% twice in a month – so you can end up finding something of great value that’s been marked down an additional 40% off an already great deal.”

Another unique consignment shop is A Show of Hands. Located at 2301 Mount Vernon Avenue, the store is the perfect outlet for Alexandria artists. The merchandise – paintings, jewelry, postcards, fountain pens, soaps, toys, glass, jams and jellies, recycled art, ceramics, bags, Bloody Mary mix, even the music playing on the CD player are locally made. “Everything in here is one-of-a-kind. We opened the shop to give local artists a venue to sell their work. Our artists are mainly people who still have full-time jobs but do their art on evenings and weekends,” said co-owner Pat Miller. “The way to get your art in the store is to come in and say, “Hi, I want to put my art in here,” Miller said. “And that’s about it.”