As we approach 15 years of Consign Couture, I’ve been thinking a lot about where we’ve been and how many different versions of this business have existed!
I opened in St. Johns, April 25th, 2011.
In 2016, we opened a second store in Lake Oswego and ran both for about a year. We closed our St. Johns location as its hard to run two stores in very different communites.
Then the pandemic hit in 2020 and everything changed. We closed our storefront, moved everything into an apartment in Multnomah, and ran the business by appointment only for a while. In 2021, I took a walk one evening and found our current space in Multnomah Village.
About a year later, we tried a pop-up at Washington Square Mall, and ended that venture after our 11 month pop-up lease was up. I could write an entire blog post about that experience, but I will sum it up to say – I am not a mall person. I’ve made a lot of changes as I figured out what I wanted this business to look and feel like.
I thought about doing a big event or evening celebration like we have in years past, but it just didn’t feel like me anymore. I am middle-aged now, married, and an overbearing dog mom of two. Instead, we took the team to the coast for a night. We crafted, watched the Oscars, and I pretended to be a server (which made me realize how hard that job is), and my husband cooked. It was simple and cozy. It felt like the right way to start acknowledging 15 years.
This photo I always come back to is from our first week we were open. I had just quit my corporate job, bought a dilapidated building off of Craigslist, and decided to open a consignment store. I duct taped a Vistaprint sign to the window. I opened around 11am, one person came in, and I immediately locked the door after they left because it felt too personal. It’s made me more understanding of how vulnerable it is to open something and put yourself out there.
Over time, this business has become more than I expected. It gave me a place to put my creative energy. It taught me things I didn’t know I needed to learn. And somewhere along the way, I realized it’s also been a way for me to stay connected to my late grandmother, who taught me about clothing and fabric when I was young. I also spent my first 5 years of life in a store in Half Moon Bay and this photo is from that store 🙂
It’s also brought me my people. Customers I still see who have been coming in for 10, 12, 15 years. I don’t even know how to fully put in words what that means to me. And the team(s)… I’ve gotten to grow alongside some really incredible people. One of our first ever team members is having a baby this summer and we are having our own little baby moon in Seattle. What makes it cuter is that we are staying at a condo owned by a peer consignment shop in Seattle that we love.
I think secondhand clothes are my drug of choice. I still organize my closet almost every weekend! I thrift on my days off and sometimes after working a 9-hour day. There’s something about secondhand clothing that is it for me – sharing it, recycling it, and on and on.
We are excited to celebrate our consignors the entire month of April. Without you we would not be here!
Tamara
