- Lisa Pearce, owner of Savvy Chic in Warwick
Those designer jeans your teen will be clamoring for before school starts don”™t have to break your bank. As the economy remains tight and purse strings tighter, upscale consignment shops are reaping the benefits of once-worn designer teen and adult women”™s fashions ”“ and selling at a fraction of their original cost.
“Some of our consignment items come in with the tags still on them,” said Lisa Pearce, who bought Savvy Chic Consignment Boutique in Warwick in 2009. The mother of three did not want to commute, so when she started working for the original owner and was offered an opportunity to buy the business, she jumped.
“Business was good, the hours worked for me and my family, and most of all, this is providing young women and their mothers an opportunity to buy upscale designer clothing and apparel at prices they can”™t find at discount outlets,” Pearce said while tagging clothing in her nearly 1,000-square-foot store. “In this economy, everyone is watching how they spend, yet they want to be fashionable. If that”™s what they need, Savvy Chic is the place to make it happen.”
Pearce separates clothing by color, style and size ”“ even designer plus-sizes she said are difficult for women to come by. “Someone may rush in here and tell me they need a blue top for a skirt for that evening. Well, I have everything color coordinated and there”™s no digging around to find the right item. Best of all, the price is right.”
Consignment items must be nearly new and come in cleaned and in plastic. No pulls on sweaters or stains permitted. “Everything is nearly new ”“ in fact, some of it is new ”“ something someone bought and changed their minds about. It works out for the working woman and it works out for parents who want to please their children but do not want to break the bank,” Pearce said.
Juicy Couture, Hollister, Louis Vuitton and True Religion are among the many brand names hanging on the racks, as well as purses, scarves, belts and other accessories. The one problem Pearce and her neighbors on Ronald Reagan Boulevard off Route 94 have is the ability for customers to find them.
“We are behind a business in a strip mall, and there is no road signage,” Pearce said. “We”™ve all been to the planning board to ask that we be allowed to erect signage. …but it”™s gone nowhere. Occasionally, if I have a sale, one of the two businesses at the top of the hill has been kind enough to let me put a sign up on their property pointing down the road. But it”™s not like having a real landmark.”
In the meantime, Pearce relies on word of mouth and a regular stream of consignors who receive 40 percent of the proceeds of the sale. “They can check on their merchandise on the website to see how it”™s moving and how much they have accumulated,” she said.
“This is another way for them to be fashionable at a very reasonable expense. It”™s a new economy, and people are embracing it.”
To check out the prices, visit mysavvychicboutique.com.
