The e-card, which we already professed our love for here, is a discount card to the best shops, restaurants and services on the Shoreline. e-cards are now available for sale at Peonies, the high end resale shop for women in Centerbrook.

This discount card, which offers some incredible discounts, is the brainchild of Erica Tannen, the e-list. We like it for three reasons: the great discounts for shoppers, the incentive to ‘buy local’ and that the cards help give back—10% of the proceeds of the sale of each e-card is donated to a local non-profit organization. The card gets you tons of great deals, some are special offers for first-time customers.

See who is participating by category, here.

See what’s available by town, here.

Purchase the e-card at Peonies, or directly from Erica, here.

~ Pam and Laurel

She knows cheese, wine, design, and style. If you haven’t already met Maggie Lukas from Old Saybrook, CT, you are in for a real treat. Maggie is the latest addition to Peonies, the high end designer consignment store in Centerbrook, Connecticut.

Maggie graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in Management Information Systems (IT) and a concentration in Marketing. (We can’t wait until she’s ready to take over all of our IT and our marketing!) Maggie began her career at CIGNA Retirement and Investments. When CIGNA sold her division, it freed her to pursue a more creative side.

Maggie then became a mixologist, and eventually head bartender at the Wine Bar at the Griswold Inn in Essex.  During that time she also worked at Fromage, the wonderful gourmet food and cheese shop in Old Saybrook. Wonderful customers and friends who knew Maggie from the Gris and Fromage introduced her to the next step in her career: Maggie was hired to open and become the general manager of Liv’s Oyster Bar. Through Liv’s, Maggie met Julius Angelini, owner of Angelini Wine, and found the next stop on her career path, enabling her to realize her marketing and design skills. She loves working with people and takes great satisfaction from helping customers.

Maggie lives in Old Saybrook with her husband, Scott Lukas. In her spare time, Maggie loves to read and practices yoga.  Please join us in welcoming Maggie to Peonies.

We are just thrilled with the wonderful story the Better Connecticut team, WFSB3, ran this morning on Peonies. Watch the segment on Better’s recently updated website, here. To our customers/consignors Dianne, Amy, and Noemi: you were absolutely amazing on camera. Gorgeous, gorgeous—inside and out!  To Melissa Cole, Scot Haney, and the entire Better Connecticut team (Melissa D., Ralph and Lizz!), our heartfelt thanks.

~ Pam and Laurel

Peonies, the high end consignment store in Centerbrook, CT, unveils its Fall 09 Collection today, Tuesday, September 15. The shop has been open since May 29, 2009.

Owners Laurel Peters and Pam Williams say that women have embraced the shopping experience at Peonies, located just three miles from elegant Essex Village. Half of the store traffic includes loyal customers, lovingly referred to by the owners as Peonistas—women who come into Peonies at least once a week to to check out what’s new.

This week, the Peonistas will see 500+ new, one of a kind items in the shop. Cooler weather clothing and accessories are now on the floor with a wide range of fine sweaters, jackets, lightweight scarves, tops, skirts, suits and light coats, cleanly organized by type and color. The owners say they turned the store “upside down” over the weekend to make room for all of the new Fall arrivals including designers like Alberto Makali, David Meister, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Donna Ricco and more.

For a sneak preview of the Peonies Fall 09 Collection, look here.

To see what the store looks like right now, look below.

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PEONIES FALL 09 | Click on photo to enlarge

It is no surprise that Better Connecticut, WFSB 3, consistently delivers one of the highest rated shows on weekday mornings. ‘Better’, co-hosted by the affectionate and funny Scot Haney and Emmy award winning journalist Kara Sundlun, together take their viewers to unique places all over the state, delivering news in an entertaining, fresh, informative, and very personal way.

Many of the ideas for stories for Better come directly from viewers. When Essex resident Dianne Hunt-Mason watched Better a few weeks ago, she heard them ask, “What’s new in your town?”

Dianne recalls, “I thought, well, there is something new in my town, and so I just started tapping away on my computer, writing about Peonies and all of the things I love about it.” Dianne, a Peonies consignor and customer, apparently intrigued the show’s producers with her note: within weeks a friendly Channel 3 crew showed up at our store with cameras and questions. Lucky us: our customers were happy to share their perspectives: Dianne, Noemi Kearns, and Amy Friedman—thank you, thank you.

Because our customers loooove to spread the word, Peonies will be featured on Better Connecticut on Tuesday, September 15  at 10am on Channel 3, coinciding with the launch of their new Fall season, and the first day we present our new Fall collection.

How lucky are we? Please tune in!

~ Pam and Laurel

PS.  Scott= and Kara have a terrific Facebook page. Follow them! And send your love to Kara and her new baby boy, Julian Crescenzi Stephen House!