news
Peonies is ‘consignment heaven’
Monday, August 10th, 2009The Valley Courier, a weekly newspaper serving the Essex, CT community recently said “the quality is so good (at Peonies), customers may not believe they are shopping in a consignment store.” We loooooove that. Read the full story from the July 30, 2009 issue below.
~ Pam and Laurel
Peonies ‘offers top designer labels and high fashion on consignment’
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
As we mentioned in an earlier post, Peonies was featured last Friday in the ShoreLine Times (Vol. 2 No. 28, Friday July 3, 2009).
The feature on Peonies was the second story in a two-part series on consignment shops, written and photographed by Barbara Douglas {the first story ran the week prior.} We especially loved one particular quote, so we’re putting it here in a second color to underscore how very much we loved it, “Upon entering Peonies, any preconceived notion of ‘consignment’ goes out the window the second you step in the door.”
Our special thanks to the ShoreLine Times for a green light to share the story here. If you want to read the story in larger type, download the pdfs at the end of the post.
Oh, oooooooh—just remembered! You absolutely must download the first pdf if only for the amazing Smoky Bacon Salad recipe shared by Deb Harris from Debbie Moose’s New Book “Potato Salad” 2009. We agree with Deb that the very very best potato salad is made at least a little ahead of time to let the flavors marry. Yum. We also think anything with bacon, well, you just can’t go wrong!
~ Pam and Laurel
ShoreLine Times, Vol. 2, No. 28, Section B, 1
ShoreLine Times, Vol.2, No. 28, Section B, p2
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Peonies featured in ShoreLine Times
Monday, July 6th, 2009
Well, we were thrilled to see Peonies in the Friday, July 3 issue of the ShoreLine Times! In fact, Peonies was the front page story in Shore Life, Section B. Woo hoo!
Barbara Douglas, who wrote the story and took all the photographs, spent over an hour and a half with us doing due diligence: inspecting merchandise, taking photographs and asking questions.
The story broke on Friday and the shop was non-stop busy all day. Though we had planned to be closed, we opened Peonies on the Fourth of July from 10-3pm so as not to disappoint customers who had read the story.
We couldn’t be more pleased with Barbara’s piece. It was the second story in a two-part series on thrift and consignment shops.
Unfortunately, the two-page feature is not available online via the ShoreLine Times. We’re hoping to get a PDF to share with you. For now, read an excerpt, here.
In the meantime, Barbara was kind enough to share a few shots with us!
~ Pam and Laurel
© Photos by Barbara Douglas
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Peonies organized by design
Thursday, June 18th, 2009How do you organize a high-end consignment boutique that offers more than 1,000+ garments and accessories on the floor at any given time? And what if each item you offer is a unique: a different type, size, shape, width, length, color and fabric? And what if that inventory changes daily? As you can imagine, the shop could quickly become a hodge podge. Here’s how we are managing the design challenge at Peonies.
Everything is organized by article type, then by color.
Dresses {yes, we have Lilly} are in a dedicated section.
Customers love pairing black and whites together, so we do it for them.
White blouses, a staple for any closet, hang together like privates lined up at attention…
Silk scarves are folded. {We cannot imagine why no one’s nabbed the Furla!}
Jeans are organized by size. {Did we mention we have a thing for ties? Yes, we love ties for belts. Think we should submit it as an ‘Aha! use‘ in Real Simple magazine?}
‘Special’ handbags like Gucci, Ghurka, Stuart Weitzman and Furla are on on display.
Other colorful leather handbags bring pop to other display areas.
We feature pieces that make us smile, like this poppy red Dana Buchman suit….
…and this fantastic little Hawaiian print number by Dolce & Gabbana!
{We love this chartreuse Carlisle on our 1940’s vintage wire dress form.}
Here you can see half of the store in the antique mirror, adorned by a sweet Tibi sundress*.
OK, ok, pulling back with our fabulous little pink Sony Cyber-shot…click!!! Here you can see a little more of the store. So, dear readers, that’s how Peonies is organized and why. Come on in and see us soon.
~ Pam and Laurel
*The ‘butterfly dress’ was designed by Tibi, a chic designer label that sells in places like Saks, Henri Bendel, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, Net-a-Porter, Harvey Nichols, Harrods and Scoop. Consignor No. 7 discovered this dress in a little boutique in San Francisco. The dress sold in a week: which is to say that the beautiful blooms at Peonies don’t last long!
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‘Bargain Chic’ tops the news
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
The lead story on the front page of Monday’s Hartford Courant noted that area consignment stores are some of the busiest retail locations in recession-era suburban Hartford. Writer Rinker Buck reported that most of the consignment stores in the Farmington Valley say their sales are up 25-40% over last year. Read the full story here.
There was a similar story that night about the growing trend on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, reported by Kelly Cobialla. The piece said “clothes swapping is the new shopping.” You can read or watch Kelly’s insightful story here.
This is great news for Peonies, the higher end resale store for women. Our consignment boutique, located just a few miles from historic Essex Village in Connecticut, is well-positioned to thrive. The 800 square-foot boutique is stocked with upscale designers brands such as Michael Kors, Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Lilly Pulitzer, Stuart Weitzman, Vera Wang and Vertigo.
Women love bargains, for sure. But they also love another green!
In fact, Peonies customers are telling us they see consignment as a genuine path to sustainability. Consignors are trading in their gently-used clothing as another way to help save on the global energy required to manufacture clothes. By consigning, the lifecycle of a great garment is extended for at least another generation. And if that piece is of ‘heirloom quality’, the lifecycle of a great Anne Klein suit or a Chanel jacket is extended even further.
~ Pam and Laurel
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