Local shops offer style for less

by KATIE WORRALL

While it’s always nice to have a brand new dress, the next best thing is to buy a dress that is new to you. Consignment shops that sell women’s clothing are becoming popular places to buy clothes. The Local recently visited a new shop in Erdenheim, the Pink Peony, and two shops in Chestnut Hill: Fashion Forward Designer Resale Boutique and Worth Repeating.

When she was a child, Amy Soeffing accompanied her grandmother on trips to consignment shops, looking for good buys. Soeffing, a Mt. Airy resident, has turned that love into a business. She recently opened a shop called Pink Peony Consignments Inc., at 627 Bethlehem Pike in Erdenheim.

The small shop, located across Bethlehem Pike from the Mobil station, is packed with racks of women’s clothes, display cases of jewelry and shoes left randomly around the edge of the room. There is also an assortment of household items and pictures.

“It’s been fun talking to people, to see what people have,” said Soeffing. “It’s like going through your grandmother’s attic, but is someone else’s.”

Soeffing buys clothing by the season. She stopped accepting summer garments recently, but will sell summer clothes at 20 percent off and lightweight fall clothes for the next few weeks.

Now accepting fall clothes, Soeffing looks for garments that were made within the past five years and certain vintage clothing, such as those with wild prints, old lace or fashions made by Lily Pulitzer in past decades, in order to keep the shop trendy.

Customers often buy clothing or jewelry to make something else, Soeffing said, as she described how a pair of large clunky earrings might be reused as shoe buckles, something that is coming back into style.

Fashion Forward

Located at 7906 Germantown Ave., Fashion Forward Designer Resale Boutique specializes in high-end women and accessories. Owner Ayana Mitchell — who, by coincidence, was a Springside School classmate of Soeffing — looks for clothes two years old or less that are created by designers such as Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Jimmy Chu. Clothes range from stunning outfits for dressy evening events to jeans. Shoes, while the Local visited, include a pair of white stiletto heels made by Vera Wang; there are accessories such as vintage brooches, earrings and necklaces.

Among the vintage fashions is a bright print dress created by ‘60s designer Averardi Bessi, who like his contemporary, Emilio Pucci, signed his dresses.

“I’ve always had a love for fashion and high-end women’s clothing. I knew at a young age that I wanted to open a high-end women’s boutique. It’s my passion,” Mitchell said.

Fashion Forward’s owner said that consigning clothes are popular in this economy and people do not want to pay the full price. “Another attraction is that shopping at consignment shops is a treasure hunt to find a great piece. My clients enjoy looking,” Mitchell said, as she showed a visitor the Bessi dress.

Worth Repeating

Shopping at Worth Repeating is designed to be fun, said Barbara Beecher, who runs the shop now located at 7727 Germantown Ave. Shoppers enjoy browsing racks of clothing to background music of jazz and blues and conversation with Beecher and her daughter Brooke, who also helps to run the shop.

“Last week, we had a customer who said she could have gone to Nordstrom, but that she loves our intimate feeling. Customers also love the bargains,” Beecher said.

Worth Repeating specializes in gently-used designer women’s clothes that are “trendy to designer” for women ages 20 to 60, fluctuating between Express and Anne Klein, according to Beecher, who also sells shoes, handbags and jewelry.

Among the garments available last week were suede and leather jackets and coats, as well as blouses, slacks and other separates.

Beecher draws on her experience in running consignment shops when she prices items for consignment. Worth Repeating was previously located on the unit block of East Willow Grove Avenue and Beecher ran similar stores in Bala Cynwyd and in Santa Fe, N.M. Profit from the sale of a consigned garment is split 50/50 between the shop owner and the consignor, Beecher said.

Worth Repeating is open from noon to 5:30 p.m., Monday to Saturday.