Resale shops remake empty retail spaces as consumers reshape buying habits

By Sandra M. Jones, Tribune reporter

Part 2

These secondhand stores are not only expanding, but they are taking on the characteristics of traditional

retail.

In Geneva, designer resale shop Anew looks just like the full-priced, independent boutique it replaced two

years ago, down to the Tuscan-style natural stone walls, styled mannequins and spacious dressing rooms.

Business has been brisk enough that Anew expanded into the space next door in February, opening a bridal

consignment shop. Some of the gowns have been worn. Others come from cancelled weddings or brides

who didn't lose the weight they intended.

"It's safe to say, life as we knew it is definitely gone," said Jan Rooney, owner of Anew, who opened the store

in 2009 after losing her job as an insurance broker. "I don't know if any of us will ever feel that kind of

security again."

Runway Revival opened next to the Barney's Co-op on Halsted Avenue in Lincoln Park in October, moving

into a shuttered Abercrombie & Fitch store. Owner Sheila Hermes furnished the 4,000-square-foot shop with

gold clothing racks and a glass display case that she purchased from Barneys on Oak Street last year when

the retailer shut down and moved across the street.

"People want the opportunity to buy at a lower price, but they also want it to be digestible," Hermes said. "It's

gotten to the point that at times we have more coming in than we can put out on the floor. I don't want my

store to be packed. I want it to be organized and feel like a boutique."

Indeed, the line between new and used is blurring. The little secret of retail: Personal shoppers at luxury and

department stores are boosting their own sales by encouraging customers to sell their old designer duds and

use the money to come back and buy something new.

Shopper Susan Perlman had avoided consignment stores until she discovered the designer handbags at

Millionaire Rejects on West Armitage Avenue.

"I really just saw the quality of the bags," Perlman said. "They're not old and run down. To me, these are in

great condition. These bags would not be affordable for many people if they were new."

It is these kinds of shopping discoveries that has Corri McFadden, founder of luxury consignment eBay shop

Edrop-Off, betting that the consignment store is ready for reinvention. Her flagship storefront at 2117 N.

Halsted St. is not a traditional resale shop. Simeone Deary Design Group, the interior design firm behind the

Elysian hotel, designed the showroom. A stylist dresses a handful of mannequins each week, and the clothes

are sold only online.