Thrifting through Leelanau’s consignment shops
By Madeleine Hill Vedel
Sun contributor
“What lovely hand-painted glasses these are! Each one so unique!” I exclaimed as we sat down to the beautifully set table on this farm north of Northport. “I found those at the Samaritan’s Closet in Lake Leelanau,” Kathy Garthe told me with pride. Whenever her daughter Nikki comes to visit they go thrifting, and are sure to stop by the local consignment shops, The Roost in Suttons Bay and Jaffe’s Resale and Consignment in Lake Leelanau. I remember noticing the elegant purple satin coat dress Nikki wore with such flare a couple years back, from The Roost, as I stroke the soft cashmere of my camel twin set sweater I had found myself at The Roost last winter.
Charlotte Steinhebel started The Roost seven years ago as a small business she could run while raising her two small children, then five and seven years old. “The whole point of starting the store was as it would be convenient for me to bring my kids to work, or even stay home with them. It’s hard when you are working for someone else; calling in sick is not okay,” she tells me. “When I first started I only sold women’s clothing in my original space in the alley across from the library.” From her shop window she could watch her children walk to the library, or play in the town’s tall snow pile in the parking lot. “We’ve expanded four times in the last seven years. And now we sell a little bit of everything: women’s, men’s, and children’s clothing, accessories, jewelry, shoes, purses, belts, scarves, We do small furniture—though small can also be a sofa. If I can move it by myself I’ll take it. Decor and furnishings—people love these!”
The Roost moved in March across M-22 to 325 N. Saint Joseph Street in Suttons Bay and now sits kitty corner from MI Market. Steinhebel’s previous location, on the waterside of Saint Joseph St., offered a long space that reached to the end of the building and was ideal for the current COVID requirements. “Keeping distances has been easy in my store—my capacity is 16 people. It’s easy to keep your distance, stretch out between shoppers. There’s the back door and the front door. It’s worked out well.”
Charlotte had planned the opening of her new children’s annex for this past April, which did not go as planned. “I’d been hoping to open it in April, not July. The timing wasn’t ideal. That pushed me way back. And that I had to pay rent on that space while not being open.” Happily Charlotte was able to obtain a PPP loan as well as a concession from her landlord in her primary store, which enabled her to get to the summer without too much stress. She has also been careful over the years to enter each winter with savings from the past summer to carry her through the slower months.
In the months before the busy tourism season, she is optimistic. “It’s difficult, but I’m not the only one. I’m just pushing. I have really good inventory. I may not have a ton of people coming in, but they’re buying more expensive ($50) things, which adds up. I’m definitely not giving up.”
It is important to understand the differences between a thrift store, such as the Samaritan’s Closet, or down in Traverse City, The Women’s Resource Center or Goodwill, and consignment shops. Thrift stores take donations, whatever people bring them as they clean out their closets and homes. For thrift shoppers, going through the vast quantities of items is often likened to a treasure hunt. You can find that pearl, that fantastic leather coat, or that antique cheese grater, but you have to sift through a mountain to find it. Thrift shops are set up as charities, and by purchasing there, you contribute to your community as the funds collected go to support food banks, extra food for hungry children (the Friday Backpack program), and those in need. The Samaritan’s Closet, opened 10 years ago by Dee Glass on the corner of Co. Rd. 641 and M-204, changed ownership and moved across the street, newly opened in January 2020. The Leelanau Christian Neighbors raised the funds to purchase it, and now house it in a space doubled in size (3400sq ft). Mary Stanton, their representative, shares, “We’ve been quite busy. When the pandemic started everyone stayed home and cleaned out their closet. We were closed for ten weeks. At the end everyone brought their goodies to us. It’s a good thing. So many people like second hand. My granddaughter who is 15 is back into vintage clothes. People are being very supportive on both ends on donations and shopping.”
There are two key elements to keep in mind when comparing ‘consignment shops’ and ‘thrift stores.’ Consignment shop owners work for and with their customers. As small businesses, they cultivate relationships with their clients who bring them their minimally worn, well-cared-for items, be they clothing, furniture, or housewares. They enter into partnerships, selling the consigned items and paying their clients their fare share. A typical split is 40% of the sale price returning to the consignee for clothing and 50% for furniture. As Charlotte explains it, “A shirt that had been $45 new, I’d put it at $14/15 – you[the consignee] would get $6.38 for your shirt. You would never get that at a garage sale. It’s kind of nice for people if they have nice thing and move them on, to make a little money without a garage sale. And I am always thinking on the other side, if I’m a shopper would I pay that?”
When I put forward the word “curated,” Phil Thies, owner with his wife Patricia, of Jaffe’s confirms its aptness, telling me: “Within the whole context of this – resale – people are looking for value. Value has a lot of details to it, good quality, labels, current fashion, worth their money. Thrift buyers are different, not as discerning. We have to present a better product.” And to do so, he must woo those who bring them items as well as market to those who would come in to shop. “Though it has been a struggle all year to get good consignment material, we’re always seeing new consigners. The market is very fluid. We see a great number of people arriving who are downsizing, moving in together or going from a large family home to a smaller home. And we see people moving here to retire as well as on the out-bound. Our consignment comes from the two sources: living the dream, and wanting to live the dream. However, it is nonetheless a struggle to get good product. I hear that the thrift world is buried in debris – people cleaning out and organizing. But so much of that is pure landfill material.”
Consignment shop owners pride themselves on their intimate knowledge of what will sell to their customers. They work hard to select what they bring into the shop, and to sell items in a timely manner.
Sitting here in my brown wicker arm chair, purchased on a whim from Jaffe’s nearly seven years ago now, I ask local clothing designer Gaia Nevascil, with her degree in global fashion, her opinion of the consignment/thrift shops and their place in our county: “Thrift shops are the place where clothes go to remain in the cycle instead of being discarded as waste. They give that item, items continued life. It’s essential for communities to develop more and more of this, and less buying of the Chinese market and throwaway fashion companies. Leelanau County doesn’t have nearly enough, in my opinion.”
Elaborating, Gaia continues: “You can tell when a place is curated with quality clothing. You find labels that people have had to travel out of the region, even out of the country, to collect. If you are someone who knows clothing and can recognize that, then great. I do also stress that we should support local clothiers, but I lean on thrift shops, especially the ones who are really organized. The Roost is very organized and has some home furnishings, ditto with Jaffe’s. In Leelanau County, there are very few places that you might buy regular affordable things – a cheese grater, a frying pan, a baby carrier [which she was able to find for just $20 at The Roost this summer], or other some such, but you can do that at a thrift or consignment shop.
It’s a good thing. Being a part of a recycle economy is important. There are so many things we don’t need to buy new. When you can thrift from one of these church shops or mission-based thrift shops, you literally are supporting your community.”
In the midst of this most particular holiday season, when so many are hurting, be they our neighbors or our local business owners, it is but one act, yet an important one, that encompasses a handful of virtues: to buy local, give items a new life, contribute to your community, and reduce waste. So whether you’ve the time to pick through racks and racks or prefer a more selective and organized presentation, you will be richly rewarded, and your savings far less depleted. Plus, you may get that moment of exuberance at finding the most perfect and unexpected item, be it for a family member, a friend, or yourself.
