Children's Resale Boutique Still Going Strong After 27 Years

Carolyn Boyd and Florence Custer are best friends. They have been side by side for many years. They worked in Orland Park as waitresses together; commuting daily back and forth.

One night after a long day of work, both ladies decided they had enough of the restaurant industry. They were burned out and wanted to move on to a new career. But what to do was the question.

Boyd’s sister suggested opening a floral shop. Boyd immediately turned that idea down. Custer’s sister suggested a tanning salon. Boyd said “goodnight” to that idea. Custer suggested opening a children’s clothing consignment store.

That idea stuck and 27 years later, Thumbalina Boutique is still growing strong.

“I had young grandchildren at the time of opening the store and knew how expensive it was to cloth children,” Custer said. “There was a shop down the street from me, but it was never open. I wanted to have a shop that was open, that had regular hours and had good clothes to sell.”

Boyd said she and Custer have met a lot of nice people over the years.

"I don’t think we ever had a grouchy customer," she said. "I have never heard any complaints either."

sells girls and boys clothing ranging from infant to size 14. Many of the clothes are brand name, such as Aeropostale and Justice.

One half of the store is the boys clothing. The other is girls. All clothes are categorized by size. A table with toys keeps children who are shopping with a parent entertained.

“Our store is very organized and easy to shop in,” Boyd said. 

Currently, spring and summer fashions are displayed on several racks in the store. There are a variety of floral sundresses, shorts, shirts and jeans available for sale. 

There are even communion dresses. And Boyd and Custer rotate the window display to coordinate with the current holiday. St. Patrick’s Day items fill the window now.

In July, customers can find all the necessities for winter, including boots, coats, mittens, hats and scarves, Boyd said.

“On an average, an outfit is $7.99,” Boyd said. “Nothing is more that $19.99. Customers save a lot of money here rather than going to a regular department store. You can’t go anywhere else for these prices.”

Clothing sold as sets are popular, Custer said. Boyd said the store gets many shoes and those sell very fast too.

Customers will bring in clothing that their children have grown out of. Current style clothing is accepted and customers will be given a price for the clothing. 

“I don’t price item by item,” Boyd said. “I can look at a pile of clothes and give a price that is hopefully acceptable to customers.”

According to Boyd, the clothes they accept are brought to her home and Custer’s for laundering. The clothes are brought back to the store for steaming before being displayed on the sale racks. Custer said her and Boyd will also do mending if there is a button that needs to be replaced or if there is a minor tear, but they will not accept or sell clothing that is beyond repair.

Customers who accept the deal will be issued a store credit to buy new clothing, Boyd said. 

Once a purchase is made, an exchange can be made within two days, Boyd said. There are no refunds.

Customers can use the layaway plan. Normally customers have to leave a 20 percent deposit, but Boyd said if that doesn’t work financially for the customer, she will work out a plan that does.

But if the customer declines the offer they have two choices. One is to take back the clothing he or she was planning to sell. The other is to allow Thumbalina to donate it to those in need.

“Once it’s out of the house, most women don’t want it back,” Custer said. “ So we will donate it to a local shelter.”

Thumbalina can be found on Facebook. They are open for shopping from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.