New Resale Shop Opens in Grosse Pointe Park

Full-figured women with a limited budget face a double challenge when it comes to shopping for clothes: finding chic, well-made clothing that both fits them and is affordable. Fashion $ense, a new resale boutique in , is catering to women by offering gently used brand-name clothing to women size 10 and above.

Mary Ellen Stempfle, a City of Grosse Pointe resident, said she conceived of the boutique to give larger women “the quality they desire at prices they can afford.” She opened the boutique at 15308 Kercheval Ave. “without fanfare” May 12, she said.

Stempfle plans to have a grand opening June 21 to 25 after she has had time to “work the bugs out." Prices on everything in the store will be reduced by 25 percent that week, she said.

Despite the larger-size niche Stempfle has carved out, women of all sizes will find something at the store, which carries shoes, jewelry and other accessories as well as household goods. A modest amount of clothing in size “small” will also be available, she said. Stempfle gets her merchandise at yard and estate sales as well as from her personal collection. Some items are donated.

“I have everything from Chanel to Target,” says Stempfle, “and something at every price point.” The store accepts cash, check and Visa and Mastercard and is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Fashion $ense has opened down the street from Full Circle, a larger, nonprofit resale clothing shop employed by mentally impaired students of the Grosse Pointe Public School System. Stempfle believes the proximity of another resale shop is good for business.

“Resalers have synergy,” she said. “They send people here and I send people there.”

Stempfle also likes being close to the Park’s seasonal West Park Farmers Market and the foot traffic that it brings on Saturday morning.

This is Stempfle’s first foray into retail ownership, although she did work at a resale shop for a few years “to learn the business,” she said.

“I learned what sells and what doesn’t sell,” she said, and that has dictated the inventory at Fashion $ense. Don’t expect to find books, children’s toys and clothes, men’s clothing or personal care products, said Stempfle, who said they don’t move quickly enough.

To drum up interest from passersby, Stempfle plans to dress her storefront mannequins in new outfits each Friday and advertise the outfits for a full week before selling them. The first shoppers to arrive at 10 a.m. Saturday can purchase the outfits advertised throughout the previous week.