Store's Merchandise Depends on What's in Your Closets

At the beginning of a popular cable TV show set in a Las Vegas pawnshop, the owner says, “You never know what is going to come through that door.”

Stephanie Hyland and Jean Knapp know exactly how he feels.

As co-owners of Tossed and Found Consignment Boutique, a recently opened consignment shop in downtown Wyandotte, they are constantly surprised by the items brought in by regular customers to stock their store.

“Every day is like Christmas.” Hyland said. “We see some great stuff come in all the time.”

Like other consignment shops, the inventory is completely dictated by what people bring in to sell. And because business has been good–and getting better thanks to increased foot traffic due to nicer weather–the inventory that’s in the store is not likely to stay the same for very long.

“If you came in today and came back in two weeks, it would look completely different,” said Knapp, adding that the store already has a stable of regular customers who know to check back often. “We have people who come in every week just to see what we have.”

And while clothing makes up a large portion of the store’s space, it is far from all that's available. If fact, it may not even be the most popular category in the shop.

“Home décor and furniture has been really big,” Hyland said. “Jewelry is starting to move really well and the purses have been very popular.”

That includes purses by Coach or Louis Vuitton, items many people might not be able to afford new, but can afford through a consignment shop.

“You know, people like to have nice things around them,” Hyland said.

People also like to make a few extra dollars whenever possible and the store affords them that opportunity. When people want to sell an item, they bring it to the shop and Hyland or Knapp price it at a level to sell for maximum value.

When the item sells, the consigner gets 40 percent of the price, while the shop keeps 60 percent. On furniture, however, the rates are reversed, meaning people end up taking home 60 percent of the sale price.

“We have over 100 consigners already, so it’s been great,” Knapp said.

Both Knapp and Hyland also said they are fairly selective about the items they’ll take on consignment because they want to keep a higher level of merchandise in the shop. But also, they said, because they have a limited amount of space.

“You know, we want to keep it big enough to have a good selection, but not too big where it’s overwhelming and people walk right out,” Hyland said.

Along with making nicer items available to customers and giving others a chance to sell some items they no longer want, Hyland pointed out there’s another, Earth-friendly theory behind the business.

"There is a very ‘green’ element to it because this is like the finest form of recycling,” she said. “People are going to be doing a lot of spring cleaning. A lot of the items we have in here ... would have ended up in a landfill somewhere.”

Tossed and Found is located at 128 Sycamore, a half-block west of Biddle Avenue. The shop is open 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. During Wyandotte’s monthly Third Friday celebration, the store is open until 9 p.m.

For more information, call 734-720-0728 or visit the store's website.