The dress destination
Lakewood resale shop offers fantastic formal frocks and boutique fashions
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Evelyn Theiss
Plain Dealer Reporter

Molly Beargie created Cinderella's closet out of a thrift shop.

As a result, many young women now turn to The Designer Consignor in Lakewood to find dresses for prom and other formals.

"We've become sort of a destination for that -- it makes us different from other consignment shops," says Beargie, 23, who bought the Westgate Resale business, a longtime Lakewood thrift shop, in the summer of 2005.

Beargie, who majored in fashion merchandising and business at Ohio State University, sold off the housewares and furnishings inventory, kept some of the clothes, then began adding an impressive inventory from what is now a list of more than 700 consignors.

She also sponge-painted the walls bright pink and white, and began creating themed fashion tableaus in the windows.

The Designer Consignor soon began drawing lots of visits, especially from high school girls from Lakewood, Magnificat High School in Rocky River and other neighboring schools.

Now, as prom season approaches, Beargie has moved the formal dresses to the front of her store on Detroit Avenue.

Remember the movie "Pretty in Pink"? This is where Molly Ringwald's character would have shopped. It's the perfect place to find something different from what department stores offer -- and at lower prices.

Still, there's plenty of clothing for folks who've passed the teenage years. The well-organized clothing and accessories boutique has sections for sweaters, tops, dresses, suits, shoes, purses and plus sizes; an adjacent room has men's and children's clothing, maternity wear and clearance women's clothes.

Pam O'Keefe, a Lakewood artist, comes here especially for the sweaters.

"I'm kind of a sweater-a-holic," says O'Keefe. "Every now and then if I'm going on a trip, or just want to lift my spirits, I'll swing by and I'll always find a sweater that's just the thing. Usually, for between $10 and $20."

Beargie's personality is low-key and sweet; her abiding interest in fashion fuels her excitement about owning the shop.

She worked at several other resale shops, including the Apple Core in Rocky River, the former Off My Back in Westlake and Once Upon a Child, also in Westlake. Then she decided to open her own store; her father helped her swing the money to buy it.

Beargie points to a strapless black Donald Deal dress that recently came in, original price $2,640 (it's for sale at $400); there's a colorfully beaded dress ($120) and a black Chanel dress with crystal straps selling for $70. A couture-quality beaded flapper-style Bob Mackie gown is $200.

Other well-known labels found here range from St. John to Betsey Johnson (Beargie loves her tops). Everyday labels such as Talbot's and Ann Taylor are also abundant.

Owning a resale shop for almost two years, going through hundreds of clothing items each week to prepare for sale, learning what her customers want. . . . What does Beargie know now that she didn't then?

"Labels don't matter that much," she says. "People care more about style and the condition of the clothes.

"Also, you have to be easy to get along with -- I have rules about consigning, but I can be flexible, too. And I can't just buy what I like, but what people will want to buy."

Barbara Weyburne Bea shops and consigns clothes at Beargie's shop. She appreciates the store's Web site, www.thedesignerconsignor.net , where she can look up whether her items have sold. (It links to an eBay site through which Beargie sells clothes as well.)

"Molly is lovely -- young, fresh, hip and smart," says Weyburne Bea, an administrative assistant who lives in Lakewood. "What she's got is current fashion, in season, and excellent condition. She's a great businesswoman."

The Lakewood Observer
11/30/06 - Secret Shopper - Designer Consignor
by Justine Cooper

Ever since I was a young child, I have patronized consignment and thrift shops. My mom probably got us started because the six children in our family were born within four years of each other, and the best way to make sure we all had a closet full of clothes was to buy second-hand. Since then, I have loved shopping at consignment and thrift shops, both as a young, single mother and as a career woman. I can easily buy several outfits for my child and myself at a fraction of the typical cost. Many items even contain designer names. An article in last month's Plain Dealer also suggested that shopping at second-hand stores is a great way to save money.

One consignment shop that we are fortunate to have here in Lakewood is Designer Consignor, at 17118 Detroit Avenue. This shop was formerly Westgate Resale; however, Designer Consignor has a fresh look. It is less cluttered and displays a wide variety of clothing, shoes, jewelry, and household items. Upon entering the store, you will receive a warm welcome from owner Molly Beargie and her employees. It's a great place to shop and you can even bring clothes there to sell, in order to make room for your new outfits! Molly graciously agreed to donate formal dresses to Cinderella's Closet, where dresses are available to high school girls for free, if they do not sell at her store. She did this without knowing that I write the Secret Shopper.

If you have not explored resale shopping, you may want to reconsider after discovering that you can purchase a complete outfit for under $30. And, if you have a teenager, you know that you can hardly buy a pair of jeans for that price at the mall. I literally put together an outfit containing a designer name sweater, a pair of brand name jeans, and a pair of leather boots for $30!

By writing this column, I intend to introduce more shops to residents that have a nice inventory as well as a warm atmosphere. Customers need and deserve both, and small shops deserve your business. I hope you find some new outfits at Designer Consignor soon, but wait until I get back there first!

Clothes shopping with Mrs. Kucinich
Posted by Evelyn Theiss May 29, 2007
Categories: Arts & Life
By Evelyn Theiss
Plain Dealer Reporter

Elizabeth Kucinich loves hats. She only shops in resale shops to stay true to her convictions.

Consider Elizabeth Kucinich, wife of congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich. In recent weeks, she's attended a wide range of events, from an afternoon garden party for Queen Elizabeth at the British Embassy in Washington to a protest rally for arrested Mexican immigrants in Painesville.

How does one dress for such a varied and intensive travel schedule, under budget constraints and close public scrutiny? Rather than fall back on designer handouts (which are not allowed by campaign rules anyway) or splurges at Saks, the environmentally and socially conscious Kucinich has a fall-back strategy that is unusual for someone who's judged by her appearance daily.

Her tailor-made solution? Shopping at resale and consignment stores.

"It's a matter of priorities," says the 29-year-old Brit, who spent her late teens and early 20s working in economically deprived villages in India and Africa.

"I think it's always better, and much more fun, to pick up real bargains," she says. "These stores are a microcosm of all the fashions out there."

Kucinich recently reached out to The Score to help her find resale dresses to wear on the campaign trail with her husband, concentrating on the West Side of Cleveland, where the Kuciniches live -- and in the right congressional district, too. We went along for the tour, which stopped after a mere two stores because she found many treasures right away.

An affinity for resale

While Kucinich will occasionally shop at Macy's or at Marshall's, she has always embraced the idea of clothes that are not brand-spanking new. While growing up in an English village about an hour from London, Kucinich enjoyed checking out what are known as "charity" shops in the U.K. -- our version of resale stores. They were plentiful in her hometown Essex area, but vintage and consignment shops are not as common as they are here.

Her main criteria (besides fit, of course) is versatility. "Can things be mixed and matched, and dressed up and down? Can they take me from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.?" she asks herself as she shops.

To meet the Queen, Kucinich wore flowing black pants and a ruched sky-blue silk blouse, but this dressy look is not always the norm. She spends a good deal of her time at grass-roots rallies or neighborhood meetings -- where she wants to look stylish but feel comfortable, too.

So many choices

There was much for her to choose from at Designer Consignor in Lakewood and Closets. A quick observation: When you're tall and lean, most things fit and, well, pretty much everything looks good. It's more a matter of winnowing down your choices.

Within four hours, Kucinich had narrowed her choices to an impressive assortment of attractive, flattering clothes that would outfit her easily through her busy schedule.

At Designer Consignor, she ended up with a long, light-blue linen skirt ($4), perfect for summer days; a deep blue silk cheongsam with subtle bamboo design ($20, which she already wore on a daylong trip to Boston and "it didn't wrinkle at all") and a sleeveless lavender floral dress (Laundry by Shelli Segal, originally $235, for $35).

At Closets, she found a strapless magenta cotton dress ($24), originally from the Express, that could easily go to a cocktail party. To dress it down for daytime, she bought a white denim jacket with magenta embroidery ($14). For other evening looks, she scooped up a black strapless organza ¤'50s-style formal by Scott McClintock ($39) and a Ralph Lauren floral silk dress ($48).

Kucinich says she's now set for clothes for quite a while and was happy to connect with Cleveland's resale scene.

"The people who own the shops are just lovely, and they and the people who give or sell their clothing to the shops are all local," she says. "So when you shop at these stores, you're supporting the community."