If there is one thing The Great Recession has shown us, it is that we really can find the items we want for less. Due to a less flexible income many have come to love consignment shopping.
Before it was cool there were women like Tracy True Dismukes who loved to shop in second hand stores for top of the line items. That love would later turn into Collage Designer Consignment, Tracy’s very own designer consignment shop, and Consignment Chic.
Tell us a little about yourself.
In 1988, after I graduated from Auburn University with a Finance degree, I started at SouthTrust Bank as a Cost Accountant. Three years later, I graduated with my MBA and was promoted into SouthTrust Corporation as an Internal Management Consultant. I bought a little un-computerized consignment shop as a project to test my creative and business skills. Soon after, I was sitting in my bank office thinking “I cannot possibly handle another thing” when my boss walked in and said “We’re going to give you responsibility for the Corporate Travel Department!” AAAAhhhh! I now had THREE jobs but managed to hang on for another 6 years when I decided it was time to focus on MY OWN BUSINESS and left the corporate world in 2000.
In 2001, I bought a 10 year old competitor to create the second location of Collage. I was officially a chain! In 2002, we opened Collage Plus Sizes in a space that opened up next to our second store. In 2003, we built a brand new store from scratch in a brand new Wal-Mart shopping center. After 3 years of pain, we thankfully closed that location! Three stores was just right for me! Along the way, I served on the Board of NARTS, the National Association of Resale and Thrift Shops and served as it’s President for two years. I value the friendships and the industry specific knowledge that have come from my association with NARTS.
In 2008, as the economy was heading south, I seized the opportunity to thrust consignment onto center stage by creating a television show called Consignment Chic about the Thrill of Shopping Consignment. Next came the creation of our companion web site ConsignmentChic.com — THE Online Community for Consignment Shoppers which features an online store filled with fantastic items from consignment shops across the country! Then we created the Consignment Chic bus tours of consignment stores in the local area and in Atlanta. In 2010, my newest venture is a private label, custom line of consignment themed t-shirts that we sell not only through our Collage stores, but we also wholesale them through Consignment Chic to stores all across the country and in Canada.
Along with my tenure with NARTS, I’m a longtime member of NAWBO and of ECMTA, the Ecommerce Merchants Trade Association. I also just found out that I am a finalist in NAWBO’s National Trailblazer Award, of which I am truly honored to have gotten that far! (Wish me luck!) I am a founding Board Director of Dress for Success, Birmingham and am the administrator for my Sunday School class at Hunter Street Baptist Church.
Tell us a little about your store, Collage Designer Consignment.
For over 16 years, Collage Designer Consignment has outfitted some of the best dressed women in the Southeast. All three of our Collage stores are known for being exceptionally selective in the items we carry on consignment and our clients include news anchors, government officials, pageant winners, professionals and soccer moms who all know they can find anything from boutique brands to high-end designer labels, from GAP to Gucci as they say, with all the benefits of a full-service boutique and prices less than wholesale. We also cater to women who wear a size 16 or higher at our Collage Plus Sizes store, which is truly shopping paradise for plus size women!
COLLAGE has been voted Best Consignment Shop and Best Women’s Boutique in Birmingham Magazine and the Birmingham News and was awarded Retailer of the Year by the Alabama Retail Association.
What first got you interested in the consignment business?
Thanks to my mom, I’ve always been a bargain shopper and loved seeing how far I could stretch a dollar. She took me to garage sales every weekend and to closeout stores. So when I found consignment shops, I was hooked! It was guilt-free shopping and a business where you didn’t have to invest much in inventory. Of course now that I own three, I go to market five times each year to buy jewelry and accessories to complement the clothes, so it does need inventory investment, but not as much as a typical boutique. I never cared for retail, but I love consignment! So while I was a banker, I felt I was only using part of my talent. Now, I use it all! I’m a computer fixer, building maintainer, employee developer, marketer, clothing evaluator, inventory buyer, cheerleader, sales floor manager, visual artist, and on and on and on….. Be careful what you wish for!
What inspired you to create Consignment Chic?
Originally, it was the opportunity to host a national cable show on consignment shopping and lifestyle bargains and when I realized I could do my own show locally, I jumped on the idea! Why? In 2008, with the downturn in the economy and the renewed emphasis on recycling and going green, the consignment/resale industry was thrust into the national spotlight. Every week on the morning news shows like the Today Show and Good Morning America, they were doing segments on saving money and making money with consignment shopping and selling. The time was perfect to spotlight the stores in our state who offered such a high quality product at such low prices at a time when so many people needed to know that they had another option.
So I bought a time slot and created the Consignment Chic television show which aired in 22 counties and I recruited 12 consignment shops to partner with us to keep it going. I immediately added new hats to my belt and became an Executive Producer, Script Writer, and Sales Rep in one swoop! From there, we created the Consignment Chic Bus Tours to visit the stores that the viewers had been seeing on the television show. We were so excited about our television ratings (we debuted at #1 in our time slot!) and then recognized that our companion website was gaining steam and the traffic was really pouring in! We realized that if this could have such an impact locally, it would work nationally and so we transformed ConsignmentChic.com into THE Online Community for those who LOVE Consignment Shopping!
What are some of the features on your website?
ConsignmentChic.com has a Store Finder to locate consignment shops, Message Boards to share and look for fantastic finds, Videos from our television show and Consignment Chic Minute commercials, Bus Tour information along with videos and pictures from past tours, interviews and articles the media has featured us in and the most exciting — an Online Store with the best items from the partner stores of Consignment Chic.
What are some of the lessons you’ve learned as an entrepreneur?
Don’t get sucked into ego advertising. I paid $3000 for a full page full color article in a slick local magazine that billed me as the expert in my industry. (And it was in June when everyone is gone on vacation..) Who wants to let your competitor get that spot? You do if you really need that money for other things. I can’t imagine that ad ever paid for itself. Of course I’m still using the reprints 6 years later..
Also, if you really want to grow your business you need to hire good people. When I started the television show, I knew there was no way I could continue to run the company alone. I needed help and I had always wanted an assistant. I was fortunate to land an awesome assistant and instead of just a television show, we have a new company with many new divisions. You can only get so much productivity out of one, two or three people. Surround yourself with smart people who have complementary skills to yours and you’ll be surprised how much better, stronger and more profitable your company will become. After over 16 years, now I think I’m finally ready to add a bookkeeper, too…
How do you maintain work/life balance?
That’s a question better answered by someone else… I am a lucky mom to a fabulous 4-year old and without him I think I would work every waking minute. So from 9am — 6pm, I’m ninety to nothing full throttle working. (With two companies, sometimes I don’t have a choice!) The rest of the time is reserved for my little boy, walking, church activities and oh yes… time with my husband!
What do you enjoy the most about running your own business?
Not having to wear makeup every day is a nice benefit. J Also, I can get an idea and implement it immediately without having to clear it with anyone. I enjoy building a team around me that reflects my way of doing business and my values and then hearing the feedback from customers who really love our business – that is very fulfilling.
The least?
I miss paid vacations and I don’t ever get to turn the business off after hours. (Self-imposed, I know) Sometimes I can let it simmer, but something will inevitably bring to mind a project or something I need to add to my to do list. I also don’t like the lingering stress of never knowing when a store employee will call in sick and then everyone else has to shuffle around to get the stores covered for the day. Oh, and I get paid last. If we have more bills than money, I’m out of luck!
Do you have any tips that you’d like to offer fellow entrepreneurs that are just getting started?
Research your industry and do your homework. Risks are real and you can lose your shirt if you aren’t prepared for the realities. After you’ve done the legwork and feel relatively confident in what you are about to do, ENJOY the ride, not just the ‘destination’. It’s easy to set goals but hard to remember to celebrate them when you attain them. And don’t forget — cash is KING and if you keep it on hand you can react quicker and easier to opportunities that come your way. Sometimes you only have a few hours to respond to an opportunity, so have your funding in place BEFORE you need it.
