If you're in the market for vintage L.L. Bean boots, Jovani formal wear or Gymboree baby clothes, then boy are you in luck.
There's a consignment store nearby that can fill your order.
Resale is a $13-billion industry in the United States, and the Chattanooga area is well-represented in this growing business segment with stores here that specialize in used clothes, furniture and household goods.
Unlike retail-only stores, which are often buffeted by dips in the economy, resale stores tend to be all-weather businesses which survive - and even thrive - during hard economic times. The Association of Resale Professionals, a national trade group, says the resale industry is growing at a rate of about 7 percent a year, at the same time many national retailers have gone belly-up.
One of the fastest-growing segments in the resale industry is consignment, where inventory is provided by sellers who stand to earn 40-50 percent of the selling price when items are eventually sold. Meanwhile, the shop owners keep 50 to 60 percent of sales proceeds for marketing, warehousing and ultimately turning the goods into cash.
Industry watchers say two trends are converging to boost consignment stores: a desire among environmentally-minded customers to reuse or re-purpose consumer goods and the age-old impulse to save money.
Christi Homar, the owner-operator of Dwelling, a furniture and clothing consignment store in the Brainerd art district, says stores like hers represent a lifestyle which honors the aesthetic value of one-of-a-kind pieces.
A popular stop for designers as well as consumers, Dwelling has a funky mix of antiques, mid-century modern furniture and contemporary crafts and jewelry. In the 5,000-square-foot store you'll find everything from a $1,400 pedestal sink to vintage photographs of the Chattanooga Lookouts baseball team.
Homar, a designer, says she was inspired to open the store after making frequent trips to Atlanta to look for items for her home-decorating business. Dwelling started as a home furnishings store, but has branched out recently to include name-brand and vintage clothing and locally-themed collectibles.
While some of the items in Dwelling are the product of beating the bushes for merchandise - the industry term is "picking" - some of the best pieces come through the front door. That's the beauty of consignment, Homar says.
"No matter how good of a picker you are, you can't pick inside people's houses," she explains.
She says customers are drawn to her store because of the instant gratification of being able to find one-of-a-kind items and to take them home immediately - as opposed to ordering online. She says most of her consignors are people who are downsizing houses or who are shedding unneeded family goods.
A few miles to the east in the South Terrace Plaza the owners of Kids Planet specialize in gently-used kids clothes, one of the hottest segments of the consignment business.
Anne Craft, owner of Kids Planet, says her store took off during the Great Recession in 2009 as people tried to pinch pennies. Many customers became accustomed to the bargains at her store and never looked back, she says.
"Nowadays, people don't want to spend a lot of money for clothes their kids are going to be in for just a short period of time," she explains.
Craft says she is picky about the clothes she takes on consignment, focusing on name brands such as Gymboree and Gap. The store also carries kids toys, furniture and equipment, such as strollers. Consignors can claim their cash, once their items are sold, or take store credit instead.
"I think people have gotten used to buying gently used clothes and know what kind of quality they get," Craft says. "They don't want to go back to paying full price."
Formal wear is a specialty of the Glam Slam consignment boutique near Gold's Gym at 5510 Highway 153 in Hixson.
Owner Helen Perkins says gowns by Jovani, Tony Bowls and Sherri Hill are often offered at about half retail price, and in many case the dresses have only been worn once or twice. People who attend lots of black-tie events need access to gently-used formal wear, she says. A dress that might sell for $600 new, is only about $300 in her store, Perkins adds.
"In today's economy, people are looking to save money," Perkins says. "You can get wonderful buys here on high-quality garments. We're not a thrift store."
Indeed, many in the resale trade use the word "upscale" in their business descriptions to separate themselves from the image of musty thrift stores with unfolded piles of end-of-the-line merchandise.
New generations of buyers - who were raised on resale store clothes and eBay bargains - are conditioned to think of resale merchandise as high-quality, according to the Association for Retail Professions, assuring a supply of resale-store customers for decades to come.