Auntie Te’s is a small consignment shop that allows buyers to donate their clothing and recieve 50% off the items that they are buying. There are clothes, shoes, jewelry, photo frames, wall decorations and hats on sale in the store. The decorations give the store a warm and comforting feeling and the staff’s friendliness invite shoppers in to browse through the large selection of eccentric and stylish items. Unfortunately, the items in the store are more geared towards women.
Sophomore Katie Mock goes to Auntie Te’s every Friday with her grandmother after school to go shopping. She usually buys jewelry from the store. “I like how it’s so small, I love their jewelry and I love the people who work there because they’re so nice,” Mock said. If articles of clothing haven’t been sold in 60 days, Auntie Te’s donates the clothing to charities. The owner of the store, Theresa Cizmar, is an AHS alumnus and makes trips to New York City often to catch up on the latest trends. She owned another small store with two friends before opening her own store in 1991 in Annandale.
Grace and Kelli’s is a smaller consignment boutique that sells real used designer clothing at affordable prices. The shop sells clothes, shoes and other accessories for women. High profile label items aren’t as expensive and are often priced around $1,000. However, middle range brands are more reasonably priced at around $20. Despite the high prices that may scare shoppers off, there are many trendy clothes that are still in an affordable price range.
The store is very well organized, making it easy for shoppers to locate items. The shoe rack is located in the front of the store with clothing racks sorted by sizes in the middle of the shop. The staff is also helpful to shoppers in helping them find the items they need. The store was opened by Gina Kim who owns it with her mother, Sue Kim, and sister-in-law, Hannah Yun. The shop is named after fashion icon Grace Kelly. The store sells brands such as Dior, Chanel, Gucci, and many more that are listed in the store’s window. The window often displays nice dresses or outfits to attract people passing by into the store.
Unique’s employee’s spend time sorting through merchandise, to ensure that everything is up to their stores standards. Unique provides clothing, shoes, children’s toys, furniture, jewelry, sports equipment, electronics, household items as well as hundreds of other miscellaneous items set for extremely low prices. The department store is neatly organized by various sections that separate goods for the shopper’s convenience. The store includes items used by all genders and ages that are donated by customers for a tax deductible.
Although Unique is not located in the Annandale area, it still serves as a favorite thrift store for students at AHS. “I usually buy my jeans from Unique because the brands I like are a lot cheaper there than if I bought them new,” sophomore Alec Stewart said. Unique believes in helping out the environment by recycling and reusing unwanted house hold appliances and clothes. Shopping at a thrift store, such as Unique, can be very beneficial when looking to buy college dorm furniture or when setting up a new apartment or home. The thrift store only accepts gently used clothes, shoes and other items; so most of the merchandise looks almost new. “One time I found a pair of Jordan’s there and they were only $10; they usually cost around $280 brand new,” Stewart said.
The Salvation Army recieves gently used furniture, clothing and shoes from customers who recieve a tax deductable. The store is classified into different departments based on item type. “There was some really random stuff there that you wouldn’t think anyone would buy,” freshman Katie McCann said. The majority of the store consists of furniture, generally looking almost new. The Salvation Army accepts essentially any item, the ones not sold in the store are given to the less fortunate hoping to reach the company’s goal of funding the Adult Rehabilitation Program.
“I think it’s a good organization because you can donate clothes you don’t want and people can buy them for an affordable price,” McCann also said. The Salvation Army is part of the Christian Church, but sells and serves all people in their stores which are located nationally. “I have been to The Salvation Army once or twice. There were lots of clothes in a variety of colors so you can find almost anything there,” sophomore Meghan Lynn said. “I bought things for my Halloween costume there one year because it was cheap and I only wore it once,” Lynn also said. No matter the occasion, the Salvation Army will seemingly have what you are searching for and maybe even what you never would have thought to look for.
