After working at a children’s consignment boutique in Frederick for a few years, Susan McCarthy saw business picking up this past year and quickly opted to invest in the store.
One of two co-owners of Enkore Kids, a second-hand shop in Westview Promenade, McCarthy is helping the store make the transition from its leased 1,200-square-foot space to a larger building of its own in Boonsboro. The extra 1,800 square feet in Boonsboro will allow the store to expand its offerings to include maternity wear and larger sizes for older children, as well as more brands.
‘‘The business was picking up and I decided now was the time to buy into it,” McCarthy said Tuesday in her shop, near a pile of recently donated children’s clothes on her checkout counter. ‘‘People want us to sell more stuff. They’re asking for more brands of car seats. They want to bring in their maternity clothes.”
McCarthy also said more customers are purchasing items that can be reused, such as adjustable car seats, both to save money and for ‘‘eco-friendly” reasons to avoid waste.
Many resale, pawn, and consignment shops in Frederick County have noted the same increase in sales — an anomaly in the retail sector, in which overall sales have been stagnant and owners have been cutting jobs.
Consumer spending in clothing, furniture and home furnishings, and department stores dropped last month from March 2007, according to a U.S. Census report released Monday. Shoppers spent $18.6 billion on clothing last month, compared with $18.9 billion in March ’07.
Like thrift stores, discount retailers are more than holding their own. Sales in that sector grew to $28.1 billion in February from $25.9 billion in February 2007, according to the report.
The resale and thrift industry is one of a few ‘‘recession-proof” segments of the retail industry, according to the National Association of Retail and Thrift shops. Instead of suffering from consumer spending cutbacks, thrift and resale stores tend to draw more customers during downturns because of the price discounts, the association reported recently.
‘‘This has always been a recession-proof industry,” said the association’s executive director, Adele Meyer, in an e-mail. ‘‘Most of the industry has seen an increase in both suppliers and sales. ... One of the foremost reasons that resale thrives in a slow economy is simple — people love a bargain.”
Pawn Shop of Frederick, part of a chain of pawn shops with headquarters in Texas, has seen an influx of customers both selling their items for extra cash and purchasing cheaper-than-retail goods the past three months, said manager Jeremy Snowberger.
‘‘I do see signs of how bad things are,” Snowberger said. ‘‘A lot of people are coming in just for some gas money.”
Carrie Perkins, co-owner of Pixie Dust, a children’s consignment and toy shop in Brunswick, said business has been steady since it opened on Potomac Street in July, slowing in the winter and picking up in recent weeks. Naomi Everett is also co-owner.
Roughly 75 consigners from Frederick to Hagerstown regularly bring items to Pixie Dust for either a check or credit to use in the store with a 10 percent discount. The store tries to select items in near-perfect condition, Perksin said, with brands such as Old Navy, Gap and Gymboree for resale at 50 percent less than retail.
‘‘Consigners are all saying the same thing — that times are tough,” Perkins said. ‘‘We write them a check and they’ll turn right around and spend it in our store. They know what items their kids need.”
As more shoppers seek discount prices, people also tend to donate more clothing, household goods and furniture to either get tax benefits or payments from stores that purchase resale-worthy goods.
Cynthia Scott-Johnson of Frederick, vice president of 3 Road Communications, said she has been a regular shopper at Second Chance Boutique, a consignment shop in Bethesda that carries designer labels at a discounted price.
‘‘I knew this was a good deal, even when the economy was good,” Scott-Johnson said Saturday before she sorted through racks of gently used skirts and rows of like-new shoes. ‘‘I love to save.”
Second Chance owner Barbara Blesi, after seeing a significant sales increase the past year, is expanding her store to an adjacent space, churning out more advertising and adding to her staff of three while many other retailers are cutting back expenses. Second Chance sells designer label items that are more expensive than many second-hand items, but still much less expensive than in a high-end department store.
‘‘Business has been growing and with the downturn in the economy, it’s just boomed.” Blesi said. ‘‘I’ve spent more on advertising than ever before. Every dollar is well spent. ... You have a lot of professionals that have to look good but have to watch their clothing dollars.”
