NYC Consignment Shops: Vintage Fashion & Chanel Jewels at Encore

It’s MONDAY!! And for many of you, you’re enjoying a day off thanks to the holiday known as President’s Day. I hope that you are relaxing with a warm cup of coffee or tea right now, taking in the day for what it is and loving the moment you are in right this very second!

This weekend I took some time to visit with old friends and new. It was a refreshing weekend of enjoying New York City and remembering EVERYTHING that this wild, crazy place has to offer — including tons of vintage, consignment and thrift stores to explore and document for your pleasure, inspiration and education here on Sammy Davis Vintage!

Not only do I love NYC for its myriad of opportunity, but I love the world wide web for all it has to offer, too — including new relationships thanks to Twitter, like my online-to-now-offline friend Erica who I began tweeting with thanks to our mutual love of all things thrift! After a few tweet exchanges, we decided to meet at the Goodwill Outlet to work as thrift warriors with wisdom and love of thrift shared between us. The rest is digital history!

Erica, who is also an originally from PA-girl like me, is currently a student at the New School and also an Etsy seller of women’s vintage. When I heard that she was hired by upscale consignment shop Encore on the Upper East Side [read: Gossip Girl] — I freaked! The store is a mere four subway stops from my apartment — plus, nothing beats having an excuse to visit a store full of upscale and designer fashion like Encore, which was the FIRST designer consignment store to open in the United States more than 50 years ago in 1954.

So on Saturday I visited two fabulous “E’s” — Erica and Encore! — exploring the store’s three packed floors of designer and upscale consignment pieces, along with some amazing vintage finds [read: vintage Chanel jewelry!] that a 24-year-old girl with a thrifty budget like me just doesn’t see everyday. Keep reading after the jump to see all of my great finds at Encore and to learn more on what “consignment” fashion is and its many fashionable and financial benefits.

Happy President’s Day, everyone! I’d love for you to share your thoughts on this post in the comments below, especially because last week FACEBOOK comments went live on each post! Now you can connect to your Facebook account to leave some easy-peezy thoughts. I’m always looking for feedback and YOUR opinion, plus suggestions. I write this blog for your benefit and so if you ask, I answer!!!

Ask me anything on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, too ;-)

xx, SD

Encore has [count ’em!] THREE packed floors of designer and upscale consignment for women covering every.single.piece.of.fashion you’d ever need – from shoes to bags; suits to dresses; tops to blazers plus fur, jewelry, hats and the like.

Unlike the average thrift store or even vintage boutique, consignment stores usually merchandise the store by size to make your shopping experience easier. When buying consignment that is only a few years old, you are buying pieces at about 50 to 75% of their original value as sold in stores.

Encore focuses on upscale and designer, so that price point is still reasonably high for the thrifty girls’ budget. However, the benefit of shopping at a store like Encore is that you can get the best of designer fashion for a sale price. You won’t be digging through the “unwanted” designer pieces [although available at deep-bargain prices] at the Barney’s co-op sale or Sak’s post-post-holiday extravaganza sale.

At a consignment store, the pieces are curated, and that can sometimes be a convenience worth paying a bit more. While saving money, you’re securing style — and you’re doing it in a more peaceful, manageable and mindful way.

Traditional consignment stores work on a regimented system providing you with an opportunity to sell your unwanted clothing and accessories for some extra pocket cash.

Encore is one of the most traditional and most upscale, so your pieces must be on trend, designer or name brand recognizable and clean, wrinkle & stain free. You bring your pieces to the store — and which must fit the store’s aesthetic in order to sell — and the store’s curator will select which of your pieces to put on the shop floor. At Encore, you sign a contract which is dated and lists the “for sale” prices of your pieces.

If sold within 4 months, you receive 50 percent of the final selling price. At Encore, there is a “scale sale” system to help move inventory faster. Any item priced $85 or less will be reduced 20 percent after one month on the store floor. The contract keeps your item on the store floor for at least 3 months, with an option 4th — if you choose that 4th month, your piece is automatically priced an additional 50% off to whatever price it is at the end of 3 months.

Definitely check out the site for more information — you never know what pieces in your closet could resell on a consignment store floor!