Local furniture consignment shop offers good buys in tough economy

Gina Depew has always enjoyed decorating and finding things at a bargain.

"I've always decorated my home from garage sales or thrift stores," she says.

Now, she doesn't have to spend her Saturdays shopping around town for good buys.  Thrifty treasures are right at her fingertips. Gina recently opened Re-Find Interior Consignments located at 5014 Broadway in Fountain City.

"I love it, I've wanted to do this for years," she says.

"In my research I've found that it's almost a recession proof business because people are looking for bargains more now than ever."

Furniture consignment is a lot like clothing consignment.

"It gets the stuff out of their way, they don't have to mess with garage sales," Gina says.  

You can also make a little cash as well.

"It's a 120 day consignment period, you bring your things in and I try to work with my consigners on pricing."

Once the item sells, Gina splits half the profit.

"They're making extra money on things they're not even gonna use anymore."

Gina's consignment shop is filled with all sorts of furniture and accessories to decorate your home or office. You can find furniture for the dining room, living room, bedroom, and accessories like rugs, pictures, mirrors, lamps and table tops.

"I like table top accessories," Gina says. "To me you can change the whole look of a room just by doing your table tops."

Swapping is also a popular way to bargain shop at Re-Find.

"If you have something you want to replace at home with something in here, then you could always bring that in here and consign it."

In fact Gina often finds quite a few things she would like to swap.

"It's been a problem," she laughs. "Somebody will bring something in that I really like and think oh, this would look so much better than what I have at home."

Gina has had to re-fine her way thinking. Now she's no longer shopping for herself, but for others.