HIDDEN TREASURES: Consignment stores offer the best in unique items

ahrump is often considered a shopper’s wasteland when people are looking for that unique gift for someone special. There is Walmart, but the large retailer is focused mainly on providing families with necessities from diapers and groceries to bath towels and motor oil.

There are also thrift stores where the sale of mostly donated items helps support a charity, such as the Salvation Army, Goodwill and cancer victims or a no-kill animal shelter. These stores, too, mostly focus on needs and not wants, mainly due to the nature of the donations.

Then there are stores where local residents take much-loved but not needed items to sell. The stores are considered to be consignment shops and are a booming business in Pahrump.

Generally speaking, the items you find for sale in consignment shops have met a set standard or criteria to be accepted as an item for sale. They aren’t interested in competing with box retailers or charity organizations, they are interested in offering a unique perspective on retail shopping.

They really aren’t competing with each other either. Each offers something different in the way of collectibles or a specific style of something. The list is endless as are the options.

Some of the shops, such as Fran’s Classic Consignments carry some high-end items, such as home decor. Twisted Sister also carries furnishings but Secret Sisters focuses on clothing, accessories and bling for women.

There is also This &That Resale Shop owned by Patti Butler, and Jane’s Just in Time. Karen’s Eye Candy recently opened on Pahrump Valley Boulevard.

Up until now, most of these shops have been located “uptown.” You will want to take another look at Carberry Square on the far south end of Pahrump Valley Boulevard.

With power in numbers, three ladies have leased space in the small strip mall to open very different consignment shops.

Nancy Lengner, former owner of Blooming Deals, has joined partnerships with others of like mind to offer shopping options on the south end of town. “Unique” being Lengner’s keyword, she said, “The words unique and Walmart do not go together.”

She truly believes a person can find a personal gift with little effort by shopping Pahrump’s consignment stores.

The one thing Lengner wants people to know is that consignment shops are not “junk” stores.

“We sold all the antiques out of our grandmother’s cabinets. I wouldn’t call it junk. Consignment stores have numerous sources. It can come from estate sales and some garage sales too,” she said.

Peggy Stiles runs Fran’s Classic Consignment. She says her store has pretty high standards on what they sell and agrees with Lengner on the issue of inventory meeting set requirements.

“It must meet these requirements: no scratches, no stains, no rips or tears and it must be in near-perfect or perfect condition before we will take it. Unless it is an antique, but trust me antiques don’t sell well in Pahrump,” Stiles said.

Stiles said much of her stock comes from people who moved to Pahrump and find they just have too much stuff. Many times the furniture she takes is like new or nearly new.

The big difference between a thrift store and a consignment store is how the two stores display the items.

“We have Patty Diamond, who is a designer, and she displays things beautifully in the store. She knows how to put things together,” Stiles said. “We showcase items and keep things clean. We pride ourselves in that. The majority of the stuff comes from consignors.”

Fran’s has a great deal of furniture, but consignment does not mean just furniture. Fran’s does sell smaller items, and there are other consignment shops that cater to just smaller items.

Lengner started a trend at Carberry Square while she was there, and was able to get others to open at that location, Anne’s Boutique, Charlie’s Man Cave and Three French Hens have joined forces to make a consignment boutique of sorts.

There is a variety of gifts from furniture to housewares. The Man Cave, has gifts for men from tools to sporting goods and Three French Hens has home gardening items.

All three stores cater to different people. Anne’s is a gift shop that has a variety of new and old household gifts. Anne Males, the owner of the boutique, feels people don’t understand what consignment is all about. She said consignment stores cater to those looking for something unusual.

“We do have some furniture but we also have all kinds of craft gifts. We have glass and we have antiques and we just have jewelry both new and antique. We just have such a collection of everything. We have so many ladies bringing their crafts in also. It’s a mixture of old and new,” she said.

How the consignment store works is people bring things in to sell, and if they sell, the store takes off a certain percentage and then pays the consignor the rest. Lengner said it’s how small mom and pop stores survive the big corporate stores. They fill the shelves with goods they don’t pay for. It’s less overhead and a better quality selection.

“Garage sale stuff is all the dirty junk that is lying on the garage floor. Consignment shops have more of the stuff that is in the garage cabinets,” Lengner explained.

Many of the people at Anne’s Boutique specialize in certain things.

For example, Males specializes in colorful, iridescent Depression glass. An example of this is Vaseline glass, which is made from Uranium.

“If you put a light up to the glass it glows. This type of glass is not made anymore,” Males said. “I collect it myself.”

If you were to go to her house, it would be full of shelves holding Vaseline glass.

“Collectively, the team we have here are experts in different things, so we help each other,” Males said.

Charlie’s Man Cave is a store set up by Charlie Rocha. The idea is while the women are shopping at Anne’s, their husbands could go to Charlie’s and look around.

“Now the men can go to the other store and leave their wives alone while they shop,” Males explained. “Our friends suggested we have a shop just for men because there are just so many shops for women.”

Rocha said he had lot fun picking out the items for his store.

“I was happy to just stay at home and watch a game. Many of the things came from friends, yard sales and estate sales. No women’s stuff,” he said.

The store is set up in sections. Something similar to what you might find at a male department store — if there was such an animal. In the Man Cave, there is a section of old radios and appliances geared to men. In another room there is an outdoor section for fishing poles and camping gear and yet another room displays nothing but power tools.

All three stores are set to open tomorrow in Carberry Square.