Meet Teresa Morel of Fashion Attitudes Consignments

Today we’d like to introduce you to Teresa Morel.

Teresa, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I have always wanted to own a consignment shop, but was always too afraid to venture out and just do. I worked as a paralegal prior to opening Fashion Attitudes, and one day I just decided that sitting in traffic for 2-1/2 hours every day and being yelled at by an attorney just wasn’t cutting it anymore. I decided then the time had come for me to venture out on my own.

Fashion Attitudes Consignments was established in August of 2015. I found the perfect location inside of a shopping center located only 5 minutes away from my home, Me and my husband, Rick, worked many long hours to create a very distinctive personality for this unique women’s consignment boutique. After painting, decorating and filling up the racks with women’s clothing, we opened the doors on October 3, 2015. I contacted all of my lady friends to help me come up with enough merchandise to fill the shop, but when we opened the doors we only had 12 consignors and half empty racks.

We just celebrated our 2 year anniversary and are now at 306 consignors. We are fully computerized and can offer an up-to-the-minute status of any consignment account.

My consignment boutique features quality designer brand clothing and accessories. Fashion Attitudes offers a charming, electric environment for fun and relaxed shopping. “Customers constantly comment on the quality and the great prices of our merchandise”. Our consignors bring us the highest quality and in turn receive the maximum return on their merchandise.”

Fashion Attitudes specializes in contemporary casual and career clothing, after-five attire, beautiful sterling silver and costume jewelry, and the very popular Ginger Snaps Petite Collection of jewelry and accessories. A small section of evening/prom gowns has also been very popular.

Hours:
Sunday & Monday – Closed
Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday
11am–6pm
Thursday 11am-7pm
Saturday 10am-6pm

Has it been a smooth road?
No, it has not been a smooth road at all. We have faced many challenges and I have even thought about giving up within the past 2 years, but I am not a quitter and will continue to grow no matter what challenges I face.

Getting found has been my biggest struggle since this was a totally new business. I invested all of my profit in the first 2 years on marketing, I spent every Wednesday morning attending a networking group in my area, I joined other networking groups as well as our local Chamber of Commerce, purchased a pop up tent and attended many events outside of the shop to promote the business. The first 3 months in business, I would go online every day to Google and type in “Consignment Shops near me” to see if I popped up, and finally one day 3 months later, there I was. I was so excited to finally show up on a google search, I was like a kid at Christmas.

Word of mouth has been my best marketing tool by far. I strive to make sure that my customers and my consignors are satisfied when they exit my shop. I always open on time, and close when my hours state I’m closed (unless I have customers in the shop – then I stay open longer).

Facebook is also another one of my main marketing tools. As of this date, I have a 5-star review rating which I intend to maintain.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Fashion Attitudes Consignments story. Tell us more about the business.
Fashion Attitudes Consignments is a women’s only resale boutique. We are very picky about what we consign and sometimes feel that we offend consignors when we do not accept some of their items. We do not have to go out and buy inventory to keep the racks full as our inventory comes to us daily. Our consignors bring in their gently worn items and we price them, steam them, and then place the items on the racks to sell. The consignor then will receive a percentage of the price that the item has sold for. Many times, we even receive items that are new with tags still on them, of course we can offer a higher profit to the consignor for those items once they sell.

We specialize in designer brand clothing and accessories at a fraction of the cost paid elsewhere. Our consignment boutique has a wonderful at home feel to it, is very clean and decorated very classy. We keep it smelling good so that you don’t think that you are walking into a thrift store once you enter the door. Every person that walks through the front door of our shop is greeted as soon as they enter. I am usually the only employee working the shop, but I always make the time to look up and say hello when the door opens. I want people to feel welcome when they stop by, I think that is huge in our success. My husband has been very supportive from the beginning and will help me out on the weekends when he is available. The women really take to him which is a huge plus for making them feel comfortable with their surroundings.

At this time, Fashion Attitudes is the only consignment boutique in Dallas or within 15 miles of this very heavy populated area, so women love the fact of having such a unique shop near their homes. I have always loved shopping at consignment, resale shops myself, but I feel like the uniqueness of our atmosphere sets us apart from other shops.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
As we continue to grow our business, we are also taking on more and more consignors and are outgrowing our little 1200 sq. ft. suite. If we continue on this same path, we will have to look for a larger suite to move into within the next few years. I really don’t want to move and have to get found all over again, but I feel that all of the repeat customers that we have now will follow us to a new location as long as we stay in this same area. We have met some wonderful people and maintained them as friends due to this business.

Contact Info:

• Address: 55 East Paulding Drive, Suite 122
• Website: www.fashionattitudes.net
• Phone: 678-217-5982
• Email: tmorel828@hotmail.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fashionattitudesconsignments

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.