It's been a really (really) good day!

It has been QUITE a day! For starters, I finally finalized the new website (the web address to the test site is: http://www.finderskeepersconsignment.vpweb.com/ in case you want to check it out before it goes live.) And fantastic news just keeps coming in!

The Atlanta Journal Constitution's Blogger Rena Cash picked up the email we sent out about our bagsale and posted this on her blog:

Finders Keepers semi-annual bagsale

As the weather cools, it’s a great time to think about summer clothes. Seriously. Finders Keepers is holding its semi-annual bagsale on Saturday from 9 a.m.-11 am. in front of the store. During this time period, stuff as many summer clothes and accessories from Finders Keepers Fashions and Finders Keepers Boutique into the bags they provide and pay only $10. Only cash will be accepted and all proceeds will be donated to Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services in Atlanta. Additionally, everything in the store will be 20 percent off.

And then we opened the much anticipated Best-of-Atlanta 2010 Issue of Creative Loafing and saw that... YES! Finders Keepers Consignment Stores won best consignment stores in Atlanta! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who voted. We are so grateful for your support. We love what we do, and winning these titles make us feel like you love what we do too!

Risky Business

For some, it's the ultimate winter-wardrobe must-have, but for others it's not so simple: fur and the controversies about production of fur apparel run far and wide. But consignment fur offers a happy-medium to those seeing red - or green: By offering previously-owned fur coats, no new animals are harmed, and you can get a lot more for your money. It's a win-win in a risky business. Fur that has already been purchased serves the needs of consumers seeking fur products without doing further detriment to our fuzzy friends. And without a resale option, where would unwanted furs end up?

At Finders Keepers Fashions: Mink and fox fur coat size M-L
Appraisal: $4000; Our Price: $1191

SURPRISE - Jessica's Surprise Wedding Shower!

We had a manager's meeting last night, which was also going to serve as a surprise wedding shower for Finders Keepers Fashions' manager: Jessica. Our fearless leader is getting married next month. And while she didn't want a lot of fuss made over her big day, we couldn't let her get married without a single shower! Here are a few pictures from the fun event:

I think she wanted me to stop taking pictures so she could actually cut the cake...

A beautiful cake decorated to match Jessi's wedding invitations! The cake was done by our favorite bakery: Sweet -n- Sinful in Avondale Estates!

It took Jessi until after the shower was over to realize that the cake had been designed to match her invitations! Wedding planning is stressful!

A shower is not complete without an inside joke - or, in this case, a bottle of detergent.

Dana and her daughters were a surprise arrival for Jessi. Dana will be officiating the ceremony!

Jessi read every card! Etiquette points for the bride to be!

Such a classic Jessi-face, I just had to include it!

Dana with her wonderful daughter

Take a Vacation From the Mall - Summer Clearance Starts TOMORROW!

Two is Better Than One! And this applies in TWO ways:
1) Summer Clearance starts at BOTH of our clothing stores - Finders Keepers Boutique AND Finders Keepers Fashions - TOMORROW! As soon as those doors open, all of our summer merchandise will be marked 50% OFF the original price!

2) When prices have been cut in half, you get to buy twice as much.... right? (Well, that's what I'm going to tell my husband when he eyeballs the stuffed shopping bags I'm sure I'll bring home tomorrow...)
We've got really *really* cute summer inventory still hanging on our racks. And it's so easy to use your summer wardrobe in the fall months. A sundress with a cute blazer and boots is a simple, chic way to make your closet go the distance. Not sure how to pull it together? Our store associates will be happy to help!

Take a gander at a few of our summer goodies:
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Feel the Breeze...

... of our really super awesome new fan! Our store has a lot of great qualities: amazing prices, a huge selection, new inventory every single day.... but our air conditioning has its work cut out for it. It a nutshell: even if it's cranked down to 60 degrees, it can still get pretty toasty in there. So we're trying a new tactic: the addition of a really, really enormous fan. And a little shout-out here to our very favorite electrician: Bray Electrical Services, who installed the closest thing I've ever seen to a space ship turbine.... if space ships have turbines...

Finders Keepers Bag Sale - Fall 2010 Round 1

Round 1? Yep! Does that imply a Round 2? Of COURSE! For those of you who have never rushed a Bag Sale Event, I'll give you the run down: inventory in our clothing stores expires after a certain amount of time. So we take it off the sales floor and either donate it directly to a charity, or we save up a stock pile for our Bag Sale event - which is also for charity. But instead of giving them clothing we raise money from the sale of the expired clothes and we send 100% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities: Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta (RRISA).


The best part, here's how the money is raised: We take all of the stockpiled expired merchandise from the whole season (and from both stores) and hang it up in the parking lot of our location in Avondale Estates - Finders Keepers Fashions. You get to take our medium-size shopping bags and stuff them as full as you can get them for $10 a bag - and you can stuff as many bags as you want. 100% of the money raised go DIRECTLY to RRISA - we don't keep a single dime. This bag sale raised $2200 for RRISA's work with the Haitian Medical Evacuees from the January earthquake disaster in Haiti. That $2200 brings us to a total of over $10000 raised so far since the January earthquake.

Want a peek at the madness? We've posted a video below of a short clip from the Bag Sale held last Saturday. Our next Bag Sale will be Saturday, September 25th!

Lavender Love

I stopped by Finders Keepers Fashions to check out their inventory of sundresses. It's that time during Georgia's summer when the only things that merrily survive the daily burn are dandilions and whatever bugs those are that make that creepy, screaming buzzing noise from their perches in pine trees. When I rounded the corner of the building, already sweating from the fifteen feet I'd walked from my car, another lovely creature waved at me from the break bench by the employee entrance. Christie's purple sundress peeked out from the bushes and tall grass as she enjoyed a moment to herself, which I immediately interrupted and asked if I could take her picture. She just looked so happy in that dress, like she had a really great secret. Luckily she was a fantastic sport, and happily replied that she'd gotten her whole outfit at Finders Keepers. Well wasn't that just perfect? Even more perfect: all of the displays inside the store were hues of purple, and so a theme was born. Purple is a powerful color. It both soothes and inspires, calms and demands. I have a purple candle on my desk that I light and stare at whenever I've hit a creative wall. I think lulling myself into thinking about nothing in particular helps me get out of my own way.

Christie: a favorite muse of mine and always a good sport!

Layer shades of the same color for a chic, slimming look

Make a splash in a sea of black with a little purple dress

Purple shoes: every closet needs a pair!

Guys: we like you in lavender. It gives you an in-touch sensitivity that we're drawn to like moths to light

Great minds think alike! Christie and Jackie were riding the same brainwave this morning!

p.s. Store wide sale this Saturday only! All full-priced merchandise is 25% off! I'll be there to score some summer dresses.