Reflecting on 2024
Wow, what a year! Can you believe that it has actually been a year? As my great grandmother used to say - “the days are long, but the years are short”. Isn’t it funny how time works? I've never really been good with segmenting time (I genuinely need to think about what day of the week it is) but like C'MON...
We are approaching our 5 YEAR anniversary of existence as a business! (Yes, that means it will be almost 5 years since the pandemic/our grand opening - LOL).
I feel that it is very easy to forget milestones, both highlights and lowlights of the year. When you're in it, you just keep trudging along. Therefore I tend to spend extra time reflecting as we approach the new year making it the perfect time for review, reset and redirection.
Let me help you paint the picture. In a nutshell this is what 2024 looked like for us!
In 2024:
7431 Consigned items that found a new home
Top three categories being Tops (2,187), Accessories (1599) and Dresses (1033)
New Consignors - 234 (welcome to the family!)
Consignor credit redeemed - $22,965.90 (This is how much money you've made and shopped with, and truly an ideal scenario for us.)
AND the amazingness that coincides with:
Art Crawl (a very fun grassroots event every second Friday of the month in the summer where the street is blocked off, vendors pop up and the shops stay open late),
Super Crawl (basically a three day festival like version of art crawl) ,
Our Seasonal Preview Parties (the best place to shop our collection first)
Pop-ups (we had Minty gold and silver buyers, and a variety of local artisans)
And donating items to our community partners (YWCA, The Good Shepherd, The Hamilton Dream Center and Urban Care Core to name a few on the list)
How Far We Have Come
Trust me when I say that it is HARD being a small business especially in Ontario (don't get me started on why we are even paying taxes on secondhand items....). When I tell people about our origin story it seems almost like higher powers have been holding our hands this whole time.
As a business, we are forever grateful to our community as we put another year behind us. Since our conception that coincides with the 2020 pandemic (I shit you not, our grand opening was scheduled during the same week the world shut down) we have come a long way on this journey together.
Even today there was a couple that came into the shop and said “we google searched for the best consignment shops in Hamilton. Reloved was at the top of the list and definitely lived up to the expectation”. TRUST ME WHEN I SAY, this never gets old to hear. Every single compliment, point of connection, or good experience that you have vocalized truly means the world to us.
(P.S. If you haven't already.... this is your reminder to leave us a google review.)
I remember when we first opened being so excited over the smallest purchase (sometimes the only purchase of the day) and not able to have people in our shop due to the lockdown, to now where I can connect with so many people on a daily basis and we move so much volume that I genuinely don't know what is on the shop floor anymore (I am low key jealous of some of the finds you get to before us haha!)
My mom, sister and I always joke about how we thought our shop was full when we first opened. In comparison to today, we were basically empty. Have a look for yourself...
Oh how far we have come! And what an amazing journey it has been thus far!
The Amazing People (Yes I'm talking about YOU!)
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
We have created such meaningful connections with people (many who have now become familiar faces and family friends). I just want to take a moment to thank YOU. Without you showing up for us, we wouldn’t be anything. You are truly the hero’s in this storyline.
Our Reloved team has grown from us three (Lex, Tish and Raquel), and doubled to include Nyansha, Joanne and Risa. Whom I can confidently say are now foundational in the core of our growing business.
Let me start off by saying how proud we are of everyone who shops with us because they are choosing to shop in a more environmentally and socially responsible way. (Arguably more fun too!). I recently read somewhere that there are enough garments currently on this planet to clothe the next 6 generations of the human race. Take that in for a moment..... I don't think my brain can realistically quantify and understand the sheer volume of clothing that is.
BUT there is hope! The conversations that I hear in the shop surrounding fashion perspectives are so amazing. They range from support/advice in the change rooms (sometimes even between complete strangers), to how to effectively integrate garments into your wardrobe, to prioritizing environmentally friendly fibres and to how sizing is not real. I think that it is so enlightening to hear how you all approach second hand fashion, shifting away from the mall experience giving me hope for a more responsible future.
Secondly, we extend to you thanks from our amazing community partners for your donations via clothing. For those of you who don’t know, anything that doesn’t sell in the shop by the end of the season is donated locally to those in need through our network of community partners. This not only guarantees an extension to the lifecycle to your garments, but supports the people in our community who need it most. Your garments are truly Reloved!
I also love how happy people are when they see how much Consignor credit they have accumulated! (You make 40% of what we sell your items in the shop for - WOHOO)
It’s always a pleasant surprise to get something back from items that no longer served you. When you shop with your consignor credit - it is the most impressive girl math moment. You sold items from your closet, so you have created the space for newness, and it’s basically free when you shop with your consignor credit - LOL.
The point is, when you receive a return on an investment (and yes, your wardrobe should be an investment) it allows you to confidently shop in a more responsible and circular way. Look at you saving the planet one purchase at a time!!
Lastly, we want to take a moment to acknowledge the amazing online community that we have. Mostly through our instagram (@the.reloved.boutique) we have connected with so many people!!
I love when people resonate with our weekly live segment - Tea Time with Tish & Lex (It’s mostly sister banter, showing off a selection of pieces in the shop, and updates). Or if we share a laugh over some of the ridiculousness that happens, all with the intention to find your consigned pieces a home to be Reloved in.
Where we want to go (our responsibility)
With great power, comes great responsibility - LOL
As a family run, small business, we contribute to the heartbeat of downtown Hamilton on our beloved James St North. As fashion is fun (we all love adding the perfect piece to our wardrobe, we don’t take our mission lightly).
Believe it or not - compared to last century, we have already consumed 75% of the clothing (and we’re only ¼ of the way through). We can find meaning and purpose in our work chipping away at one of the main polluting industries in the world.
With Mother Nature in mind - We strive to provide an amazing place for you to discover clothing that already exists, with the goal of extending the lifecycle of all the pieces in our consigned collection.
We even go further by offering alterations (via Lex) to adjust one off pieces that can be adjusted slightly to suit you best! (If you are in need of alterations, either on pieces you find in our shop or pieces you already own please reach out to Lex via our website).
PLUS, our men’s section is growing too. We have a great selection of men’s consignment items in the back of the shop. Check out “@the.refind.shop” on Instagram to see some of our offerings here. At the beginning, it was mostly women dropping off items for their hubby’s, but NOW we have men coming through independently and finding fantastic pieces!
To be honest, the main issue with us is that there is never enough space on the floor. So we are constantly restocking, which makes our shop forever shapeshifting in our offerings. We have added a clothing rack/display everywhere humanly possible (without hanging things from the ceiling - LOL). We have always expanded our offerings with the gaps in the consignment world.
For example, we didn’t even sell jewelry when we first opened! I think it wasn’t until a year after that it was introduced.
I am manifesting space to expand our offerings to maternity attire (this is such a challenging era in a person’s life for clothing), and possibly formal wear. But shhhhhh don’t tell mom ;).
One of our biggest goals is leaning into our community, creating moments together through workshops, and events. The possibilities are endless.
Cheers!
On that note HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I am so excited for everything that Reloved has to offer in this coming year.
AND I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU FIND in 2025!
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