Consignment store sells women's clothing

Nancy Coy was working for a soft-drink company in Waco when she met a woman looking to franchise a women's consignment clothing store.

Coy was intrigued by the idea, and although the franchise opportunity fizzled out, Coy decided to move to Austin in 2006 and open Restyle, her own women's consignment clothing store.

"This whole thing kind of fell in my lap," she said.

After being in business for seven years, Coy opened a second Restyle location Aug. 8.

The new store is located in Lakeway at 900 S. RR 620. Coy said she chose to open the second location in Lakeway because there is no women's clothing consignment store nearby.

The previous women's consignment clothing store in Lakeway closed about four years ago, Coy said. Coy said she thinks Restyle will do well in the area, and the Lakeway store has a similar layout to the original location. However, the Lakeway location has more designer clothes than the Austin store, Coy said.

The clothing boutique is far from a traditional thrift store; the business only sells mid-range and higher-end women's clothing that is in near-perfect or perfect condition, Coy said. While Restyle sells vintage clothing on occasion, Coy said the majority of the store's clothing is new and in style.

Restyle separates its inventory by size and color. The clothing categories range from loungewear and exercise to dresses and tops.

The clothes are seasonal, meaning there is almost entirely new inventory every three months. Restyle also has new clothes for sale on a daily basis

"This is probably one of the biggest consignment stores in Austin," Coy said. "It's very neat, clean and orderly."

Coy said she chose to open Restyle in the North Burnet shopping center because there were multiple women's businesses nearby at the time. Although the number of women's businesses has since declined, Coy said the area is making a comeback. Special Addition Maternity and Nursing Boutique, for example, opened in the same shopping center in July.

Coy said she was drawn to open a consignment store instead of a traditional retail store because it does not have as many initial challenges. With a consignment store, people bring clothes to her rather than her searching for clothes.

Coy said her favorite part of the job is putting together the store displays and figuring out how much to price the items that come in.

"It takes a lot of practice doing it to know [what to price items], and I still look things up on the Internet," she said. "But I do enjoy it."

More than clothes

In addition to clothes, Restyle sells purses, shoes, jewelry and belts.

Similar to the clothes sold at the store, the accessories are in at least near-perfect condition and in style, Restyle owner

Nancy Coy said.

Most of Restyle's clothing accessories come from consignors. However, Restyle gets most of its jewelry and scarves from market.

Restyle, 900 Ranch Road 620 South, Lakeway, 512-505-8279, www.restyleaustin.com

• Mon.–Fri. 10 a.m.–6:30 p.m.
• Sat. 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
• Closed Sundays until Sept. 8