When Sharon Skarda heard the news, she texted her daughter.
“Elite Repeat is closing,” she wrote. “Where am I going to get my clothes?”
It’s a fashion emergency for people throughout the Twin Cities who’ve shopped and sold at this consignment boutique that has been in business on the corner of Randolph and Hamline avenues in St. Paul since 1975.
But it surely’s not only about losing the possibility at getting good deals or making some money for well-made clothes, accessories, jewelry and shoes.
“It’s so far more than a consignment store,” Skarda said. “It’s a community.”
‘Completely satisfied Birthday to Me’
On a recent weekday afternoon, several shoppers were browsing the racks on the boutique and others waited in line to envision out.
Why close a business that appears to be bustling, during a time when thrift is trendy and inflation is a difficulty?
On this case, it’s personal.
Missy Auran, the present owner of Elite Repeat and a longtime worker before that, bought the business in 2014 — she’s overseen it through the hard days of the pandemic in addition to two road construction seasons.
After which, on June 22, she turned 56.
While she still loves a designer deal, she’s able to move on after working at 1336 Randolph Ave. since 1996 — 27 years, or almost half her life.
She explained her decision in an open letter to her customers that was titled, “Completely satisfied Birthday to Me.”
“Reflecting on the past twenty seven years with immeasurable gratitude and pride,” she wrote, “I’m also humbled to know that I cannot do that without end. I do know that I need to be more present in my very own life and within the lives of my family and friends and I do know that I need to ‘Live Through the Craziness’ without the distraction and responsibility of owning a store. I do know that I need to make use of my time and skills in latest and artistic ways.
“I once heard that certainly one of the bravest things you’ll be able to do is to ‘live a life that’s different from what others expect of you’ and today, on my 56th birthday, I’m making the very brave decision to shut Elite Repeat. I’m giving myself the gift of time, the current of presence, permission to exhale. Completely satisfied Birthday To Me.”
Last week, though, it was still business as usual for Auran as she worked in the shop, stopping often to talk with the regulars about her big announcement.
“Now you’ll be able to go do something fun!” a customer said.
“It has been fun!” she said later. “I just wish to do something different.”
A destination for fashion
It was on Dec. 3, 1975, the era of mood rings and bell bottoms, when a news transient a few “next-to-new” shop was published within the Highland Villager.
“Elite Repeat, a next-to-new clothing store for ladies’s and men’s apparel, has opened its doors for business,” the newspaper announced. “Clothing is already being accepted for consignment resale. The shop may also feature holiday, cruise and ski wear.”
Despite the mention of cruises and skiing, many consumers were looking for deals during this era, a time of inflation in addition to a recession when the shop was initially operated by Carol Travers and Kayleen Feldman.
Feldman was aware of clothes, fashion and fit.
“Her father, a Russian immigrant, was a tailor,” said her son, Jeff Feldman.
Her husband, a automotive sales manager, helped out on his days off, and her daughter later pitched in; it was a family affair.
By 1988, within the era of massive hair and shoulder pads, Kayleen was able to sell and Shelley Spargur was able to buy.
“I had consigned there for quite just a few years,” Spargur said. “I’ve been thrifting since I used to be 8 years old, when my dad took me to a garage sale.”
At that sale, she bought two food market bags of old hats for $2; after fixing them up, she resold them to an antique shop for $10.
“To a second-grader, an $8 profit is big money,” she said, laughing. “I’ve loved the fun of the hunt ever since.”
By the Nineteen Eighties, Spargur was in her 20s, with a level in fashion merchandising and work experience as a buyer at a rising discount retailer called Goal. But then …
“A friend called and said, ‘Shelley, Kayleen desires to sell her store and you might want to buy it,’” Spargur recalls. “The subsequent morning, I used to be there when the shop opened at 10. I went in and said, ‘I need to purchase your store.’”
That’s what she did, eventually expanding the shopping space to greater than 3,500 square feet and eliminating men’s and kids’s clothing with the intention to focus on the more lucrative women’s fashion. She even began going to Recent York on buying trips for jewelry and accessories.
This shouldn’t be Goodwill. Think higher labels, newer items which can be in excellent condition. The goal has all the time been to satisfy each customers wanting good deals and sellers wanting good prices.
Before the Web, before sites like eBay and Poshmark, you couldn’t so easily find one of these merchandise.
“People got here from Rochester and Duluth and North Oaks and Apple Valley to come back to Elite Repeat,” Spargur said. “It was a destination.”
Community
Auran got her start in fashion while working on the Dayton’s at Ridgedale Mall. Later, she found that working in third-party medical reimbursement was not as much fun.
“I applied for part-time work at Elite Repeat after seeing an ad within the Pioneer Press,” she said.
She got the job.
It’s not only a job, though, not even when it’s labor.
“I’d say what I’ve delivered to Elite Repeat is a way of community,” she said.
It does feel like a bygone shopping experience. That is the type of place where other customers gives you warm feedback on the clothing if you have a look at your reflection within the three-way mirror. The shop’s signage offers pep talks, signs like, “Love the girl within the mirror.” The costs are supportive, too, like $7 for a quilted Land’s End coat for fall or spring, original tags still on it (within the clearance section) or $98 for a Coach tote bag.
During her tenure, Missy has also kept the category going.
“The perfect compliment someone gave me because the owner was that Elite Repeat is just like the Dayton’s of consignment,” Auran said.
It could possibly be the setting of a Hallmark movie, too: People have gotten engaged here; someone married the UPS guy. A girl got outfitted for the Grammys here (for lower than $100). Individuals who hate to buy come here and other people who like to shop come here and each groups, employees say, leave pleased.
Generations of members of the family have shopped here, including Lauren Crepeau of Mendota Heights (a current consigner and former worker) and her 14-year-old daughter, Ava, who browsed the most recent arrivals together last week.
It was a full-circle moment.
“I began shopping at Elite Repeat with my mother once I was in highschool,” said Lauren. “And my daughter is starting highschool this fall.”
The mom and daughter each just like the Lululemon finds here; additionally they appreciate the atmosphere.
“For regulars, it’s like Norm walking into ‘Cheers,’” said Charice Deegan, an worker, referring to the Nineteen Eighties sitcom (“… Where everybody knows your name …”).
Deegan, who began working on the shop after retiring from an extended profession, says she’s going to miss the empowerment and support she feels here.
“Elite Repeat has been such a very important place to so many individuals,” she said. “It could be nice if it could proceed.”
Perhaps it’s going to: Auran is open to selling the business — “I need it to remain in the neighborhood,” she said — and he or she has been in discussions with a lot of potential buyers. Or perhaps …
“If I don’t sell it,” Auran said, “I’ll do something else with it.”
Could this mean occasional pop-up sales, or continuing with the live sales on Facebook which have turn out to be so popular for the reason that pandemic? She’s undecided yet.
For now, shoppers should mark their calendars:
“We’re going to have a giant clearance sale,” Auran said.
Elite Repeat closing sale
What: Elite Repeat, a consignment boutique that sells women’s clothing, is closing.
Where: 1336 Randolph Ave., St. Paul (at Hamline Avenue).
When: Starting at 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 19; ending date to be determined.
Info and updates: Facebook.com/eliterepeatstpaul