Nestled into a 1930’s cottage in Sarasota FL is one of the newest consignment and resale shops around: Sarasota Marché , “the brainchild of fashion and cosmetic expert Marina Eckert.”
Inspired by a Parisian shop she spied on a European trip, Marina envisions her new business as a true marketplace. Top-line women’s apparel, accessories, haberdashery, homeware, and fine linens, as well as a rotation of discontinued cosmetics and lotions from such names as Mac, Lancome, Bourjois and Bulgari and consigned clothing and vintage treasures fill every nook and cranny of this petite wonderland. (And even the dressing room cum bathroom is full of for-sale goodies!)
The front of the shop, facing a little-traveled road, is just one way to encounter the shop. I first noticed the shop from its rear, which is visible across a shell parking lot that it and a popular breakfast and lunch restaurant share.
Marina opened last fall, and originally included fresh flowers, cappuccino and cheesecake among her offerings, but has since concentrated on an eclectic variety of new, sample, used, and vintage treasures. She rents space to two local pickers to display their wares, and uses every inch of the tiny cottage to showcase adorables and affordables… even the tiny kitchen is crammed with lovingly-presented goods.
Originally from Berlin, Marina has been involved in fashion and is a renowned aesthetician in Sarasota, so she already knew a lot of very fashionable women in town and has a style sense that shows throughout the shop. Her shop has broken even from its very first month, and her tagline, Lovely, loveable and loving, is a true picture of how shoppers feel at Sarasota Marché.
In our collage of interior shots here:
* Taking the door off a closet and adding the warmth of old lamps, vintage lingerie mingles with all sorts of little treasures.
* Why waste an inch? With a decorative coat rack mounted above a seldom-accessed closet, a dead-end turns into a merchandising opportunity.
* Trimming the kitchen shelves with colorful paper echoes the colorful wares.
* From the clothing room into the main room of the cottage, mirrors reflect the tropical sunshine.
* More mirrors and softly-lit lamps set the mood for shopping.
With Marina’s infectious sunny personality and willingness to pay attention to what her browsers and buyers like the most, I look forward to Sarasota Marché being a Sarasota resource for years to come!
Oh, have you got time for two more photos?
On the left below, a brilliant idea on how to use the vintage wallpaper that covered the main room’s wall: turn a deficit into an asset by making it into a collage! And the right photo, of the piles of goodies on every surface, shows a bit of Marina… she didn’t want me to take a real photo of her, because she was due for a hair cut the next day!
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
[…] of the hat to Sarasota Marche, a consignment shop in Sarasota FL, for allowing me to take this […]
Sorry to be late to the party. I love Marche! A hidden gem. I could spend hours in there each time I visit – so much to see. They even carry plus size clothing with was a pleasant surprise.
Looks like a fun shop. I see a 2way with only one item on it while the next photo shows a very stuffed clothing rack. Could that be it???
Okay. It’s in Picture #1, the front of her shop, the first thing I saw when we pulled up to the shop. Here’s the picture full size: https://auntiekate.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/100_1034.jpg
With all the original and imaginative touches throughout the shop, why oh why would a cheapy fluorescent “Yes we’re open” sign be there, catching our eye? Even if she created the exact same sign in something more suited to her shop’s branding, that would be better.
As it sits, having this mass-produced sign is like, oh I dunno, using a Walmart plastic bag as a purse with her wedding gown? 🙂
Happy to report that she left a message with me that she’d changed it…
Is it perhaps the green shelf leaned against the bookshelves, that could be utilized for additional displaying? The only other possibility I see is the chair in the doorway for manuverability (it may just be picture angle)
I can’t think of what the quibble would be… Except maybe some merchandising or display on the vintage wallpaper wall? Maybe a large sign over the exterior back door? What is is Kate… do tell!
It’s a small quibble… but I winced when I saw it because it’s so easily remedied. Maybe someone else can spot it?
Love it, great ideas for my very small booth that I have in Prescott Valley, Az. Bobbie Helwig-Ferris of “Bobbie’s Closet”
Hi Bobbie! Thanks for your comments. Here’s a sampling of some other blog entries that you might find useful:
https://auntiekate.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/open-here-merchandising-for-non-profit-thrift-stores/ (just yesterday’s, but I didn’t want you to overlook it!) and for more, you can click on the topics in our sidebar. For example, clicking on “Merchandising” there gets you this: https://auntiekate.wordpress.com/tag/merchandising/
Also see the archived articles on http://TGtbT.com at http://tgtbt.com/archives/index.htm