Front and Center: Suzy Gage, Echo Boutique

When the Spokane Valley furniture store where Suzy Gage worked succumbed to the recession, Gage didn’t dust off her résumé.

Instead, she got busy writing a business plan for a clothing consignment store.

“I didn’t want to keep working for someone else,” she recalled. “My cousin had a consignment shop in Oregon, and I knew this was something I could do well.”

So Gage checked out the local competition and searched the Internet for successful business models.

Six months after the furniture store closed, Echo Boutique opened at 176 S. Howard St., an erstwhile print shop with high ceilings and brick walls that Gage embellished with original artwork.

“Customers tell me they appreciate that we don’t have a thrift shop feel. We’re not jam-packed, and everything is organized by color, size and style.”

During a recent interview, Gage discussed the gratification and grind of starting her own business in midlife rather than asking others for a job.

S-R: Where did you grow up?

Gage: All over, but mostly in the Northwest. My dad was in construction, so sometimes I’d attend as many as three different grade schools in a year.

S-R: What were your interests back then?

Gage: I was somewhat of a loner, always reading. My favorite class in high school was English, and I had my own reference library.

S-R: How about college?

Gage: I studied interior design at Spokane Falls when I was 18, but social life took priority and I dropped out. I went back after my first baby was born, and finished a business degree.

S-R: What careers did you have before launching Echo Boutique?

Gage: A couple of home-based art businesses. I traveled to shows and learned how to do framing to save money. Most recently, I spent five years in furniture sales and interior design out in the Valley.

S-R: Did you always have a knack for fashion?

Gage: Yes. Art, color, fabric – everything kind of overlaps. When I was a mother with young kids and a tight budget, I’d shop at thrift stores, and it became a kind of hunt – almost like “I can win at this.”

S-R: How long did it take to start Echo Boutique?

Gage: The furniture store closed in December, and we opened the following June.

S-R: How much did it cost?

Gage: Just shy of $20,000.

S-R: How were initial sales?

Gage: Exceptional. A week before we opened, I went next door and forgot to lock up, and my husband called and said, “You need to get back here. There are women in the dressing rooms trying on clothes.”

S-R: And then?

Gage: We went through a little lull that first summer. Since then, growth has been steady.

S-R: More than a dozen local consignment stores have closed during the past several years. To what do you attribute your success?

Gage: Customer service. We don’t hover, but we know most of our regular customers by name. And my software allows consigners to see exactly what’s going on with their inventory.

S-R: What else distinguishes Echo Boutique?

Gage: It’s not uncommon for someone to ask why we have so many different labels. Most people don’t realize we’re a consignment store the first time they walk through the door.

S-R: Who brings you clothes?

Gage: Women who love to shop. Homes are bigger now, so people have more closet space. When they realize they’re not wearing things they invested time and money in finding, some decide to recoup part of their investment through consignment.

S-R: What commission do you charge?

Gage: The standard 40 percent. And I only accept items by appointment.

S-R: What do you look for?

Gage: Mainly things that are unusual or classic. Fabric quality and workmanship are also important.

S-R: Who are your typical customers?

Gage: Downtown professional women in their mid-30s to their 60s. We get a lot of lunchtime foot traffic, which exposes people to the business. Then they come back after work. Some have told me they shop here because it allows them to express their own sense of style rather than something dictated by a corporate buyer. 

S-R: What items sell fastest?

Gage: Tops, because they’re easier to fit than jeans and slacks.

S-R: Are there misconceptions about consignment stores?

Gage: When I told people I was going to open one, they said, “Oh, vintage is so great.” But that’s not what I sell. Most of these clothes are just 3 to 4 years old. Every once in a while I’ll come across a wool skirt or cashmere sweater that’s so well made I can’t pass it up, but my focus is contemporary.

S-R: How did you decide on the shop’s location?

Gage: A lot of research went into that. Before I signed a lease, I parked nearby and did foot-traffic counts at all times of day. I noticed that younger kids generally walked on the other side of the street, and adults generally walked on this side. I even found a long-term city plan that calls for Howard Street to eventually become a pedestrian walkway with trees in the middle.

S-R: How has Echo Boutique evolved?

Gage: The quality of our inventory continues to rise as word gets out that people have success consigning here or shopping here.

S-R: Are some consigners who bring you clothes tempted to buy something else?

Gage: A lot of them never take a check out of here. They shop with it instead.

S-R: You’re close to Lewis and Clark High School, yet you don’t carry prom gowns. Why not?

Gage: It’s a space issue. There’s certainly a market for prom dresses, but they take up so much space because there’s a lot of fluff, and proms only happen once a year. People dress for work every day.

S-R: Is there a busiest season?

Gage: September and October. Fall fashion is more fun. You get to wear more layers.

S-R: What’s a typical workday for you?

Gage: It starts around 9 o’clock, and often I’m here until 8 or 9 at night, five to seven days a week.

S-R: As a sole proprietor, can you take time off?

Gage: I’ve taken long weekends. Twice.

S-R: What do you like most about your job?

Gage: The people.

S-R: What do you like least?

Gage: The people (laugh). And as a new business, it’s hard to opt out of the bombardment of phone calls from telemarketers. Once I accidently agreed to change my long-distance company because I was trying to be polite to someone whose accent I couldn’t understand.

S-R: What’s been your best idea?

Gage: I’m pretty confident in all of my ideas.

S-R: Anything you wish you’d done differently?

Gage: My first website. A friend said, “I understand websites. I’ll help you with that.” It was a disaster, and then I got locked out and couldn’t correct the spelling errors. Details like that drive me crazy.

S-R: What advice would you offer a middle-age person considering starting a sole-proprietor business?

Gage: Have a business background, do your homework, and never stop asking yourself how you can improve.

S-R: If someone were to see what you’ve done here and offer you a job, would you take it?

Gage: I’m never working for anyone else ever again.

This interview was edited and condensed.