By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
WHO kNEW? Consignment, opening April 7 in Majerek's at 119 S. Front St., brought Kris Lamphere's life to a standstill.
Literally, because she used to be a "book lady" for Reader's Digest, covering a 15-county area.
She's not used to standing still.
Originally from Chicago, her family has been coming to Big Crooked Lake for four generations. Lamphere has lived in Dowagiac since 1995.
Her husband, Cory, is a forklift mechanic for a company in Elkhart, Ind.
They have two sons, Paul, 12, who attends Patrick Hamilton Middle School, and Josh, 9, a student at Kincheloe Elementary School.
"We decided to come live where we play," she said Monday while stocking her store with 3,000 items of clothing from newborn to teens, baby gear (except car seats) and furniture, such as cribs, changing tables, dressers, desks, headboards and footboards.
"Gear" includes walkers, playpens and "exer-saucers."
Lamphere promises a place with basic resale opportunities for the community with a "fun touch of boutique flair."
WHO kNEW? will also offer kids' bedroom furniture and home accent pieces in addition to extremely popular items such as Little Tikes equipment.
Her grand opening will be Saturday, April 7, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The day of celebration will include a gift certificate raffle.
People interested in selling gently used items earn 40 percent of the final selling price.
To Lamphere, the name of her business means, "Who knew I'd be doing this? Who knew in Dowagiac there would be such a cool store? Who knew you could save so much money on great-looking clothes?"
Lamphere brings years of successful sales and management background to this venture after garnering award-winning recognition for her sales expertise at Books are Fun, a division of Reader's Digest.
A year and a half ago she moved into management after years of working for herself as an independent consultant.
"There's a lot of restructuring going on. It's been 10 years and was time to do something different," she said. "I'm a big resale shopper – I've always done that with my boys – and the whole concept of smart shopping and smart prices and reduce, reuse and recycle fits me. It's my little piece of the world that I can try to take back kind of thing. I sold children's books and educational toys to parents and staff at child care centers and preschools. I was on the road servicing displays and vendor fairs and teacher fairs and conferences. This is my first storefront."
She began thinking about opening the store in December and didn't consider anywhere else but downtown Dowagiac.
"It's a good fit and things started falling into place," she said. The location on this corner across from the gazebo is great. My parking situation is good. The space is great. I like the store frontage. I like the foot traffic. Foot traffic is a big thing for this kind of business. It's the type of store that's a good match for the community because of what it can offer the community and what I think this community needs. Kids always need clothes and parents always need good deals."
For Books are Fun she covered 12 Michigan counties and three Indiana counties. "Muskegon, Grand Rapids, down the middle of the state – Sturgis, Coldwater – all the way to the lake. And LaPorte, St. Joseph and Elkhart counties in Indiana."
When she worked in Chicago, "I commuted for an hour and a half to go 18 miles," she recalled.
Kris stayed home with Paul his first two years. "My mom is a teacher and has been an educator in Chicago for 40 years," Lamphere said. "She happened to be talking to her book guy. When we moved here I was looking for a home-based business" with flexible hours. "Reader's Digest was starting a new division to go into daycares and preschools, so I was one of the first three reps hired in the country to test the daycare market. I started with zero accounts, cold-called to 400 accounts in two years and grew it from there."
Whether it's the book business, boutique flair at resale prices or back when she worked for Enterprise Rent-a-Car, "It's about serving people with a good product and good prices."
Lamphere senses a "huge market" for children's clothing "because those items are so expensive and you use them for such a short time. Kids grow so fast, some of the clothes are still in mint condition. It's not going to give parents a huge return, but it's milk money or enough to buy another little pair of shoes for somebody. Some cash out, but a lot of parents use their 40-percent profit as store credit," she said.
Contact the store directly at (269) 782-9800 for more information about the consignment process.
WHO kNEW's hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays.