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They pick through the secondhand jewelry and designer pocketbooks. They try on a few pairs of sunglasses. In the back, they go through the sundresses and jackets.
To the delight of owner Joanne Dubay, they usually end up finding something they love.
"My customers are crazy about bargains and the thrill of the find," Dubay, 58, told Daily Voice. "I offer both and it keeps them coming back again and again."
The longtime Teaneck resident had never worked in fashion before opening Browse Consignment on Queen Anne Road, but had always been a bargain hunter.
She still recalls frequenting the Goodwill stores and thrift shops around her native Clifton as a teenager.
"I would be the girl who came to school with tri-color dresses and yellow sneakers," Dubay said. "Everyone would always ask me where I got my cloths because they had never seen them before."
Dubay retired from her career as a graphic designer in 2009, and then opened Browse Consignment with her mother Hilda in 2014.
She says the secret to a great consignment store is knowing what to sell and what to turn down.
"People come to me with stuff to sell all the time and I pass on a lot of it," Dubay said. "When I do decide to sell something I do my research first."
"It has to be in style and it has to be fairly priced," she said.
Once she finds the right products, it's all about presentation.
"I sometimes put an outfit on a mannequin in the window," Dubay said, "and someone will come in that same day and say they want to buy the entire thing."
Everything she sells she splits 50/50 with her cosigner.
Her favorite part of her business is the customers.
"I love their excitement when they find a $500 pocketbook priced at $100," Dubay said. "I've gotten to know so many great women by being here."
Browse Consignment is located at 129 Queen Anne Road in Bogota.
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