Second Hand Rose
Ever seen the 1960s Barbra Streisand film Funny Girl? Know the catchy tune around the first act, “Second Hand Rose”?
It describes a young girl’s struggle with second-hand clothes, her second-hand boyfriend and her house on Second Street.
While they do sell second-hand clothes, Birmingham’s two Second Hand Rose stores are far from the struggle represented in this classic song. The high-end boutiques sell name-brand designers without the high-fashion prices.
The original store on Valleydale Road is the oldest consignment shop in Birmingham, and last year they opened a second location in Cahaba Heights.
Everything in Second Hand Rose meets certain standards. All styles are in-season and of new quality, and nothing can be older than two years. Store employees are always researching the latest trends and prices.
Consigners bring in clothes, employees price them down 80-90 percent off retail listings, and the sale is split 50/50.
At the store’s helm is Gina Saab.
“I love the people and seeing the merchandise that comes in,” she said.
Saab has always been in fashion. She worked in a high-end boutique in Mountain Brook Village “for forever,” she said. In her time there, she had always referred customers to Second Hand Rose. When her brother, a business salesman, alerted her the store was for sale, she considered her next step set in stone.
“I wouldn’t have bought just any consignment shop,” Saab said. “It had been in business for a long, established time. The quality of the merchandise and the quality of the customer were unbeatable. Our shoppers are great. They’re like family. We know them. We know their children. We know what’s going on with their lives, good and bad.”
Every inch of the space in the Second Hand Rose stores is utilized. Wedding dresses hang across the back. Shoes line the walls, and every few feet you cross a new rack of designer brands.
The space worked fairly well for Saab over the last seven years, but in the last year the Valleydale store began bursting at the seams.
“I’m all about God and His time being right,” Saab said. “It was just a matter of everything falling into place.”
Saab called on her best friend, Kay Teschner, to help open a new store. Saab believed if she could trust her children’s lives with Teschner, she could most certainly trust a second location with her.
Teschner and Saab met through their sons 17 years ago. The two boys, now 21, met in the second grade. As they grew, so did Saab and Teschner’s friendship. Today they speak daily, alternating between talk about business and family.
The Cahaba Heights location now sees more than 1,000 customers a week, one-third of the longer-established Valleydale location.
With new clothes and shoppers coming daily, Saab said it’s like “Christmas every day.”
