Window Shopping

Shoestring budget

By Brittany Kress

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JAMES CHANCE PHOTO

Any sale that can motivate people to follow it around the city must be a seriously good one.

Mother-and-daughter duo Danni Palmore and Erika Jones used to send postcards to announce their upcoming discount designer clothing sales. People would flock to various hotel meeting rooms for the week-or-two-long events.

During the weeks between Savvy on a Shoestring sales, as they came to be called, the clothes that didn't sell were put in storage.

That's no longer necessary, since the traveling sale has settled permanently in the Short North. Palmore and Jones opened Savvy on a Shoestring in mid-November after two and a half years of hotel sales.

JAMES CHANCE PHOTO

But besides the location, not much has changed. The pair still brings in off-season designer merchandise — now more of it — from outlets and friends in Los Angeles, New York, Milan and Paris.

"We don't do any knockoffs," Palmore said. "Nothing's torn, nothing's dirty, nothing's worn. That's how [our customers] know us. And that's what they expect."

The original price tag, with figures sometimes converted from Euros, is still on each item. Discounts are usually around 70 percent. "It's not like I've marked it up to bring it down so you can think it's a deal," Palmore said.

She likens the narrow shop space, lined with a half-dozen packed racks, to a New York boutique where space is at a premium.

Since the hotel sales first started, the hardest part has often been convincing shoppers to take a second look at European styles.

"Some Americans have a tendency to go for names versus actual quality," Palmore said. "The European [designs], when people come in, I have to get them to try it on so they can see just how it lays and what's a little different about the neck to make you really stand out."

Palmore maintains Savvy's original hotel-sale exclusivity — and her sanity — by limiting hours to Saturday only.

"It may take a while," she said, "but there are people that know if you want to shop at Savvy, you have to shop on Saturday."

January 17, 2008

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