(Reader photo, December 27)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
About a week ago, the CLOSED FOR BUSINESS sign went up at Funky Janes Consignment at California/Oregon in The Junction.
We’ve been working since then to speak with owner Panida Vilaythong, who bought Funky Jane’s in spring 2019 from 20-year owner Angela Nichols, and were finally able to talk with her this morning.
Our first question was simple: What happened?
“COVID happened,” Panida replied. “It’s been a long, slow bleed since 2020.” She had been running the store for less than a year when the pandemic closures began. Sales have never been the same; people’s shopping habits have changed permanently. “Since 2021, I’ve been floating the store.” She had hoped that within a year of buying the store, she’d be able to quit her “day job” in the insurance industry and focus on the store full time, but that never happened. “My job was keeping the store afloat.”
In 2021, “I wasn’t willing to admit defeat. I wanted to hunker down and see if I could make it through. I didn’t. I probably should have thrown in the towel two years ago.” She says she was likely “too proud” to let people see just how endangered the shop was, until it was too late. But looking back, she noticed that the changes in shoppers’ habits were also changes in consigners’ habits – “we got a lot of new consigners but they were not shoppers – they would buy stuff online and (consign in rather than return it) – if people aren’t also shopping (as well as consigning), that doesn’t pay all the bills.” And those bills have continued to increase, Panida says – operating expenses, employee pay, rent.
Realizing this fall that it was time to “throw in the towel” was compounded by dealing with a family tragedy – her father was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and lived in another state; he died recently and she just got back to West Seattle in time to deal with the closure.
She hopes she might be able to try running a consignment shop again someday – “This is not the end of the book, but the end of the chapter!” – but first she has to rebuild the savings (even her retirement fund) she depleted trying to keep Funky Janes going. And she has words of gratitude, for the West Seattle Junction Association and its merchants, and for her former staff, all West Seattleites: “I’m proud of them!” And she remains “proud of the community for coming together during the pandemic.” But, she warns, now that “life is back to normal … don’t forget about the merchants. Shop small! Every bit counts!”
SIDE NOTE: She says she closed with few remaining consigners – she had her last consignment appointments in October, and those agreements expired in December; for the handful that “came in” after that, she is contacting them all directly. Meantime, the 1,250-square-foot space is now empty and for rent (contact info is on the door).
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