Consignment Furniture Store in Manayunk Riding a Growing Popularity Wave
By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- When it comes to furniture, what's old is new again.
Patricia Donahue, owner of Consignment Marketplace in Manayunk, says environmental trends have had a positive impact on sales at her used furniture store.
"People just don't want to chop down another tree," she tells KYW Newsradio, "and they feel like the older furniture is better and it's solid wood and it's made in this country."
She says sales have steadily improved over the last several years.
"I mean, (used) clothing was popular even ten or 15 years ago," she says. "But furniture, on a large scale like this, is recent, in the last four or five years -- certainly since the recession hit us and people just didn't have that disposable income."
What's popular in used furniture these days?
"Mid-century modern is really a hot item with the younger generation these days," she says.
Like the 1950s?
"Yeah, the 1950s to the 1970s. They're calling that 'mid-century modern' now."
And Donohue suspects home-improvement shows that focus on repurposing have likely inspired folks to shop used.
"We get in an old trunk, and it flies out of here!" she notes. "So I know they're going to make it into a coffee table or something like that."