by Maggie Ybarra
Daily Lobo
Chic and inexpensive don't often go hand in hand.
But at 2 Time Couture - a Downtown second-hand store at 600 Central Ave. S.E. - the two words come together.
2 Time Couture is a valentine-colored gem of a boutique designed to fit every one of your high-priced designer needs.
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It specializes in name-brand items seen on models and starlets in magazines, offering shoes, handbags and matching
accessories.
Store owner Mildred Ramthun said that since items in her store go on sale every 30 days, there is always something for her customers to celebrate.
"You can get a pair of designer jeans for less than half the price of retail," Ramthun said. "And the handbags go really fast."
Ramthun said she started her boutique after she and her friends were discussing their amazing name-brand clothes they rarely used.
2 Time Couture accepts consignments from those who want to sell their designer clothes but don't own a boutique to sell them in.
"We get stuff every day," Ramthun said. "Now we are up to almost 300 consignors."
Ramthun said people who want to consign clothes can receive 40 percent of the cash that the clothing sells for, or receive 50 percent worth of in-store credit.
"We're a contemporary and brand-oriented consignment boutique," Ramthun said. "The things that we take are slightly worn and new, so things in here are in really good condition."
From Bebe to Juicy, the list of brand names available in the shop is virtually endless. And though prices can be high, they're always deeply discounted from the
retail price.
"The most expensive thing we have right now is a Juicy couture bag, brand new with the packing still in it," Ramthun said. "And it retails here for $400, but elsewhere, you'd have to buy it for $700."
In an additional attempt to meet customer needs, Ramthun has many sale racks with clearance stickers ranging from 15
percent to 70 percent off the initial price.
Fine silks dangle from the fringes of beautiful dresses, and body-fitting tops with colorful designs hang from the silver rod holding them in position.
Each one of the items has a teasing red mark on its sale tag, committing it to prices so cheap that a fistful of dollar bills at the end of the week would suffice to buy the fashionable fabrics in time for that first date or night of clubbing.
"We preselect things very well," Ramthun said. "So when you come here, you know that things are going to be in good condition and that it's great stuff as well as great brands."
