Consignment Boutique Shuts Down Abruptly Angering Clients in Brooklyn and Manhattan
PARK SLOPE — Eleven Consignment Boutique, with Brooklyn store located at 70 Fifth Avenue, and Manhattan store in East Village, shut its doors abruptly sometime in October (Brooklyn) /November (Manhattan) with no notice to its customers, leaving many puzzling over what has become of their belongings.
Eleven Consignment Boutique is a shop that sells high-end used items, mostly clothing, and accessories. The original owner would bring items into the shop, and if it got sold, the owner would receive a percentage of the selling price.
Yael Ben-Moshe dropped off two jackets at the Eleven Consignment Boutique on October 19. Ben-Moshe told Bklyner that the items are usually kept there for three months, and her coats had a retail value of $1,000 each, she said. When she wanted to find out if they had sold, she never heard back from the store.
“I called and texted as I was told to do,” she said. Then, last week, she decided to take a trip down to the shop to see what was up. When she got there, the gate was down, and the shop was closed. She never got her items back.
“I feel like I was taken advantage of. I’ve been texting and emailing for an update and, had I known, I never would have left my item,s and I would have gone to retrieve them,” Ben-Moshe said.
When we called the shop, there was no mention of it being closed. The automated system said to check out the website (which no longer exists) and said that they are open daily. Another customer who wished to remain anonymous told Bklyner that “Supposedly the original owners sold the stores with the merchandise in it. The stores haven’t been open. No phone calls or emails returned. No one will take responsibility.”
Danielle, who declined to give her last name, is a singer and songwriter. She said she consigned with Eleven Consignment Boutique a few years ago and had no issues. This year was different.
“I have over $500 worth of stuff to Eleven Consignment’s East Village location in November and despite calling, emailing, physically going to both locations which are now shuttered 24/7, and reviewing the business on Yelp and Google, I can’t seem to get my items back or any money owed to me if they sold,” Danielle said.
Apparently, the other Eleven Consignment Boutique in Manhattan has also shut down. When we called, we received no answer either. Customers are being left in the dark and just want to know what is happening with their items.
“I’ve been bringing clothing and selling it at the Park Slope location for quite some time now,” one customer told Bklyner. “I am not even asking to get it back if it is so difficult. If you want to keep my clothing, keep it. At least pay me what you owe me for it.”
“At this point, we are being taken advantage of,” they continued. “Fine, shut your shop. But be fair and pay us. We are not asking for much.”
The Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID tells us that the 78th Precinct is investigating to figure out what is happening – after all, this is thousands of dollars of items belonging to people, that the shop now possesses.
