Cassandra Bell and husband Matthew Bell at their second hand story Cassandra’s Closet on Nov. 23, in Everett. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Cassandra Bell and husband Matthew Bell at their second hand story Cassandra’s Closet on Nov. 23, in Everett. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Now open: Cassandra’s Closet, a new downtown Everett boutique

This boutique has 12 months to make it a go! The store sells new and used women’s and men’s clothing.

EVERETT — Cassandra and Matthew Bell have 12 months to make their new venture, Cassandra’s Closet, a go.

The Mukilteo couple opened the boutique at 2723 Colby Ave. The store sells new and used women’s and men’s clothing.

Opening day was Oct. 15.

“Our landlord keeps an eye on the economy,” Cassandra Bell said. “She said, ‘Let’s play this safe — let’s make this a 14-month lease.’”

By comparison, a typical retail or commercial lease might run from three to five years.

Concerned there might be a recession — an economic downturn — Bell agreed to the shorter term.

The Bells follow the current styles and brands when they stock the racks.

Cassandra Bell buys liquidation pallets of new clothing. Used apparel is sourced from thrift and second-hand stores.

Her retail neighbors and the Downtown Everett Association have welcomed her with gifts, champagne and flowers, she said.

This is Cassandra Bell’s second resale boutique. She opened the first Cassandra’s Closet in Juneau, Alaska, where the couple lived until relocating to Snohomish County six years ago.

In fact, she even re-used the Juneau boutique’s original sign.

The storefront is a former dry cleaners.

Clothing available inside Cassandra’s Closet on Nov. 23, in Everett. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Clothing available inside Cassandra’s Closet on Nov. 23, in Everett. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

That’s created some confusion, she said. The old dry cleaning sign above the shop wasn’t removed until Thanksgiving. “It took us two months to get help with the sign,” Cassandra Bell said. And the “Colby Cleaners” listing still remains on Google.

As a result, people sometimes walk into Cassandra’s Closet with clothes to be cleaned draped over their arms.

“They wonder why everything has changed,” she said.

She encountered another sticking point when she decided to open the boutique. It was a bit of a tough sell convincing the City of Everett to issue Cassandra’s Closet a business license, she said.

A city ordinance designates certain sections of downtown, including Colby, Wetmore and Rockefeller avenues, as “pedestrian streets” and limits the types of businesses that can set up shop in street-level storefronts on those types of streets.

The city’s aim is to encourage businesses that will attract window-shoppers in Everett’s high-profile streets. That means, for instance, that second-hand stores, tattoo parlors or pawn shops are prohibited from setting up shop in those areas, according to a 2010 story in The Daily Herald. City officials were concerned that the boutique planned to sell some used clothing, she said.

“The city said if you agree to stock 50% second-hand and 50% new, we’ll give you a pass,” Cassandra Bell said. “We kind of have a conditional permit with the city.”

“This is a boutique. We have a completely different atmosphere and demographic than a pawn or junk store,” Bell said. “I’m not advocating that the city shouldn’t have these rules, but I feel like we should be taken out of that category.”

Cassandra’s Closet on Nov. 23, in Everett. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Cassandra’s Closet on Nov. 23, in Everett. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Two months out, in-store sales are picking up. Online sales are brisk.

“People see the lights on in the store and ask me why I’m here so late,” Bell said. “It’s because I mailed out 300 packages last week!”

It’s all about “turn and burn,” she said. “It’s my motto.”

That means an item doesn’t stay in the store longer than 45 days, she said.

If it’s on the rack that long, it’s sold online at auction, she said.

She auctions off the items in real time at a website called whatnot.com.

Bell, who had been holding several live auctions the day before, apologized for her voice: “You can hear I’m hoarse,” she said.

Janice Podsada: 425-339-3097; jpodsada@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @JanicePods.

Talk to us

More in Business

Gillian Montgomery weighs a bag of bird seed at Wild Birds Unlimited on Monday, Oct. 23, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bird and cat lovers flock to this Everett bird supply store

Bring on the birds! Locally owned Wild Birds Unlimited store can help turn your backyard into a “seedy” restaurant.

Brielle Holmes, 3, points to a stuffed animal that she likes at Wishes toy store on Monday, Oct. 23, 2023 in Alderwood, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Local toy store chain got its start as kiosk at Everett Mall

Wishes now operates eight stores, including three in Snohomish County. Its Alderwood mall store is a roomy 7,000 square feet.

Manager Rika Rafael, left, visual merchandiser April Votolato, center, and assistant manager and events coordinator Jaidhara Sleighter stand at the entrance of East West Books & Gifts’ new location Friday, Oct. 27, 2023, in downtown Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘We were meant to be here’: East West Books Gifts reopens in Edmonds

Located in Seattle before the pandemic, the new store offers books and other resources on meditation, spirituality and yoga.

Members and supporters of the Snohomish and Island County Labor Council gather on Oct. 10 at the Edward D. Hansen Conference Center in Everett. The the Affiliate Labor Champion Award was given to the International Association of Machinists 751. Wes Heard, center, accepted the award on behalf of IAM 751. Photo credit: Snohomish and Island County Labor Council.
Snohomish & Island County Labor Council honors labor leaders

The labor council’s annual Champions Dinner recognized two local labor leaders and a machinists union last month.

Two students walk along a path through campus Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022, at Everett Community College in Everett, Washington. The college’s youth-reengagement program has lost its funding, and around 150 students are now without the money they need to attend classes. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Fewer students enroll at state’s public colleges, study says

Enrollment has picked up since the pandemic, but the lag threatens the state’s quest for education equity.

Michelle Roth is a registered nurse in the Providence Emergency Department on Sunday, January 23, 2022. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
Health career job fair to be held Thursday in Everett

More than 14 health care related employers will attend the Snohomish County/Workforce Snohomish event.

Logo for news use, for stories regarding Washington state government — Olympia, the Legislature and state agencies. No caption necessary. 20220331
State gets $1 million grant to boost small-business exports

Washington’s Department of Commerce will use the federal grant to help small companies increase their export business.

NO CAPTION. Logo to accompany news of education.
Grant to help fund health care program at Edmonds College

  1. The $220,000 grant from Career Connect Washington aims to improve the college’s patient care technician program.

Trader Joe’s customers walk in and out of the store on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Trader Joe’s to move store to Everett Mall, application says

Trader Joe’s could move from its current address — with a tight squeeze of a parking lot — to the former Sears location at Everett Mall.

Starbucks workers and allies participate in a strike and picket organized by Starbucks Workers United during the company's Red Cup Day Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, at a location near Pike Place Market in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Starbucks workers in Everett, Marysville join national strike

Hundreds of Starbucks union workers at 15 locations across Washington joined the one-day strike.

Summit Everett, a rock climbing gym, in Everett, Washington on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. Summit will move into the former Grand Avenue Marketplace space, a retail location that has been vacant for five years. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Everett climbing gym to close, move to new downtown site

Summit Everett, a Rucker Avenue anchor, will open a new facility next year one block west on Grand Avenue.

A whiteboard inside Richie del Puerto's auto tech classroom at Sno-Isle Technical Skills Center on Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021 in Everett, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Explore apprenticeship programs at free Everett job fair Nov. 16

The Sno-Tech Skills Center job fair features 30 apprenticeship programs from construction to health care.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.