Cari Giglio, owner of Cherie Consignment Boutique in Excelsior, has always dreamed about owning her own shop and using it as a platform to empower women.
Giglio and her husband Anthony purchased the shop from a mother-and-daughter team who retired. Although they continue to sell designer-label clothes, purses, shoes and jewelry via the consignment model, the new intent behind the store is to help every client feel inner confidence.
“We have pretty much anything that is going to make a woman feel amazing,” Giglio says. “We don’t have to have specific clothes to feel beautiful, but they are fun.”
Giglio focuses on recycled fashion, and part of the fun of owning a consignment shop is hearing stories about each piece brought in and matching it with someone new, who will love the item just as much as the original owner. Giglio compares giving new life to a vintage dress to her desire to help women transform their own lives after going through difficult times. “The shop ends up being like a therapy space, because we all end up talking about some deep stuff in here,” she says. “Even though it is a consignment shop, it is something deeper to me. I can be real with women, and they can be real with me.”
Giglio is open about her experiences as a survivor of domestic violence, and she continuously uses her boutique as a way to help other women who have experienced similar trauma.
The boutique hosts events every month to highlight and fundraise for a specific nonprofit working with domestic or sexual violence victims. Giglio recently hosted an event for Give Her Wings, an organization that aided Giglio when she first sought help. “That was a full-circle moment for me,” she says. “Fashion is important, yes, but women’s voices being heard and bringing awareness is the underlying heartbeat of the shop.”
