31st Annual Fall Fashion Encore
September 30 - October 1

Famous Bargains
Benefits Local Agencies

Louisville's oldest and largest retail shop (plus non-profit) will hold its well-known 31st Annual Fall Fashion Encore on Sunday, September 30th and Monday, October 1st. Proceeds go to over 20 Louisville community service programs of the National Council of Jewish Women, Louisville Section (NCJW), that help women, children, and families in need. 3000 people from 11 states will shop the hundreds of racks of children's. men's, and women's clothing as well as vintage, designer, and evening wear that are sold at fantastic bargains. Over 1000 businesses and individuals have donated merchandise, some of which is new with the original sales tag still attached. Children's clothing start at 50 cents; men's suits start at $25; furs and designer clothing go for a fraction of their value. All merchandise is sized, categorized, and is in excellent condition. Fashion Encore hours are from 11am to 5pm on Sunday, and from 10am to 5pm on Monday. It takes place at the Nearly New Shop located in the lower level of the Mid City Mall, 1250 Bardstown Rd. The store is handicapped accessible with spacious dressing rooms. Parking is free. Hilary Catapano and Nikki Russman are the Vice Presidents of Fashion Encore and the Nearly New Shop. The following article, written about the 24th Fashion Encore held in 1999, appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal on October 11, 1999. Bargains galore draw thousands to charity's Fashion Encore Louisville event is the ultimate in rummage sales By C. RAY HALL, The Courier-Journal A dapper man with salt-and-pepper hair roamed a shop in the basement of Mid City Mall yesterday afternoo . The man, Larry Grannis, held a chrome-colored contraption outfitted with two fluffy, boa-like brushes. It was a shoe-buffing machine. The price tag: a comical $10. Price notwithstanding, it was the kind of thing one hears about, but never actually sees, except in swankier hotels, or in military latrines. Grannis, who is from Lexington, is a master sergeant in the Army Reserve. He usually comes to Louisville for military duty; yesterday, it was for mercantile duty. He joined hundreds of customers at the Fashion Encore, an annual charity sale of the fashionable, functional and flaky. Need a Ralph Lauren pinstripe suit? No problem: $65. Need a tall, silvery West Bend restaurant-style coffee maker? Try $30. For $150, you could get a plaid sofa and love seat that looked as if they might have belonged to Rob and Laura Petry. How about a crutch? Five dollars will get you one ($10 for the pair). For $8, you can get an item called "President Picture" -- in fact, a portrait of Thomas Jefferson. And, of course, there was a shoe-buffing machine for $10. Until Grannis scooped it up. "I was going to ask for a service discount," Grannis said, "but at $10, my girlfriend ridiculed me so bad." It didn't surprise him to find such a contraption at the sale, which offers thousands of items donated by individuals and stores. "You find a lot of worthless gizmos in here." And why did he need such a gizmo? "At work, we have one of those, and we've worn it out," he said. "If you've got a couple hundred Army guys who need to touch up their boots, it's just the ticket." The 24-year-old Fashion Encore is just the ticket for lots of people. Four hundred came through the doors in the first six minutes yesterday, said Honi M. Goldman, a volunteer who sported feathered headgear that looked like an evolutionary ancestor of the feathery shoe buffer. "There are people that plan their vacation around the sale," Goldman said. "They'll stay at a motel." The sale is sponsored by the Louisville section of the National Council of Jewish Women. The two-day event (which resumes today, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., in the Nearly New Shop at Mid City Mall, 1250 Bardstown Road) usually draws about 3,000 people, and raises $100,000 to $150,000. It is the group's largest fund-raiser. Proceeds support more than 20 charities, including 4C (Community Coordinated Child Care), Kentucky Youth Advocates, NCJW Court Watch and the Teen-Age Parenting Program. Yesterday, one customer bought several items totaling $1,400. That was about half the tab for the sale's priciest item -- a $2,700 ranch-mink coat. (A new one would retail for upwards of $10,000, Goldman said.) Margaret Smith of Louisville had bought a little black dress for $20. "It's timeless," she said. And she had cannily bought -- for $3 -- a shopping cart to carry her booty. Empathy stirred in her voice as she spoke of women bent over by armloads of clothes, trudging to dressing rooms and cash registers. One shopper was still savoring the remembrance of bargains past. "A new Brooks Brothers suit," she said, "with the pockets still sewn shut, for $30." "You can buy a suit for under $50," said volunteer salesman Steve Ratoff, who had a red tape measure draped around his neck. "You can buy a designer suit for $60." You can also buy lots of, well, non-designer stuff. "Things come and go," Goldman said. "One year we had mop heads -- an entire shipment of mop heads." (Sold them all, she said.) "And occasionally, a big shipment of tuxes. Some years we'll get a million pink ones, or gray ones." Juanita Wade and her friend Jessie Lewis raced over right after church and spent nearly three hours in the store, emerging with blouses, nighties and $12 skirts. There may be other bargain safaris out there, Wade acknowledged, but for her, "This is the only one." "Everybody has fun," volunteer Mona Schramko said of the customers. "They're patient. They'll help you." And no matter what shows up in inventory, it seems there's nothing so bizarre as to be unsalable. "I know of nothing that has been so outrageous," Goldman said. "We've had plastic ties. I'd show it to you, but I sold it." End of article email: office@ncjwlou.org Go back to the Main Page