Changes coming to YWCA Crowded Closet Women's Resale Boutique this Fall

YWCA Evanston/North Shore is excited to share upcoming changes to our YW Resale Shops starting this Fall.YWCA launched our first women’s resale shop, Shop for Good, in 2018 in downtown Wilmette as part of our strategy to build community, increase awareness of our mission, and generate funding for our work to empower women and eliminate racism. The immediate success of Shop for Good gave us the confidence to explore other retail endeavors in the community.In August 2020, YWCA was gifted Crowded Closet, an established women’s consignment boutique that was previously owned and ran by Cindy Caldwell and Mickie Donohue. In September 2020, Crowded Closet relocated to occupy two vacant storefronts on Dempster just down the street from the original location.As we continue to explore ways to ensure we can sustain both our mission-related work and community engagement at shops, we have decided to shift away from the consignment model at Crowded Closet to a donation-only model. In addition, we will be changing the name from Crowded Closet to Shop for Good – Evanston. These changes will allow us to expand our customer base and increase revenue for YW’s work by streamlining our organizational and marketing resources, and branding strategy.These changes will go into effect starting this fall to give us the opportunity to leverage the busy fall fashion season. We are inviting our expansive community of supporters - including consigners, volunteers, customers, YW staff and board members - to stop by the new Shop for Good Evanston store on Thursday, September 14th anytime between 5pm - 8pm. The annual Main Dempster Mile Wine Walk will take place on this day, and we want to use this time to honor previous Crowded Closet owner Mickie Donohue who recently passed, and to celebrate both the legacy of the shop and this new milestone in the shop’s history.From our comprehensive domestic violence services and economic advancement programs to our life-saving swimming lessons and anti-racism work, we couldn’t do it without the incredible support of our customers, volunteers, and overall community. Your support is imperative to continuing our work to eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.