An Interior shot of the former Hope's Consignment store, via Facebook

An interior shot of the former Hope’s Consignment store, via Facebook

Hope Clothing and Consignment, located at 9440 Garland between Starbucks and Natural Grocers in Casa Linda Plaza, is now closed. The shop, which was operated by Austin Street Center (one of the city’s biggest nonprofit homeless shelters,) opened in February of 2013.

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Austin Street clients who were preparing for careers in retail used the store as training grounds before transitioning back into the community. Employees collected and resold apparel, electronics and furniture for retail or consignment.

Neighboring employees in the shopping center told me earlier this week that they weren’t sure what led to the store closing, suggesting that maybe business was slower than expected. I contacted the media coordinator at Austin Street Center who said that there are currently no plans to reopen Hope’s Consignment, though the nonprofit is discussing future plans for resale events on site at the Austin Street shelter. Additionally, the remaining inventory from the store will be distributed to the nonprofit’s emergency shelter and transitional housing residents. 

Per the sign on the locked, vacant storefront, dated February 2014, I contacted Craig Perry of AmReit for more information. Perry says that the store is not expected to reopen and there are no immediate plans to replace the store. He also added that no leases have been signed yet and the space is available.