The annual Curtain Call consignment sale runs March 18-April 3 in the former JCPenney space at Regency mall. (Photo by Susan Morgan)
Each year, Angie Furbee, owner of the annual home decor consignment sale Curtain Call, is astonished by the magnitude of the sale. For 2022, the trend continues, with more than 20,000 items and 500 consignors. The 75,000-square-foot showroom in the former JCPenney store at Regency mall is packed with furniture, crystal glassware, china, paintings, window treatments and other types of home items. New to the sale this year is a boutique section, complete with designer handbags and furs. The sale is open through April 3.
Given current supply chain issues, Furbee says, Curtain Call is even more consequential this time around. She shared the story of a Curtain Call volunteer who tried to order furniture online recently and was told it would be a one-year wait.
“People want instant gratification, so this works for them,” she says. “And they’re getting it at really great prices.” Some pieces are being sold for as low as 50% off the retail price.
Selling items at low prices encourages people to shop sustainably at consignment sales, which is in line with Curtain Call’s original mission, Furbee says. In 1999, one of her colleagues at Stroheim, a fabric and wall covering firm, founded Curtain Call because she could not bear seeing custom window treatments being thrown away. Now, window treatments and thousands of other items are resold through Curtain Call instead of being discarded.
Also in line with Curtain Call’s mission of sustainability, the sale partners with CARITAS and Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity, two nonprofits focused on providing people with safe and comfortable homes. After the sale is over, consignors have one day to pick up their unsold items, and the rest gets donated to CARITAS and Habitat, ensuring that nothing is thrown away. In addition to this donation, Curtain Call also holds a lighting sale and donates the proceeds to CARITAS.
“The premise of the sale to me when I bought it 21 years ago was that we’re here to make a little money, but we’re also here to give back to our community,” Furbee says.
