Mimi's Attic — Local services in City of Ithaca

After living in Ithaca off and on for nearly 30 years, I have never been so thoroughly disrespected by a local business as I was by Mimi’s Attic. Earlier this year, I consigned four items from my late father’s house (2 dressers, a writing desk, and a table). Three of the items sold relatively quickly, but the final item, a cherry chest of drawers, took longer to sell. I was traveling to and from Ithaca from Austin and was busy dealing with what was left of my father’s estate. Admittedly I didn’t keep track of the pickup date as closely as I should have. About 2 weeks after the pickup date I realized that I still hadn’t heard anything about whether the final item had sold, so I gave the shop a call to inquire. I spoke to Ian on the phone, and was told that the chest of drawers still hadn’t sold and that I could come to pick it up. I said “OK, I am thinking about coming by tomorrow (Monday, May 6th) to take it back”. Before hanging up, Ian said “OK, but if it had sold before we talked, we wouldn’t have been required to compensate you for the item.” This gave me a bad feeling, and I decided that I shouldn’t wait until tomorrow. So, I went to the store less than two hours after speaking on the phone to pick up the chest of drawers. To my utter disbelief and shock, I saw that the Cherry chest of drawers had a sold sticker with a note that stated it was a “phone order.” I immediately went to the front desk and told the person at the cash register that I was here to pick up my check and a consigned item that didn’t sell. The cashier checked their notes, and with a confused look told me that they needed to talk to somebody. They brought over Ian (the same person I had spoken to on the phone) who told me that the dresser had sold in the two hours since we had spoken on the phone. Keep in mind that the dresser hadn’t sold in the 2.5 months it was in the store and then somehow miraculously sold in the span of 2 hours of us agreeing for me to pick it up. I reminded them that we had just spoken on the phone and that I had told them that I was coming in to pick up the item. Ian went on to say that I had seemed unsure about picking it up and that, anyway, it was already past the pickup date and they had a buyer so they had to honor the sale. I kept my cool, and said ok but can you at least honor our agreement and give me the 40% of the sales price that I am owed, which Ian refused. My partner and I tried to reason with them, explaining that I had called ahead, that the item was still in the store, that we were traveling, that the item being sold was part of my late father’s estate and we never (not even once) received a reminder of the pickup date. Ian explained that they couldn’t pay me my share today even if they wanted to because they need to wait for the buyer’s payment to process. To which I said that I could come back in a day or two to pick up the check. Ian immediately backpedaled and said that they still weren’t going to give me any compensation for the chest of drawers. At this point I was so fed up and angry that I couldn’t stand another second of speaking to them. After they cut me my check for the three items that had sold, I turned and left without saying another word. My family and I have probably done thousands of dollars of business with the store since it opened on State St years ago. Mimi’s advertises itself as a consignment shop, which means they should feel obligated to make a good faith effort to compensate and notify consigners. Ever since it was bought by new owners, they have offered poor compensation, and even poorer customer service and communication. Beyond this, it is clear that they conspire against their own patrons and will attempt to cheat them at the first opportunity. It is truly a shame how a local business that used to pride itself on its quirkiness, fair dealings, and good taste has descended into...

In the beginning it was just a rapid acumulation of annoying things where we kept doing what we were told by the store and then realizing at the end that it really wasn't worth it-- for example, they asked to see pictures of the items for confirmation that they would take them, which we did, and then we would move them down there (using Mimi's moving crew, which costed us money out of pocket) only to discover that they were only taking a fraction of the things— so we paid Mimi’s to move items to the store that they then refused to try to sell. A couple of the antiques had blemishes which they said they would only take if we paid them (Mimi’s) to repair them. On the one hand, I get it-- they are a business-- they dont care that our Dad died, but on the other hand the whole thing left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I would have rather just donated the furniture. The whole thing felt very predatory and we were so sad and exhausted that we felt taken advantage of. But the final straw was that one of the dressers they had taken didn't sell within the window-- shortly after it 'expired' my brother called the store and said he would come down to pick it up that same day. Two hours later he went down with a car to pick it up and he saw that it had sold-- it had a sticker indicating someone had bought it via phone order. So my brother asked when the check would be issued and the manager basically said that since it had sold between my brother calling him and picking it up and because it was outside of the window that they didn't owe us any money-- that we had forfeited it. In my mind, this was very deceitful and unkind. The money we were making from the sales was to help cover cleaning costs for the house to get it on the market and to give my mom a furniture budget to work with for her new living situation. I am so sad because I used to love Mimi's Attic as a store but since it changed ownership and locations their management has become beligerently entrepenuial and unkind.

I will also mention here that 4 years ago when we used them to pick up furniture while moving my parents previously that a similar thing happened-- the moving fees costed so much that despite the fact that they took and sold about 8 medium-large pieces of furniture, the check was hardly more than $100 at the end. It was like donating furniture to a for-profit store-- now that I know I personally wont use them again. I'd rather donate to ReUse and take the tax slip. I’d rather shop at Found.

I’ll also mention here that they regularly mislabel art to be made in a different media than it is (ie. Labeling inkjet prints shot out of a printer as drawings, etchings, and sometimes even as paintings. Selling art, especially 20th century art, requires expertise that they do not have. Either that, or they are taking advantage of people’s trust or...

I used to love Mimi's, when it was downtown. I would bring items in to consign. I usually made a profit. Then it moved with new owners. It seemed I was getting less and less for the items I was selling. Ian was most always nasty. The last time I went in, I took a couple boxes of stuff for him to look at. He had a whole cart full of stuff, including oil paintings, he said he could only give me $25 for it all. I should have known better, but I said yes, I didn't want to carry it all back home. I was looking around the store and I seen Ian bring the cart in with my stuff marked. I added it up and it came to over $100. I went and told the cashier; she had Ian come back up and you could tell he was mad. He added it up and told the cashier to give me $12. I believe I was still owed more money, but I left it at that. The cashier apologized and said Ian was having a bad day! By this time, I was to! After I got home, I see there was a couple things missing, that they were nowhere to be found. If you're going to treat people like crap, you shouldn't be working with the public. So sad I loved that store. This happened over a year ago, but I finally decided I should let people...