SOMETHING GOLD, SOMETHING NEW
Corri McFadden, owner of eDrop-Off, brings luxury consignment to the Gold Coast with a new showroom
Corri McFadden fondly recalls the humble beginnings of her luxury consignment shop, eDrop-Off. “My first space was 725 square feet, with green and primary-colored walls — very eBay,” she says of the business’s original Lincoln Park location, which she opened in 2004. “If you walked by, you would have seen me there, by myself at 2 a.m., writing descriptions for fly-fishing equipment and coins. I sold anything and everything in order to pay my rent and build my business. How much we have changed and advanced — it’s insane.”
Nine years later, McFadden operates eDrop-Off out of a chic black-and-white Lincoln Park storefront, which houses a team of copywriters, photographers and style experts, who manage product descriptions and auctions and oversee a giant closet chock-full of clothing and accessories from some of the most coveted designers in the world: Christian Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton and more. On Dec. 2, McFadden will expand her business even further, opening a second full-service space in the Gold Coast at 1201 N. Clark.
McFadden calls the new spot — which will replace a small, drop-off-only space on State Street — a more petite version of the Lincoln Park outpost. But it will offer the same services: Clients can drop off gently worn designer goods, an on-site copy and photography team will put pieces on eBay quickly and a team of style experts will be on hand to offer closet-cleaning services. Best of all, there’s a fitting room, where shoppers can try on pieces before they buy. “You can sweep through the site, pull the item numbers of what you want to see, schedule a time and we’ll have it waiting in the dressing room for you,” McFadden says. And in a nod to the new location’s bustling neighborhood, the Gold Coast spot will offer curbside pickup and drop-off.
It was the natural next step for eDrop-Off, the first online luxury retailer in the city, which takes in up to 600 pieces per day, sells 2,500 unique items a week, has a 98 percent sell-through rate and has completed 350,000 sales since its inception. The business even received a bump in exposure thanks to its 2012 VH1 reality show, “House of Consignment.” Despite the sky-high numbers, McFadden has been conservative about expanding. “When you start to grow, a lot of times you want to overextend yourself,” she says. “Coming off the reality show, we wanted to make sure the traffic was real, and not just an influx of the situation. Now, the craziness has died down and we’re still growing.”
The calculated approach is typical of McFadden, who grew up in Kansas City loving fashion but dreaming of a career as a cop or a crime-scene investigator. In college, her penchant for style eclipsed her CSI ambitions (though she still stocks her DVR with “Law & Order” and other crime shows), and she pursued a degree in fashion design. Her final portfolio project, an eBay store, became the foundation for eDrop-Off. And nine years into it, McFadden hasn’t stopped striving. “It’s about being smart, being a hard worker and dedicating yourself,” she says. “Gain as much knowledge as you can in your field of passion and you’ll naturally go where you’re supposed to.”
When McFadden started out, it was a different digital landscape: Facebook was nascent, Twitter was non-existent and most people were on MySpace. But now, selling goods on eBay is a viable business model — and McFadden relishes the competition. “It keeps me in condition, it keeps me on my toes,” she says. “It doesn’t let you get comfortable, which is good.” But she adds that there’s a niche for everyone, and that as her business grows, McFadden is committed to keeping eDrop-Off focused on its original mission.
“We’re a concierge to you,” McFadden says. “Whatever way we fit in your life, we will. Whether it’s closet cleaning, free nationwide pickup, drop-offs — we want to be the best at that. We want focus on our clients and build relationships. We want to be exceptional.”