Tootie’s Treasures ‘not going out of business,’ says owner
When Judy O’Neal was told work on Lafayette Road in Fort Oglethorpe would begin in October of this year, she was worried it would hurt her business at Tootie’s Treasures, her consignment shop located in the historic Post gymnasium. She decided it might be a good time to sell the place and relocate.
But O’Neal’s plan backfired on her. First, she learned that the work on the road would not begin in October after all, possibly not for another year or more. Second, people mistook the real estate sale sign in front of the store as a sign that Tootie’s was going out of business.
Customer traffic plummeted, says O’Neal. “What I want everyone to know is that Tootie’s is not going out of business. We’re open and we’re staying open.”
Tootie’s came into existence in 2003. O’Neal says that when her parents passed away, instead of having a yard sale to dispose of some of their belongings, she decided to open a resale shop. She had a friend — a lady from Hollywood who moved to the area because she had family in Dalton — who owned a store called Uh-Oh Shop. “I would go hang out with Minnie on lunch breaks,” says O’Neal. “I liked her shop.”
When trying to decide on a name for her own shop, O’Neal settled on “Tootie’s,” because her friend Minnie called her that — a play on the name of Totie Fields, an actress Minnie said O’Neal reminded her of.
Tootie’s started on Heron Street at the northern edge of Fort Oglethorpe, where O’Neal’s television station — UCTV — is now. At the time, her station was on First Street in Fort Oglethorpe, a block behind Lafayette Road on the west side.
When O’Neal decided to move Tootie’s to the old Post gym, her plan was to locate her TV station on the second floor of the building, but reception was too poor, so she moved the station to Heron Street.
The 10,000-square-foot old
Post gym is where officers and enlisted men worked out and played basketball when Fort Oglethorpe was a military post. The building was constructed in 1904 for $10,000. It features two-story high ceilings, a balcony and a full basement where there was once a bowling alley and shooting gallery.
“We had a gentleman come in the store one day,” says O’Neal, “who said he can remember setting up the pins in the bowling alley for soldiers when he was a little boy.”
The building is now chockfull of almost anything a person could want, or as O’Neal likes to say: the old, the new, the unexpected. “We carry ladies’ fashions in sizes 0 to 5X, vintage and collectibles, accent furniture, home décor, and all kinds of interesting things.”
“You never know what’s going to come in next,” says Carolyn Crabtree, manager of Tootie’s.
O’Neal says Tootie’s is the love of her life. “It’s like a treasure hunt. People bring in new things almost every day and there’s so much in here, even I keep finding surprises.”
“Since we opened in 2003,” says O’Neal, “we’ve had around 3,600 consignors and over 900,000 items.”
O’Neal’s consignment policy is strict: no more than 20 items at a time; all items must be clean, in good condition and in demand; clothing must be on hangers; items may stay in the store at regular price for 60 days, they go down to half price until 90 days, then the agreement must be renegotiated or items must be removed. Any items not removed become the property of Tootie’s. The consignment rate is 40/60 in favor of Tootie’s.
“We keep our merchandise fresh and make room for new items,” says O’Neal. “For instance, right now, 1950s art deco, furnishings and clothing are in, so we’ve moved those types of things out where they can been seen better. Not long ago, no one wanted leopard print clothing and items. Now they’re all the rage and we have plenty of them.”
Anyone who has ever passed Tootie’s has seen the pink tin flamingo — Flossy — out front. Anyone who has ever been inside has seen dozens more flamingoes — stuffed, wood, metal, plastic, painted on the walls. The tall pink bird is the mascot of Tootie’s, and no flamingo in the store is for sale.
The flamingo outside has a story of its own. O’Neal says she and her husband were in Dalton one day when she spotted the tin flamingo up a flight of stairs in front of a building that appeared to belong to Spanish-speaking owners.
“I told my husband to stop,” says O’Neal. “I was going to climb those stairs and use my Spanish to try to buy that flamingo.”
It’s just as well that O’Neal’s husband put his foot down because of her bad knees; about the only Spanish she knows is how to count.
But not long after that, O’Neal had a man from Dalton on her morning show. He was running for public office. “I asked him if he spoke Spanish and told him about the flamingo,” says O’Neal. “He went back to Dalton that day, got the flamingo for me and drove it right back here. He said the owners were glad to get rid of it.”
As with other historic buildings in the area, people often wonder if Tootie’s is haunted. O’Neal’s response — and that of her store manager — is absolutely yes.
“One day, I was in here alone,” says Crabtree. “We had a little mechanical dog in the store with a lantern it held in its mouth. I heard a noise from the back of the store. Then it stopped. Then it started again and I saw that dog barking and the lantern flashing. It stopped and started again.”
Crabtree called O’Neal and informed her she was closing for the day and leaving. Neither of the women will stay in the store after dark.
“I’m the luckiest person in the world,” says O’Neal. “I’ve had the chance to do a lot of things in life and I’m doing what I love now.”