Jamie Velasquez Creates Her Happy Place: Kinder Consignment and Boutique By Meg Hale Brunton

“Candler has always felt like home for me,” says Kinder Consignment and Boutique owner Jamie Velasquez. As a child, her grandparents’ house was in Candler, and that is where she always felt safest. After marrying her husband and starting a family, Velasquez spent twenty years living wherever her husband was stationed (including seventeen years overseas). Once her husband completed his military service, the family decided to return to Candler and bought Velasquez's grandparents' former home. 

During the period when her husband was stationed in Valdosta, Georgia, Velasquez had trouble finding a job she enjoyed. She had heard that another military wife and mother was selling her childrens’ consignment business. Having a background in business management, Velasquez thought the store might be a perfect fit for her. “I loved that store,” Velasquez gushes. “I made it flourish.” After running the business for three years, Velasquez sold it to yet another military spouse.

Once back in Candler, Velasquez saw the need for a similar store in the area. In the fall of 2019, she opened Kinder Consignment and Boutique on Smokey Park Highway. It began as just a children’s consignment shop, but now has grown its inventory to also offer women’s clothing, maternity clothes, and supplies. “If moms are in here, shopping for little ones, they can find something for themselves too,” she says of Kinder. “We try to be a one-stop-shop for moms.”

On an average day, Velasquez puts 150-300 new items out onto the floor. When asked how she keeps up with that level of volume, she credits ‘strategic placing.’ “We have that much stuff everyday,” she says, laughing. “I move stuff around frequently.” Velasquez says their constantly-changing inventory is part of what makes her store so successful. She advises her customers to look high and low in her store, and to not be shy about asking for help. She has even been known to seek out certain items from her regular consignors if a customer requests something she doesn’t have. “I hate when I don’t have what someone needs,” Velasquez expresses. “I spend extra time trying to find that [item] for them.”  

Velasquez also attributes Kinder Consignment’s success to her unbeatable pricing. “We’re here to help customers find good stuff at good prices,” she explains, adding that she wants people to be able to buy what they need at Kinder and still afford to do their grocery shopping. “I do this because I love it – not for the profit.” Kinder Consignment also donates items that are over 100 days old to their local chapter of the ABCCM Crisis Ministry, which Velasquez says she loves since the donations go back into the Candler community.

Velasquez feels a deep connection to all her customers and consignors. Some of them drive over an hour just to trade with Kinder. “Whether you shop, trade, or just like us on Facebook,” she says, “once you’re part of the Kinder family, you’re really part of our family.” Velasquez’s customers really enjoy the different sales offered at Kinder Consignment, though their favorite is definitely the ‘Choose Your Discount Sale.’ “My customers love all the random stuff I do,” Velasquez says, admitting that she comes up with a sale whenever the store is overloaded with inventory, or when she knows there’s a need within local families.  

Velasquez's devotion to her customers and her cause was tested when the COVID-19 pandemic hit just five months after Kinder opened. While they were expecting a great first year in sales, the store was shut down for months. To keep the business going, Velasquez and her team posted all of their items online and did pickups and drop-offs at the door of the store. They even delivered items directly to people's homes! Velasquez says that her daughter, who runs the shop with her, once drove all the way out to Cherokee to do a delivery. “If it wasn’t for our community, sharing and liking, we wouldn’t have made it,” Velasquez says of the experience. “And we flourished. We were flabbergasted! We would not be here without the support of our community.”

Velasquez takes delight in the fact that her job gives her the opportunity to be around children and to give back to the community she loves. “I’m here for the kids and the families,” she says. “I love seeing happy kids. I try to spoil all the kids that come in here.” While she admits that she sometimes wishes she had a bigger space, Velasquez says she would never consider moving the business out of the Candler area. “I want to be here for all of the community,” she explains. “We want to stay stationary for the rest of our lives here.”

Velasquez acknowledges her commitment to her business often makes it tricky to maintain a good work/life balance. Despite her love for her work, she says her kids are her whole world. She also says that she couldn’t imagine running Kinder without the unending support of her husband. “I just want to run it forever,” Velasquez says of Kinder Consignment and Boutique. “This is my happy place.”

For more information on Kinder Consignment, visit their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/kinderconsignmentboutique