New consignment shop to open where Red Collection closed?

Out with the red, in with the blue.

A new consignment shop called the Blue Collection is moving in where the Red Collection moved out.

Michael Mahon, owner of 73 Main across the street from the now vacant site where the popular Red Collection closed down Sept. 28, said he hopes to open The Blue Collection there as early as next week — as soon as his insurance is squared away.

“I want to keep it the same thing,” said Mahon, whose favorite color as a kid influenced the new name.

Furniture and clothes will make up the inventory, with a section for higher quality items. Mahon said he plans to include a men’s corner that will offer tools, fish and tackle and other things for the everyday guy.

Mahon has 15 years of experience at a furniture store in Miami, and spent three more managing Goodwill stores in Manhattan. He’s owned 73 Main for two years. It can be a tough business, he said, but demand exists and the town has been easy to work with regarding a new consignment store.

Two large storage containers belonging to a friend who’s an antique dealer will provide The Blue Collection with its first stock.

Mahon said he wants the new store to have a quicker turnover of inventory to keep things fresh and encourage frequent visits from customers. He plans to offer three-month contracts for items.

The prior consignment shop was owned by Irene Pritchard and her son Thomas Hayes, who operate two large consignment shops in North Carolina. They decided to close down their Riverhead store last November, citing a substantial rent increase.

But after an outpouring of community support and the intervention of Councilwoman Jodi Giglio, the landlord, Jeff Rimland, “worked with us on the rent,” according to the Red Collection manager, Susan Williams.

Williams said the owners told her having an out-of-state location was “just too much.”

The two-story building, opposite the Riverhead Diner and Grill, is the former home of Ben Franklin Crafts and, before that, Lentin’s Department Store, which occupied the site for many years.

Its closing left another large vacant space in the center of downtown, spurring the Democratic candidates for town supervisor and council to call a press conference in front of the shuttered consignment shop on Tuesday to criticize the current administration’s claim that a downtown renaissance has gotten underway.

Mahon said part of the impetus to bring a large consignment store back to the location is to retain a draw for interior designers and others who came to town to browse the Red Collection’s floor. He said the closing hurts his business across the street.

“This was a resource in Riverhead and we shouldn’t lose it,” he said.

To contact Mahon regarding consignment contracts, email him at thebluecollection@gmail.com.