Maximizing Joy as Lilise Designer Resale Expands Consignment Business

March 25, 2026

Minimum waste, maximum joy. That’s the motto Elyssa Alfieri has used to guide her business since she acquired it nine years ago. You can feel the energy walking through the front door of Lilise Designer Resale on Main Street — from the colorful racks of shirts and dresses to the vintage artwork on the walls.

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“I feel like I needed this place when I was a kid,” she said. “I don't think that clothing is as superficial as people want it to be. If I’m in a good outfit, I'm a better person... I'm more willing to have a conversation with a stranger at this door.”

With designer, vintage, secondhand, and new clothing and accessories, the “slow fashion” store has become a staple of the downtown shopping scene. Lilise Designer Resale was named Best Small Business in Concord in 2024 and Elyssa pays it forward by donating unsold items to a nonprofit thrift store.

But, success hasn’t come easily. Elyssa funded the purchase of the business on her own, avoiding outside support because of negative experiences with national banks.

She felt like her “non-traditional” business didn’t matter to funders, who had preconceived ideas about what a secondhand business looked like.

"When I was looking for financing previously, banks weren’t really interested in me because I was a smaller business with smaller revenues, more risk," Elyssa said.

As the economy changed over the last few years and Elyssa struggled with burnout, she knew something had to change.

In 2025, she applied to the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, which required her to outline a growth opportunity for LDR.

Inspired by the business model of antique stores that rent booths to multiple sellers, Elyssa wondered whether she could transform the basement of LDR into similar rental space.

“I started writing up that application and I was like, man, this is really feasible,” she said.

She was so excited that she began looking for funding and ended up on our website. Immediately, she could tell that the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund would be more flexible and supportive as a lender.

Elyssa applied for the Goldman Sachs program and a business loan on the same day — and got both.

Last summer, she renovated the basement at LDR, installing 21 booths and adding security cameras. She also put together kits for each renter with hangers, tags, bins, a tagging gun, and business cards they can use to market their booth.

When she launched the opportunity to her regular consignors, they quickly snapped up the weekly booth rentals. By fall, two-thirds of the booths were rented.

Elyssa sees many benefits for LDR: getting customers to shop longer by adding another floor of merchandise, creating more word-of-mouth advertising, and decreasing the wait list for consignors, which is currently over 150 people.

Renters, for their part, get more control over their pricing and marketing, plus a higher cut of the sales (66 percent instead of 40 percent).

Ashley Jerackas has been renting a booth at LDR since last summer.

“I like shopping here so much that I’ve accumulated stuff that I just don’t wear a lot,” she said. “It’s nice to be able to bring it back here to see it go to a new home of somebody else who will love it.”

Most importantly, the expansion helped Elyssa grow as an entrepreneur and ensure a sustainable future for the business.

“It’s allowed me to loosen my grip on everything single thing that happens here and to turn things over to others,” she said.

In the same way Elyssa values the affirming community she’s created in Concord, she sees her loan as more than dollars.

“This is like the well wishes of the community,” she said. “It’s been a nice way of feeling supported by the community.”

Maximizing Joy as Lilise Designer Resale Expands Consignment Business

All Needles, No Haystack

All Needles, No Haystack

A Growth Opportunity Inspired by Antique Markets

A Loan Worth More Than Dollars

Numbers That Tell the Story

21

500

3

5

9%

68%