Although the new Love Me Two Times in North Naples shares its name with a popular song by The Doors, the designation comes from the idea that the local women’s boutique sells designer items on consignment, so they can be loved for the second time around.
Love Me Two Times launched April 25 and had a grand opening party May 8 in a nearly 1,100-square-foot space at 7935 Airport-Pulling Road, Suite 111. Previously home to an interior designer and a local ice cream shop, the new store is two doors down from Parmesan Pete’s restaurant in the Fountain Park retail center.
Proprietor Andrea Kaplan operated a similar women’s designer consignment shop by the same name in Baltimore for 12 years before relocating last year to Naples with her boyfriend, Nick Chirigos, a silent partner in the business.
“Nick knew he wanted to retire here. We checked it out. We fell in love with the area back in 2020, right during the pandemic, actually, Nick decided he was going to be retiring in a couple of years, and he did. He found this really great place here,” Kaplan said. “We checked out lots of different places like St. Petersburg and Sarasota, but we just fell in love with Naples.”
Of course, they found Naples to be beautiful and bougie, much like their target clientele.
“It’s the perfect fit,” Kaplan said. “The women here are elegant. They’re upscale. They know quality.”
Love Me Two Times specializes in luxury, designer and one-of-a-kind vintage clothing and accessories. Expect apparel and accessories from luxury brands, such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Prada available at bargain prices.
“These are coming from extremely high-end women that take good care of these pieces,” said Kaplan, noting that the store’s inventory is ever-changing as items are sold and new pieces arrive.
“You never know what’s going to come in and what people are going to bring,” she said. “It’s a little serendipitous. Sometimes you might have liked something from a year or two ago that was so hard to get, was rare, and then it comes into a consignment shop and it’s your chance to buy this item that you could have never had.”
An easy formula prices discount items sold in the store, Kaplan said.
“If an item is new with tags, and maybe it’s more current in season, it’s about a half of retail,” she said. “If an item is a little bit older, which is fine, it’s a third. But these are still brands that are extremely covetable. They’re really desirable. They might not be brand new, but they’re really collectible and people want them.”
The business is not capital-intensive because Kaplan sells the items on consignment, paying the owners of the items after they are sold in the shop. The sale price is split 50-50 between the store and the consignors.
“It’s a great concept,” she said. “The items are in my care and custody until they sell, and then which the money goes into the consignor’s account.”
Kaplan uses a reliable software system to easily track transactions. “It calculates everything and keeps everything streamlined,” she said.
When she started her first store 12 years ago, Kaplan said consignment wasn’t as hip and chic and mainstream as it is today.
“Now, everybody’s in on it, because it’s a great way to get things. It was much newer back then, but I loved the idea of it, so I did it,” she said. “It’s all about getting luxury for less because people want deals and the stuff is so expensive, and it was a way for women to be able to afford beautiful things they would want to buy, but maybe it was too expensive.”
Following her lifelong passion for fashion, Kaplan is living a dream with Love Me Two Times, a second time around.
“I just love fashion, and this was a way for me to sell the things I love,” she said. “I think it’s all about recycling and repurposing. It’s good for the environment. You’re breathing new life into items. You’re giving new life to items that otherwise maybe would be discarded or not thought of and it’s just a fun concept.”
