116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Women’s apparel consignment store ‘Positively Plus’ to close
CEDAR RAPIDS - A Cedar Rapids plus size women's apparel consignment store will close March 28 after 14 years of business.
Owner Sybil Merfeld launched Positively Plus, 1005 Third Ave. SW, in 2001 with 1,100 square feet of space in the Vernon Village Shopping Center on Mount Vernon Road SE. In 2007, Merfeld moved to her current location, enabling her to expand the amount of merchandise that she was able to put on display.
Merfeld said the decision to close Positively Plus was made for a variety of reasons - business and personal.
'Retail is struggling with many online sales,” she said. 'The market was really slow in 2008 and 2009, but it started to recover in 2010.
'I just decided that I'm ready to start a different adventure. My heart lies in the medical area. I'm a registered nurse, and I would like to go back and work in an office for someone else.”
Although Merfeld's store was able to avoid damage from the June 2008 flood that came within inches of the shop's front door, she was not able to avoid $9,000 worth of damage to carpeting in 2014, when storm sewer reconstruction along Rockford Road SW caused water to back up during a rainstorm.
Merfeld said the daily grind of running a business also was a factor in her decision to close Positively Plus.
'I'm getting a little older, and the clothes seem to be getting heavier every year,” Merfeld said. 'I have pretty severe arthritis in my hands, and it's getting hard to take a pair of pants off a hanger and put them back on.”
Merfeld said Positively Plus, which she contends is the only purely plus size women's apparel consignment store in Iowa, has provided a market for new plus size women's apparel.
'Over the years, we've bought out two Lane Bryant stores that were closing,” she said. 'We've also bought excess plus-size clothing from stores in Chicago.”
Merfeld said consignors have been told to pick up their merchandise by the end of this month. Clothing and accessories have been reduced in price to liquidate the store's inventory,
Merfeld said any remaining merchandise will be donated to missionary organizations after the store closes.
Michael Noble Jr. photos/The Gazette Sybil Merfeld, owner of Positively Plus, rings up a customer at the consignment store for plus size women. The store at 1005 Third Ave. SW will close March 28 after being open for over 14 years.
Rhonda Winistorfer (left) and Sara Patterson of Vinton look through clothing at Positively Plus.
Michael Noble Jr./The Gazette Stephanie McGaffe of Cedar Rapids looks for pants at Positively Plus, a consignment store for plus-size women that will close March 28. The store is believed to be the only 100 percent plus size women's apparel consignment shop in Iowa.
Merfeld says she will close Positively Plus for personal and business reasons. 'I just decided I'm ready to to start a different adventure,' she said.
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