New resale store opens on Main Street

Shoppers in Lennox now have a new place to shop for clothing and more.

Bret and Cambria Wynja opened The Mercantile Exchange at 1001 S. Main St. on April 29. In the six months leading up to the opening, Bret, a contractor and owner of Moose Bros. Construction, transformed the space from a shop to a storefront. He took all of the steel off the walls, hung the sheetrock, framed out the changing rooms, bathroom and storage area, cleaned up the floors, put the racks up, painted, built the counter and put in the doors and garage door and new HVAC.

The couple had talked about opening something like this for a long time before they found a location. Cambria, a nurse at Sanford, has always enjoyed resale.

“I’ve always liked resale and with young kids, find the need for things that are reasonably-priced because they’re hard on their stuff sometimes,” Cambria said.

At The Mercantile Exchange, they buy items outright. They have a SignUp Genius set up to make an appointment on their website at https://www.mercantileexchangesd.com/ or through their Facebook page. Once an appointment is made, the consigner brings in their items, she goes through them and makes a cash offer or in-store credit. What she does not take, the consigner can take their items back or she will donate to local places.

She has donated items to Compassion in Action and Worthing Elementary. She is open to other places that could use certain pieces of clothing and will take contact information.

The Mercantile Exchange takes clothing from newborn up to XXXL for both genders. They also offer shoes, small sports equipment like cleats, baseball pants and shin guards, bags, purses and small home decor. 

Cambria is grateful for family and friends who started dropping items off in November for her to start sourcing inventory. 

“It’s very interesting - things I don’t think will sell, sell right away, and things I think this will be great is still hanging there. So everybody’s style is a little bit different,” she said.

She puts new items out every day and enjoys trying to accommodate a wide variety of styles and fits. She has enjoyed seeing new people come in and try things on. 

“So far my favorite story is I think three seventh-grade girls came in and were trying on stuff and having fun because they’re old enough to do that without a parent,” she said.

The Wynjas look forward to serving the community.

“We’re here and we’re open. I just hope that the community utilizes this and is really looking for quality pieces at reasonable, trying really hard (to find things with) no stains, no rips, good clean things that anybody can wear,” Cambria said.

The store has varying hours. They update their hours on their door, on social media and their website. This week they will be open July 2 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., July 3 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and July 4 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.