Shop Talk: VFW fundraising

Don Farmer Special To The Eagle The sign behind Teresa Gantner reads "Coming Soon, The Men's Department." Teresa, a partner in the 2wice As Nice upscale shop, is asking for islanders to bring in men's clothing for consignment. She expects to expand the now modest men's section as the word spreads that 2wice As Nice is no longer ladies only.

Chris Curle Special To The Eagle The latest in Marco bar amenities? Nicole Grote, a bartender at CJ's On The Bay, keeps an iPhone charger on hand when she's on duty. "I keep the charge for my iPhone," she says, "but when I see customers using their iPhones and think they may need a charge, I offer the use of mine." Nicole calls it, "just a little iPhone camaraderie."

As we approach the Memorial Day weekend, the activities and importance of our local Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 6370 are highlighted, and rightly so. By now you probably know that the VFW conducts the island’s always impressive and poignant Memorial Day observance. This year it’s at 11 a.m., Monday, at the Marco Cemetery.

We also want to note here the financial aspects of the VFW’s efforts, which is the focus of the new post commander, Lee Rubenstein. He was sworn in recently and will take over officially on June 19.

“My primary goal for our post for this year is to kick off the fundraising for the memorial that’s going to be built at Veteran’s Community Park. With the help of our VFW members and people from the community we’re working to raise $100,000, which is the amount we’ve committed to the city to be our share of phase one of the park, the memorial, and all the infrastructure.

“We can’t raise a couple million dollars, but I told the city we’d commit to raising $100,000. We recently gave the city a check for $10,000 toward that. The money came from an anonymous donor who passed away and left numerous amounts of donations around the country to VFW posts. We don’t know who it is, but we voted to use that money to kick off the fundraiser for the memorial.”

Other efforts to raise memorial money include selling small American flags at Residents’ Beach on Independence Day.

“MICA generously gave us permission last year and we sold $1,400 worth of flags,” Rubenstein says. “We had a five-gallon jug for donations. One guy threw in a roll of bills, for a dollar flag. It turned out to be $140 in 20s. But some people wanted three flags for a quarter. So it goes.”

Men, men’s clothing, that is, wanted at 2wice As Nice

The upscale women’s pre-owned clothing shop on Marco is going coed, so to speak.

2wice As Nice has been very popular since it opened last fall, selling upscale clothes on consignment. Recently partners Judy Barney and Teresa Gantner agreed the time is right to let men in on the good deals at the shop at 291 South Collier Blvd.

“We realized that so many people were asking us about men’s consignment, either women shopping in our store or men shopping with their wives,” says Teresa. “We nosed around to find out whether there are any men’s consignment shops anywhere around here, because we’re happy to send people on to other businesses. We couldn’t find any in this area. You have to go to the east coast of Florida.

“We decided that we’ve learned enough about the kind of things that sell in our store so we’ve cleared a section to dedicate to men’s clothing to see whether that’s something we want to expand.”

Teresa says 2wice As Nice urges Islanders to bring in quality men’s clothing in good condition.

“We will look at sports coats, casual shirts, shorts, jeans, and khakis, things that are three years old or less. Trendy men’s tropical shirts, such as Tommy Bahama and Nat Nast are always in huge demand. Golf shirts are good but none with club logos. And we’ll look at active wear such as jogging suits.”

The key is, Teresa says, all the clothes but be new or virtually new with no wear and tear. One other point — 2wice As Nice won’t carry suits, trousers or jackets that have been altered.

If you take in clothing and Teresa agrees to include it, the store gets 60 percent of the sale and you get 40 percent of the proceeds, payable monthly.

So far, Teresa say she’s never had a male customer come in unaccompanied by a female companion.

“But whether it’s men or women bringing in men’s clothing, we’re eager to expand our men’s collection.”

So, men, a shirt or jacket that’s been hanging unworn in your closed for a year or two is missing, your spouse may have given it a new temporary home at 2wice As Nice.

Teresa’s phone number at 2wice As Nice is 389-0227.

Chris Curle is a former news anchor for CNN and for ABC-TV stations in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Houston. E-mail chris@chriscurle.com.

Don is a former ABC News correspondent and bureau chief and a former news anchor for CNN and ABC-TV, in Atlanta. His Farmer File column appears Fridays in the Naples Daily News. E-mail: don@donfarmer.com.