The second-time around is key for Merry Go Rounds, a new kids-themed consignment shop on Dorchester Avenue offering a new way for parents to shop and reduce clutter at the same time.
Melissa Mazzeo launched the business last month at 1737 Dorchester Ave, next to St. Mark’s parish church. It’s the second store for her family’s children’s clothing business, which has operated in Easton, Mass. since 1989.
Melissa, who joined the family business in 2020, has lived in Dorchester’s Four Corners for several years with her boyfriend, Micah Prescott, and his parents, Anthony and Maud Lawrence. Mazzeo said the community she’s found in Dorchester makes it ripe for her expanding brand.
“There is a lot of push to grow businesses online, but to me I wanted to invest in a brick-and-mortar-store to be close to the community and in Easton our store is a fixture of the community,” she said. “Dorchester was a place I could settle down and put down roots in. It felt a lot more comfortable and more welcoming, and things began to fall into place.”
Everything in the store is second-hand, but it all adheres to the company’s exacting standards, Mazzeo said. The store operates on a consignment model – a supplier provides goods to a retailer who then sells them on the supplier’s behalf – although customers can simply purchase items without participating in the consignment.
Through the model, customers bring in clothes, shoes, books, and even sports items like cleats, and if they meet the store’s standards, Mazzeo prices them and when they sell, the supplying customer gets a portion of the sale in store credit or payment.
“Many of our consigners never take out their credit card in the store,” she said. “They just use the store credit from their items to get other items in the store – kind of a trade model.”
Not long after the May 28 opening, Dorchester’s Brianne Gore found the new store, and said it’s a welcome opportunity to get rid of old stuff and buy without adding to the consumption culture.
“I am so excited Merry Go Rounds has opened in our Dorchester community,” she said. “It has treasures for every tiny trendsetter. This store will help give children’s clothes and accessories a second life while also helping Dorchester families come together to shop and sell their items.”
Before joining the family business, Mazzeo set out on a career in international development and global health, spending several years in sub-Saharan Africa doing that work. Having worked for her mother, Beth Mazzeo, in high school, over the summers, and while in college, she always had a love for the business. At the same time, she had studied environmental management and had keen interest in climate resiliency.
Those two interests collided in a positive way when she joined the family business, which is a stab at the consumer and consumption culture that she said has taken over clothing in particular over the last few decades.
Mazzeo said that there is a stat that notes the world could stop making clothing today and there would be enough clothes already produced to outfit the next six generations. While that appeals to those concerned about its environmental ramifications, she noted that it also appeals to parents who have bags of barely used clothing haunting their attics and storage rooms.
“I do think there are a lot of people who feel there is just too much stuff,” she said. “It feels overwhelming and like an overload and you don’t have to be a climate justice advocate to feel like there is too much consumption.
“I feel there’s a move to slowing down and being more intentional in bringing things into your life and what you do with them later,” she continued. “You don’t need to really connect that to the environment to feel that’s a priority right now.”
Over the last year, she said, she has learned first-hand of the culture of swapping and consigning clothing in the neighborhood – having participated in pop-ups last summer at Ashmont Farmers Market and the Local Hand store in Ashmont. Many have told her they are excited for a way to exchange clothing and be frugal and sustainable in getting new clothing.
Being part of the family business has helped her to connect with her mother and father, and opening the store has been a total family affair with her sister, her boyfriend, and his parents all playing a big part in building out the friendly space next to Crawford Drug and Via Cannuccia Restaurant.
“My goal is to build on it and enhance things like social media and meeting people where they are now, such as with sales over social media,” she said. “My mother did all the tags by hand and inventory and payroll. I’ve put systems in place for that now and established a rewards program. It’s been interesting to acknowledge and appreciate how hard my mom has worked to keep the business going for so long.”
