Linnea Revak was at her wit’s end.
It was 2017, and the University of Virginia alumna was running her consignment store, Darling, on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall by herself. She did everything, from bookkeeping to marketing to mopping the floors. After staying up late one night to do the store’s accounting, she went to put a load of clothes away. She knocked over a vase and almost instantly began crying as shards of glass scattered across the floor.
“I remember I just sat down on the floor and cried,” Revak said. “I thought, ‘You can’t do this by yourself anymore.’”
The store offers vintage and secondhand clothing for men and women, as well as goods from local artisans. (Photo by Clara Castle, University Communications)
Revak is no longer running her store solo; she now leads a team of 19 part- and full-time employees. She’s also expanded to offer men’s and women’s wear, rebranding the store as Darling x Dashing. It has been named Charlottesville’s best consignment store every year of the contest since 2015, except for 2020 when the contest was paused for the pandemic.
Revak’s time at UVA led her to a love of secondhand fashion and what she calls “cultivating community.” But before she was a successful business owner, she was working as an office assistant in Albemarle County Public Schools, writing a blog about small businesses with a friend in her spare time.
During her time at UVA, Revak wrote for the Cavalier Daily and served as the fashion editor for V Magazine, initially thinking she would pursue a career in journalism. But before she graduated, she decided the news business wasn’t for her, though she didn’t have plans for how she would make a living.
She graduated from UVA with a degree in modern studies, an extension of an English major, as well as quite a few credits from the dance department under her belt. There was no predetermined path in front of her.
“I don’t know what I thought I was going to do when I graduated,” Revak said.
Though she always had a love for fashion, Revak never expected to run a consignment store after graduating. (Photo by Clara Castle, University Communications)
She began bartending and teaching dance classes at an after-school program in Albemarle County, consigning clothes on the side. Eventually, she got a full-time job in the school district’s office and started running the district’s website and social media.
“But I knew I didn’t want to stay in the education world,” Revak said.
She still enjoyed writing and interviewing from her college days. Revak and a friend from college ran a blog during the “heyday of WordPress blogs,” getting to know the owners of local bars, restaurants and boutiques. Through the blog and consigning clothing, Revak got to know Darling’s previous owner, Elizabeth Steel.
Revak came in for a consigning appointment one day and noticed Steel was in a funk. When Revak asked why, Steel revealed she was trying to sell the store so she could move closer to family in Northern Virginia. The buyer Steel had lined up pulled out at the last minute.
Customers have run with Revak’s idea of encouraging sticky notes in the dressing rooms, creating so many that staff have to “tend” to them, she said. (Photo by Clara Castle, University Communications)
“I was unhappy and unsatisfied at my job,” Revak said. “I was 25. So, I asked myself, ‘What do I want to be doing?’ So, I bought the store with a friend and quit my full-time job.”
For the first year, Revak and her friend (not the one she ran the blog with) traded days working at Darling. Revak handled the front end of the business, while her friend took over the accounting. Revak didn’t have much business experience under her belt.
“I think I shadowed Elizabeth for a week before taking over the shop. She left some resources, but I really didn’t know what I was doing,” Revak said.
In 2016, after owning Darling for a year, Revak bought her friend’s share of the business when the friend opted to go to nursing school. The second year of owning Darling was even more difficult than the first, but it prompted Revak to start hiring help. The additional help enabled her to expand her business, opening the adjoining men’s consignment store and taking in hundreds of items each week. Now, the store is filled with sequin dresses, candles from local artisans and cozy sweaters. Dressing rooms are papered with positive messages written on sticky notes.
