Sisters, Stories, and Secondhand Magic

Marilee Schafer-Wilcox, their mother Mary Bowers, and Peggy Bowers.

Tucked into what looks like a quaint little house on the streets of Eldridge, Iowa, 2 Sisters Resale N’ Gifts is far more than meets the eye. What began in 2012 as a small consignment shop with just two finished rooms has blossomed into a four-in-one treasure trove—a bookstore, a rummage room, a home décor shop, and a full clothing store—all under one roof. Run by sisters Marilee Schafer-Wilcox and Peggy Bowers, the shop is a testament to creativity, perseverance, and sisterly love. Their mission? To create a space that’s not just about shopping, but about community, sustainability, and heart. And after 13 years, it's safe to say: they’ve more than succeeded.

Q: What inspired you guys to start 2 Sisters Resale N' Gifts?

“We both finally lived in the same town,” said Marilee. “Peggy had just moved here; she was an ultrasound technician, and I was a speech pathologist. One day, she said, ‘I think I want to start my own business.’ We discovered consignment was easy to get into since you don’t need to buy inventory—people bring it in” 

“And Eldridge didn't have a consignment store!” said Peggy.

“We found a building in terrible shape,” said Marilee, “but it was perfect for what we needed—everything else was too small.” “When we first opened, only two rooms at the front were finished,” she continued.

From there, the women slowly expanded—refinishing, sprucing up, and gradually transforming the space. Thirteen years later, what began as two rooms has grown into a building that holds four stores under one roof. Peggy manages the main floor, which houses a bookshop, a home décor store, and a rummage room. Meanwhile, the entire basement is dedicated to clothing—that’s Marilee’s domain.

Q: Do you guys have any specific goals for the future of 2 Sisters?

“Our goal always was to grow and get bigger. We’d even talked about franchising at one point,” said Marilee. “We've become the Eldridge mall in a sense, because now, under one roof, we’ve got four stores: the bookstore, the rummage room, the clothing store, and the home decor shop.”

“So it’s like an emporium!” added Peggy.

“Yes, the Eldridge Emporium,” Marilee laughed. “But we don’t really know what the future holds,” she continued. “We haven’t decided if someone would want to buy the business someday, or if we’d just sell the building. I guess my dream would be for someone to take over the shop and keep it going.”

“We’re both in our sixties now,” said Peggy. “We’re starting to think about retirement. We’ve worked hard—it would be sad if it all just ended, like those 13 years didn’t matter. But honestly, we’ve had so much fun. I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve met so many people I never would’ve met otherwise.”

“We’ve lost a lot, too,” added Marilee. “Some of the people we met early on have passed away. And the kids—kids who used to come in with their parents—now they’re grown. They’re in high school, or graduating, or getting married.”

“There were these little girls who used to come in all the time,” said Peggy. “They were so little, and now they’ve got their own business! They sell cupcakes, I think. I saw them not too long ago and thought, wow—those little girls grew up.”

“We had one little boy who used to come in and collect bottles,” said Marilee. “Now he’s grown and has a good job. So many of those kids, they’ve all grown up.”

“It’s our regulars who really kept us going during COVID,” said Marilee. “They were the reason we made it through.” “

Oh yeah,” said Peggy. “People would call in and pay over the phone, and we’d run stuff out to their cars. One woman brought in a bunch of beautiful paintings—really expensive pieces—and she told me, ‘Just keep the money. I don’t want it. I just want you guys to stay open.’ That was during the hardest time, and it meant everything.”

Q: How do you select the items that you sell and consign? 

“Well, we have lots of consignors, and they bring us what they feel is a good, sellable item,” said Peggy. “We have certain criteria: items have to be clean, neat, and ready to sell. We don’t take anything that’s cracked, broken, chipped, repaired, stained, pilled, or missing parts.”

Because the pair prioritize quality, they only accept small batches of donations at a time—after all, it’s just the two of them handling all the organizing.

Q: Do you guys accept volunteers?

“Yes, we’ve had a few volunteers,” said Marilee. “Some friends come by now and then—people who donate their time to help me with the jewelry, because jewelry is very time-consuming. They’ll put it on the cards for me, and then all I have to do is price it.”

They’ve also had help from a woman who enjoys creating displays, a local girl whose company gives her a paid day each year to volunteer, and even a student from North Scott High School.

Q: Do you have a memorable story about a unique item? 

"One that really stands out is the green enamel table,” said Peggy. “It was vintage—deep green with big roses and wooden legs. A couple lowballed me on the price, so I said no. After that, the man kept sneaking in week after week to check on it. Eventually, a different woman who’d been eyeing it came in, pulled out cash from her purse and pockets, and bought it on the spot. Later, the man returned, furious it was gone. He even demanded the buyer’s name, saying he’d make it worth her while. I just thought—you had your chance.”

She continued, “People assume consignment prices drop over time, but we price fairly from the start. No monthly markdown games here. If you wait, you’ll likely miss out—though we do run 20% off sales now and then, and people will come back for what they’ve been eyeing.”

Marilee added, “We’ve shifted over the years. Antiques used to be big, but they just don’t sell like they used to. So we’ve moved more toward home décor—that’s what people want now. We keep pivoting to meet the moment.”

“I still get vintage pieces upstairs,” Peggy said. “People remember, so they keep bringing them in—and I can’t say no. It doesn’t always sell fast, but sometimes someone finds the perfect thing they didn’t even know they were looking for. That’s the magic.” She smiled.

“From the outside, the shop looks tiny—like a little house—but that’s part of the charm. We pack it full, and people say, ‘You don’t have room for anything else!’ But like sand in a bucket, there’s always room for more.”

“And even now, people still walk in and say, ‘I didn’t know you were here!’ We just shake our heads. We’ve been here the whole time.”

Q: Does 2 Sisters do any outreach in the Eldridge community?

“We try to donate to any local charities that come in—that’s really what our rummage room is for,” said Marilee. “We help with the Strawberry Fest, we donate to them and to the Moonlight Chase. We like to stay pretty local with our giving—supporting schools, events, things happening right here in the community.”

“We usually put ads in local things like the Lancer Production too,” she added. “We try to do what we can to give back.”

Q: Do you have advice for women—or anyone—looking to start a business?

“I think one of the best decisions we ever made was buying the building instead of renting,” said Marilee.

“A lot of businesses that opened around the same time we did—or after—ended up having to close because of rent. It’s just so expensive, and then at the end of it, you have nothing to show for it. If you can, I’d absolutely recommend buying. It takes a lot of capital to get started, though. And unfortunately, there’s not a lot of assistance for small businesses.” She paused, then added, “I mean, I consider us a tiny business—not just small. And for tiny businesses like us, there really isn’t much out there in terms of financial help. So you have to have quite a bit of capital upfront. But buying this building is probably one of the reasons we were able to survive through COVID and stay open this long. It’s created equity for us as we go."

“Plus,” said Peggy, “owning it gave us an incentive to keep going. We couldn’t just throw in the towel when things got tough and say, ‘Well, we can’t afford rent anymore, let’s quit.’ We had this investment—we had to make it work. So we adjusted, figured out what was selling, what wasn’t, and kept at it.”

“And now, online is where everything’s going,” said Marilee. “Everyone’s buying online, so we’ve tried to do more of that. But it’s time-consuming. Honestly, we kind of need another person to help.”

“Volunteers,” Peggy jumped in. “That’s what we need—someone who could help with taking pictures and posting things online.” “High schoolers would be perfect,” she added. “Because we’re so busy with everything else. And learning all that social media stuff isn’t exactly second nature for us—we didn’t grow up with it.”

“Facebook has been our best advertisement,” said Peggy. “All the money we’ve spent on ads, and Facebook’s free. It’s worked out really well. I mean, you can boost posts for a little bit of money, but it’s not much. That’s been our biggest step.”

“Most people come in and say, ‘I saw you on Facebook,’” added Marilee. “But I know there are a lot of other social media platforms out there that the younger generation knows about—ones that we just don’t use as much for the business. I mean, I’m not really sure how to utilize all of that. But, yeah, I’d say don’t be afraid to try it. And of course, get family support.”

“Oh, and I love the new saying: ‘She thought she could, so she did,’” said Peggy. “When we first started talking about this, a lot of people warned us not to go into business with a family member. They were like, ‘You shouldn’t go into business with your sister.’ But, you know, Marilee and I have been doing this all our lives. When we were little, we used to play store and pretend we were running our own business. So we’ve kind of always been doing this, even as little girls.”

“I don’t know,” Peggy continued, “I wouldn’t trust anyone more than my sister. You know them, and you can always clobber them over the head or something.”

Marilee laughed, “We’re kind of opposites, too, and that helps. She’s the creative one. She does all the displays upstairs and makes everything look like you just want to take it home. I’m more linear. I handle the advertising, and I do the books. I love working with the clothing because I can organize it by size, by color. If I were upstairs, everything would be in a line.”

“I never liked doing the clothes,” Peggy admitted. “We used to have clothing upstairs, and it was always such a chore. I hated it. I’d much rather create a beautiful display or vignette. I just didn’t enjoy it.”

Marilee nodded. “I retired from my day job in 2020. I’d been planning it, so it was the perfect timing for me to step in full-time.”

“So, this is Marilee’s hobby, and this is my job,” Peggy said with a grin.

Q: How would you describe 2 Sisters in your own words?

“Oh, what would you call it?” Peggy asked, pondering for a moment. “It’s eclectic. I like the word eclectic, but I’m not sure how to use it in a sentence. Now, what’s our tagline? I don’t know. It would probably be something like, ‘There’s something for everyone here.’ Because truly, there is something for everyone.”

Marilee smiled, adding, “We feel like we have a good niche. I consider this a niche business. People want to sell things, and people want to save money. They also want to protect the environment, reuse, and recycle. So, we’re kind of the middleman that brings those two together. But I’d say we make sure everything is carefully selected, in good quality. We have a lot of wonderful consigners who bring us really high-quality items.”

More Than a Store

For Marilee and Peggy, 2 Sisters Resale N’ Gifts has always been more than a business—it’s been a shared dream, a labor of love, and a fixture in the Eldridge community. Built on a foundation of quality, trust, and family, the shop continues to evolve with the times, adjusting to trends while staying true to its roots. Whether you’re hunting for a rare vintage find, volunteering your time, or just wandering in to browse, you’ll find more than just secondhand goods—you’ll find warmth, stories, and maybe even a bit of magic.