Revival Consignment owner Whitney O’Connor in her current shop at Gayton Grossing. (Mike Platania photos)
The aftermath of a massive bank merger has opened the door for a local furniture store to make a move in the West End.
Revival Consignment is preparing to build a new store at 1131 Gaskins Road, where a vacant SunTrust Bank branch stands.
For the last 11 years Revival has operated about a mile north at Gayton Crossing shopping center, where its sells consigned furniture and home decor.
The Gaskins bank building was one of the dozens of Richmond-area branches that closed in the wake of SunTrust and BB&T’s merger in 2019 to become Truist Bank, and it’s sat vacant near the intersection of Gaskins Road and Patterson Avenue since 2021.
A vacant SunTrust Bank branch currently stands where Revival is planning to build its new home.
The property caught the eye of Revival owner Whitney O’Connor, who said she’d been looking for a new, bigger space for a few years before the pandemic.
In August, O’Connor bought the 37-year-old building for $875,000, per Henrico property records. It will be razed to make way for a new, 6,000-square-foot store for Revival.
“The site we’re moving to is a tight site. We’re maxing out square footage we can put there,” O’Connor said.
Michael Henry Architect is designing the new building and Emerald Construction is the general contractor. O’Connor said they’re hoping to begin demolition of the branch this month and have the new store ready for move-in by fall 2023.
O’Connor runs Revival with her husband, Rob, and a staff of around 20 who help with staging and delivering the goods at the shop. She said Revival has never really done much advertising and has leaned on word-of-mouth to grow.
O’Connor said Revival has over 5,000 consignors but is selective about what furniture and decor it brings in.
“I’ve always liked hunting for a diamond in the rough, but a vast majority of people really don’t enjoy picking through,” O’Connor said. “With Revival, we want to offer cool things and want it to be a deal for people, but we need to eliminate the archaeological dig.”
While Revival’s need for more space pre-dates the pandemic, demand soared further beginning with the lockdowns of 2020, when people were stuck at home with little to do and focused on home goods.
Revival captured some of that demand after updating its website to allow for online window-shopping, a move that continues to pay dividends.
“We were missing the 11 p.m. couch or bed surfers that wanted to ask a question (about a product) but by 7 a.m. they’d already forgotten their interest.…So what we did was give the price and measurements online,” O’Connor said. “We saw a huge lift once we launched that and we continue to see it.”
Revival Consignment owner Whitney O’Connor in her current shop at Gayton Grossing. (Mike Platania photos)
The aftermath of a massive bank merger has opened the door for a local furniture store to make a move in the West End.
Revival Consignment is preparing to build a new store at 1131 Gaskins Road, where a vacant SunTrust Bank branch stands.
For the last 11 years Revival has operated about a mile north at Gayton Crossing shopping center, where its sells consigned furniture and home decor.
The Gaskins bank building was one of the dozens of Richmond-area branches that closed in the wake of SunTrust and BB&T’s merger in 2019 to become Truist Bank, and it’s sat vacant near the intersection of Gaskins Road and Patterson Avenue since 2021.
A vacant SunTrust Bank branch currently stands where Revival is planning to build its new home.
The property caught the eye of Revival owner Whitney O’Connor, who said she’d been looking for a new, bigger space for a few years before the pandemic.
In August, O’Connor bought the 37-year-old building for $875,000, per Henrico property records. It will be razed to make way for a new, 6,000-square-foot store for Revival.
“The site we’re moving to is a tight site. We’re maxing out square footage we can put there,” O’Connor said.
Michael Henry Architect is designing the new building and Emerald Construction is the general contractor. O’Connor said they’re hoping to begin demolition of the branch this month and have the new store ready for move-in by fall 2023.
O’Connor runs Revival with her husband, Rob, and a staff of around 20 who help with staging and delivering the goods at the shop. She said Revival has never really done much advertising and has leaned on word-of-mouth to grow.
O’Connor said Revival has over 5,000 consignors but is selective about what furniture and decor it brings in.
“I’ve always liked hunting for a diamond in the rough, but a vast majority of people really don’t enjoy picking through,” O’Connor said. “With Revival, we want to offer cool things and want it to be a deal for people, but we need to eliminate the archaeological dig.”
While Revival’s need for more space pre-dates the pandemic, demand soared further beginning with the lockdowns of 2020, when people were stuck at home with little to do and focused on home goods.
Revival captured some of that demand after updating its website to allow for online window-shopping, a move that continues to pay dividends.
“We were missing the 11 p.m. couch or bed surfers that wanted to ask a question (about a product) but by 7 a.m. they’d already forgotten their interest.…So what we did was give the price and measurements online,” O’Connor said. “We saw a huge lift once we launched that and we continue to see it.”
Wow, what a move! Congratulations!
Love this place.
Always a great stop to find something cool and unique. Looking forward to their new space and continued success!
Amazing. It’s such a neat store. Whitney and her team work tirelessly to run that operation- and how amazing that she saw the opportunity to take something good and make it great by pivoting during the pandemic. Glad to see them take on bigger space and grow the business!
Glad to see the old building go for their new space but 1986 is NOT that old! Just saying!