Cluttered Closet is everyone’s favorite spot for ‘clutterhangs’

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As Stevie Nicks’ voice and the smell of incense waft softly through the door, walking into Cluttered Closet feels like entering a time capsule. Bell chimes signal shoppers’ arrivals, while owner Bree Hess keeps track of the daily transactions with a notepad and calculator.

“It’s a really fun place, but it’s also a really spiritual place,” Hess said. “I’ve had people come in and say to me, ‘I’m not here to shop today. I just needed a place to come clear my head.’”

In 1991, Kathy O’Toole transformed a children’s consignment store into Cluttered Closet. Hess began her work at the store volunteering for O’Toole, her aunt, and eventually inherited the shop in 2021 – something that had always seemed like a far-fetched possibility.

The consignment shop, nestled in Syracuse’s Westcott neighborhood, is a safe haven for Hess, a “leftover hippie” and longtime collector, in the midst of the world’s chaos.

“As soon as she could walk, her mother always brought her into the shop and she would play hide and seek around the racks,” O’Toole said about Hess.

In the year leading up to Hess’ takeover of Cluttered Closet, she came into the store just to get to know the people who regularly consigned and shopped there.

Hess brings an energy and spark to Cluttered Closet that O’Toole was no longer able to bring because she was considering retiring, O’Toole said. O’Toole, who most of the younger customers know as “Aunt Kathy,” started talking about retiring and selling the store when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, devastating locals who had been regulars for years.

“A guy actually came in, (Aunt Kathy) had a ‘For Sale’ sign in the window and he walked over and he took the for sale sign out of the window and brought it up to the counter and he was like, ‘No,’” Hess said.

Since then, Hess has established herself in the Westcott community as a giver of “unique, beautiful things that you will never find anywhere else,” Hess said.

Cassandra Roshu | Photo Editor

Cluttered Closet’s old location was in Cicero near State Route 11. Relics from the old location have followed the business to Westcott, like the hanging checkered bag holder which Hess calls “bag sock.”

Hess was working as a house cleaner when O’Toole asked if she would be interested in taking over the store. Some of her cleaning clients had become like family after working for them for 13 years, so leaving that job was hard. However, Hess said her regular customers and consignors quickly became a new family.

Hess’ cleaning job and experience in food service led to her considering herself a “hermit” who preferred solidarity over company.

“There’s a lot of unpleasant people in the food service industry,” she said. “It had made my mindset towards people, towards the general public, a negative one.”

Since taking over the shop, however, she’s become more positive. On top of strengthening connections she’s built with a variety of customers, she’s noticed how customers relate to each other, whether they’re running into an old friend or speaking about a shared experience with an item in the store. It’s opened her eyes to how small the world actually is, Hess said.

“I say this now, I don’t believe in coincidence, because there are so many things that I see happen in here that make you go ‘there’s no way that isn’t something in the universe, whatever you want to believe, fate, destiny, God,’” Hess said.

James Cavanaugh started selling as a consignor at Cluttered Closet years ago and quickly became a close friend of Hess’ when she became the store’s owner. Cavanaugh works at the barbershop on Westcott and said he often comes into the store during lunch breaks or whenever he needs a moment of softness and quiet.

Oftentimes, friends of Hess’ will come into the store just to say hello and spend time with one another, Cavanaugh said.

“It’s like a community parlor,” Cavanaugh said. “We have ‘clutterhangs,’ as we call them now.”

The store offers Cavanaugh a sense of community, quiet and nostalgia. He said the items Hess curates remind him of his grandmother, who collected cribs, baby shoes, women’s clothing and more to provide resources for single mothers and people in need.

Cassandra Roshu | Photo Editor

Bree Hess’ cousin stops by the store for a surprise visit and conversation. Hess’ friends and family often spend time in the store having conversation and sometimes contemplating the life that vintage items previously had, Hess said.

The young and exciting energy from Hess’ college customers inspires her and keeps her moving forward, she said. Maya Layton, a junior at Syracuse University, considers herself lucky to be friends with Hess.

“I met her on my birthday. That’s the first time I’d ever gone into that shop. We instantly clicked to start talking about life and whatnot,” she said. “Since then, every time I’ve gone into her shop, I’ve never not been recognized or at least acknowledged, which I really appreciate.”

Hess receives loads of items when students leave at the end of spring term in May. She gives the community anything she doesn’t have room for.

“It’s like, ‘Here, take this, pass it along!’” Hess said. “Then a lot of times at night I’ll leave out donations on the porch in a bag or a box, free stuff for people walking by.”

Last year, Cluttered Closet hosted event nights like live music, tarot and astrology readings as well as evening shopping, Hess said. Hess hopes to start doing more events, like a “sip and shop,” as a means of uniting the Westcott community.

The local community gives Hess positivity, and vice versa. Her relationship with the Westcott community is similar to the circular economy of consignment shopping — both are cycles of giving and receiving.

A few years ago, Hess had a student who came in all the time and had bought things to furnish his place. Then, he moved to Tibet and had to get rid of everything he owned. After having a yard sale, the student asked Hess to look through and take back anything she wanted.

“We had stuff that came in, that was bought, then came back to me and was bought again,” Hess said, smiling. “It really is a circle.”