Come to an estate sale ... at Acosta’s Consignment

In our rugged economy of the past few years, it would be fairly surprising to hear someone say they were forced to have a grand opening of a new store earlier than planned.

But a tough economy plays into that scenario for Christine Acosta and her new consignment store on the west side of St. Charles.

Acosta and her husband, Cesilio, have operated an estate sales company for the past 15 years. Over that time, they encountered plenty of potential clients who either didn’t want to sell their furniture and other decorative items in an estate sale setting, or couldn’t wait for the nearly 10 weeks it might take for a company kept busier because of the economy to schedule a sale.

“A consignment store was another option to consider, and we figured it was a good time to do it in this economy,” Acosta said.

The result was opening Acosta’s Consignment last weekend at 1920 W. Main St., next to the former Fat Rosie’s restaurant site. The Acosta family originally slated April 15 as a grand opening date, but the 3,500-square-foot store space was filled with items and ready for the public much sooner.

At that grand opening, Acosta pointed to a lot of big furniture pieces, saying they were sold almost immediately. It had her already contemplating a nice problem — how she would fill the store again.

“This is a new concept for us, but we have so many nice pieces of furniture coming through, we felt it was time to open,” Acosta said.

With her husband, four daughters and two store managers helping at the store, Acosta figures everyone will be busy as the store gains recognition.

“There are not a lot of consignment stores like this in the area,” Acosta said.

But there are plenty of folks contemplating estate sales who will now have another option to consider.

Get off the phone: Each time my home phone rings, I still cower in terror that it might be a robocall from a politician. The week prior to the primary election qualified as mental torture.

OK, we’ve had a few weeks to recover, but I’m still annoyed by how many times my phone rang from those calls.

Sadly, the November election looms, so it won’t be long before those long-winded and often-inaccurate calls reappear.

At least Sue Klinkhamer of St. Charles has expressed the sense to know that most people hate those ridiculous calls. Hopefully she won’t be talked into bothering us with them during her campaign for county board chairman.

But it all leads to this question: If some politicians got on their high horse in the past in regards to stopping never-ending marketing and sales calls with a Do Not Call list, who will help us halt nonstop political calls? Marketing and salespeople?

What zone is this?: You hear about identity theft far too often in the news these days. What about ZIP code theft?

Phil Kessler of St. Charles suspects he has discovered such a case. Or at least he thinks he has. It could be just a case of silly technology. You be the judge.

Kessler claims that when conducting his business on his home office computer or through his Android smartphone when traveling, a Google maps search or other location-based applications “serve up Campton Hills as being the ZIP code 60174.”

He claims the information refers to Campton Hills, even though the map at the same time shows the city of St. Charles.

He’s written some tongue-in-cheek letters to the city to alert them to what amounts to ZIP code theft, but mostly is wondering if anyone else has noticed, or even encounters the same problem.

What probably goes unsaid is that this longtime St. Charles resident is likely being somewhat protective of his ZIP code as well.

Wearing your best?: Wearing “your Sunday best” to church services this weekend? Remember when that meant you had really nice clothes in your closet earmarked for Sunday Mass or other special occasions, especially Easter Sunday?

Our “Sunday best” has taken a bit of a hit over the years. I feel perfectly comfortable wearing blue jeans to church on Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning. If I tried that 40 years ago, other churchgoers would likely view me as a leper.

In any case, Easter Sunday is one in which I have to dig around to see If I even own a “Sunday best” these days.

dheun@sbcglobal.net