On April 1, 1985 two brave, entrepreneurial young moms opened a consignment store on Trent Road and called it Twice As Nice. This was even before consigning became popular, which was not until the mid 90’s.
Rick & Hilary Lang purchased the business in April 2006, which was by then fully established in Berne Square (2650 Martin Luther King, Jr Blvd). They soon realized the need for expansion, but not in the same location. In order for them to benefit from the tourists as well as the locals, they decided that a “down town” location was needed. After searching for 18 months, they finally found the perfect spot (with the help of one of their favorite customers!). The second shop is in Old City Hall at 224 Craven Street, and was opened with a bang on October 1, 2009.
They pride themselves in providing high quality women’s and children’s clothing and accessories at both locations. The Old City Hall location was the perfect size for them to widen the inventory to include men’s clothing and accessories, as well as furniture, home décor and baby equipment and toys. The Old City Hall location now has three large rooms to browse in a relaxed atmosphere and experience the “hunt”.
Twice as Nice now has well over 1000 active consignors – mostly from New Bern and surrounding areas, but also from as far as Florida and Iowa.
They have weathered the bridge closing, Broad Street improvement project, Berne Square refurbishment and the recent economic downturn and believe that both the downtown New Bern location and the Berne Square location will see significant growth in 2011.
Rick and Hilary want customers to remember their visit to Twice as Nice was a pleasant shopping experience. The key is superior customer service so they will return to Twice as Nice and will also spread the word to their friends about how nice it was to shop at either location.
Twice as Nice was one of the original “GREEN” businesses before being “Green” was in Vogue. All of the items we receive are re-cycled in one way or another. For the clothes that are not accepted or do not sell during any season we either donate them to RCS (Religious Community Services) or we return them to the consigner, if requested.
Submitted by: Rick and Hilary Lang, Co-Owners of Twice as Nice, 252-633-4432 or 252-633-1868