Tucked into a rear-building space at 610 Lafayette Avenue in Hawthorne, New Jersey, Then and Now Consignment Shop runs on a simple premise: inventory that never sits still. The family owned shop describes its stock as ever changing, moving from vintage to true antique pieces and covering everything from the practical to the genuinely obscure. Recent finds shared on its Instagram page, which has built a following of nearly 4,000, have included home decor, clothing, pottery, and even vintage thermostats alongside more conventional collectibles, a range that hints at how widely the shop casts its net when sourcing merchandise.
That breadth is part of what distinguishes a consignment shop from a straightforward antique store. Rather than one dealer curating a single point of view, Then and Now takes in pieces from multiple individual consignors, which means the sales floor reflects many households’ worth of taste and history rather than one collector’s specialty. Furnishings sourced from estates make up a notable portion of the inventory, giving shoppers a chance to find well-made older furniture alongside smaller decorative and wearable items in the same visit. Because turnover depends on what consignors bring in, a piece spotted on a Wednesday might be gone by the following weekend, which rewards regular visits over a single trip.
Hawthorne sits in Passaic County, a compact Bergen-adjacent borough where Lafayette Avenue functions as a local commercial corridor lined with small, independently run businesses. The shop’s rear-building location keeps it slightly removed from the busiest street-front traffic, giving it the feel of a discovery rather than an obvious storefront, which suits its inventory of unusual and one-off pieces. It is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., a schedule that covers most of the week while giving the shop two days to process new consignments and restock the floor before the next round of shoppers comes through the door.
For shoppers who follow secondhand and vintage trends online, the shop’s active social media presence functions almost like a rolling catalog, with new arrivals posted as they come in rather than held for a seasonal reset. That habit of posting individual finds, from a single piece of pottery to a full room of furniture, gives followers a preview before they ever walk through the door, and it is a practical way to check whether a specific category of item, such as vintage clothing or mid-century decor, happens to be in stock that week. Local shoppers who follow the account closely often plan a visit around a specific post rather than browsing on a whim, treating the feed as a running inventory list rather than simple promotion.
Then and Now Consignment Shop offers Hawthorne shoppers a family run, constantly refreshed mix of estate furniture, vintage clothing, pottery, and everyday collectibles, open five days a week at its Lafayette Avenue location for anyone willing to look closely at what practical and obscure pieces have come in this time.
