312 SW 3rd Street
Corvallis, OR
Ring us at 541.753.8011
Once upon a time {in 1984, actually}, a young woman decided she’d start doing what she liked, for a change.
She was tired of working her life away. She was tired of playing by someone else’s rules.
She wondered what it would be like if she jumped headfirst into the possibilities of “what-if,” if she stopped waiting for the “right time” to follow her heart.
She had a secret penchant, you see. For style. Every month, she’d savor her subscription to Vogue, she’d imagine herself designing her own couture collection while sitting in her cubicle at her day job, she’d dream in color and texture.
But a thing or two kept her from up and moving to a fashion capital: Rome, NYC, Paris.
One thing {or actually three}: her dear husband, Gary, and her two little girls, Jenny-Anne and Jessica.
Another thing: plenty of people were involved in the creation of fashion. Not nearly enough were involved in the recycling of fashion.
She faced the facts {namely, these}: consumer-driven culture + waste = nothing pretty.
And she realized she could effect change. In her own community. For her own family.
She announced that she was going to create her own business.
She was going to ‘play in a big closet everyday.’
But it wasn’t going to be thrifty. It was going to be classic, savvy, and chic.
Her revolving closet would be fashionable and sustainable.
She did her own work, renovated her own space, and was her only employee.
And in the process, she built a home. She provided for her family, financially. She provided a whole community of women a place to recycle their clothing {rather than contribute to landfills} and revolve their closets. She created a space for young women to learn customer service skills, entrepreneurship, and mutuality in working relationships. She maintained safety for women of all varieties to exercise their style creativity, learn from one another, and gather {sometimes, to talk about style, sometimes, to talk about work, sometimes, to talk about their children, often, to enjoy a glass of champagne}.
She won awards {The Austin Family Excellence in Family Business Award, the Corvallis Business Entrepreneur Award, among others}.
She was invited to lead workshops and conferences.
She taught classes and served as the keynote speaker for national organizations.
But mostly, she smiled.
She played by her own rules.
She laughed.
She let her creativity dance.
She celebrated.
{Nancy Kneisel established second Glance in 1984 at 312 SW Third Street in Corvallis, Oregon. Today, it has expanded to include Second Glance Annex and Second Glance Alley,and employs on average, a staff of 14 women, including Nancy’s youngest daughter, Jessica.}