In the days following a disastrous fire on May 19 that ripped away his livelihood, Brian Barrick, owner of Sequim Consignment Co., recalls he was in such shock that reopening did not seem at all possible.

“After the fire I wasn’t sure what to do — it was such a shock and it was difficult contemplating opportunities for a couple of weeks,” Barrick said.

But the more the fire faded from memory, the more Barrick realized for his sake and that of his consigners and customers, that the best thing would be to reopen. “Finding a location was a challenge but we’re happy to be where we are,” Barrick said. “I’m a businessman — my interest is in the movement of goods between buyers and sellers. I’ve done lots of business opportunities and this one is fun!”

Sequim Consignment Co. opened its doors again on Aug. 19, three months to the day of the fire, in the 5,000-square-foot former Hollywood Video building, 755 W. Washington St. The airy showroom with its high ceiling and large pendant light fixtures is 2,000 square feet larger and has ample space to set up living room, dining room and bedroom groupings, all the better to show customers how the home furnishings might look in their homes.

“We’re in constant turmoil running and organizing the business, but it’s good,” he said a dozen days in, minutes after receiving verbal “pats on the back” from a pair of loyal customers.

“We’ve been in the old building and we’ve worked pretty hard and have retrieved a lot of smalls — it’s an ongoing, continual process — and a lot of them had tags so I knew the consigners but if it was leather, cloth or wood, it didn’t survive the heat, fire and water damage,” Barrick said. “You can’t insure goods in a consignment store for fire loss because companies can’t place an insurance value on goods. We’re just really sorry that people sustained losses and feel bad about those goods that were lost. We’re probably about two-thirds of the way through the process of (retrieving and) cleaning up the smalls.”

Now the new store is flush with high quality and move-in-ready large items including living room, dining room and bedroom suites, overstuffed chairs and recliners, secretaries, display cases, several styles of desks, buffets and sideboards, china cupboards, a variety of coffee and occasional tables, clocks and three mammoth mirrors that would make a statement in any home. There also are lamps, bar stools, four cases of jewelry and even a personal-size slot machine. Barrick said he and another employee go out nearly daily to pick up items to be consigned, from a full household to a single chair, so inventory is constantly changing.

“People consign for a lot of different reasons,” Barrick said. They’re changing their decor or they’re moving and certainly estate situations occur. We set the price with their agreement based on our experience in the market after five years and at what price it will sell for in Sequim and split the sale 50/50.”

Barrick said condition, price, style and color all are factors that make up a good consignment piece.

“I try hard to cull out the undesirable items — if they need work or if they’re in poor condition — that’s not our market. We want people to be able to buy things here they can be proud of showing in their home,” Barrick said. “We get in some really unique pieces of furniture.”

One that greets customers as they enter is a four-piece woven seagrass set consisting of a couch, settee, side table and coffee table rich in color and texture.

Of the new showroom he said, “It’s a good atmosphere for business because we needed more space. Our basic business is selling nice pieces of furniture and home furnishings that customers will appreciate and being a central location for that,” Barrick said.

“We have good, gently used pieces of furniture and we also carry jewelry and some select pieces of clothing because our consigners requested it.”

Barrick said the store has been busy from the day it opened and customers have been warm and receptive; he and his three-person staff thank everyone for all their good wishes and patience while the store was on the track to reopen.

Sequim Consignment Co.

Brian Barrick, owner

Location: 755 W. Washington St., Sequim

Phone: 683-5333

E-mail: sequimconsignment@olypen.com

Hours: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday