Where 'second hand' means luxury: Caroline's consignment 'empire' in Cherry Hill, two other locations.

Art on the wall of Caroline Yosef’s office in her boutique in Cherry Hill reads: "She is building her empire."

Yosef's story makes that apt for the owner of Caroline's Jewelry & Luxury Fashion on Route 70 in Cherry Hill.

Her quest for an empire began as a girl growing up in the Eastern European nation of Belarus as she watched her mother, a piano teacher, leave for work each day, Yosef told 70and73.com in an interview.

"My mom was always on point," she said. "She had a morning class that she taught at 8 a.m. and by 7 a.m., she would have all her makeup on and hair done. She would always look cute and look nice and she taught me a little bit of that."

Moving forward a few years to when Yosef was 10, she said her favorite thing to read was Vogue magazine, when she could find it in her country. When she could not, she said she spent her time drawing illustrations of models with top-of-the-line, gorgeous dresses and dreamed one day of somehow working in that industry.

A major step in that direction came in 2002, when then 19-year-old Yosef arrived in Philadelphia to, as she put it, gain work experience that would "turn her dreams into reality." She said she worked in a clothing store in the city for a few months and was then hired by a city jeweler who taught her about high-end and luxury designers.

Like millions of others who come to America from other countries each year, Yosef had a decision to make within a few years whether to stay in America or return home. She said had she done the latter, she would have likely tried to become an interpreter for a fashion-related business where she could put her fluency in English, Polish, Russian and Hebrew to good use.

But she was determined to make it in America, and in 2010, opened her first boutique along Main Street in Marlton. The store closed when it moved to Cherry Hill.

Many of the consignment clothes, purses and jewelry on that first shop's racks and shelves and within its display cases were pieces of merchandise she no longer wore or had received as a gift and never had used, according to Yosef. By the time her other boutiques opened — a Haddonfield shop and a seasonal one in Margate — the boutiques had a growing presence on social media, aided by word-of-mouth marketing.

Her consignment shop's model: She takes 20% and returns 80% to the product owner.

A 2020 Library of Congress report estimates the value of counterfeit merchandise in the United States annually between $1.7 trillion to $4.5 trillion. She said that, because of the counterfeiting growth, all of her merchandise goes through a close inspection before it goes on sale.

Sometimes she uses an Entrupy scan to determine a authenticity. More often, she uses the information she has gleaned and retained from years of research on the luxury goods.

"Knowing something is counterfeit is much more than just asking if someone has a receipt from the store," Yosef said. "It is the quality, it is the leather feel, it is stitching, it is the font, it is the stamping, it is the quality of the hardware, it is the measurements between the screws. There are a lot of different things I do to make sure an item is 100% legit."

Yosef noted in the interview that her knowledge also pays off when a customer comes in looking to buy.

"A person who is spending $10,000 on a purse is going to ask questions," Yosef explained. "They already know what they are looking at (and) they are testing your business. We always make sure that we provide the (best) service possible by providing clients with all the information that they may ask."

That attention to detail goes a long way to building trust with customers, Yosef explained, adding that even after burglaries at the Haddonfield and Margate boutiques, strangers still send boxes of merchandise for her to sell on consignment without any payment up front from as close as Cherry Hill and as far as California.

In 2020, she reluctantly came to the decision that the Marlton store and parking area were too small and that she needed a bigger place, which is what led her to Cherry Hill.

When not at one of the three boutiques, Yosef said she will do pop-ups in Philadelphia. She said she also volunteers and donates to various charities, such as the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Ronald McDonald House.

Caroline is married to Avi Yosef, a real estate investor who she credited with offering financial, emotional and physical support that she sometimes needs to run the boutiques. They live in Voorhees with their three children: 17-year-old Noam, 15-year-old Jonathan and 7-year-old Liam. While Caroline said the older two are not likely going to follow in their mother's footsteps, the youngest is always asking if he can come with her to work.

Looking to the future, Caroline said her empire has not been completely built.

She sees herself opening more boutiques, perhaps franchising the business and training those who have the same career goals as her. Doing those things would likely add significantly more hours to the at least 60-hour work weeks Yosef said she currently has, but she does not want people to feel bad for her.

"I am living my professional dream," she said.

IF YOU GO

Caroline's Cherry Hill location is at 413 Route 70 East and open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. The Haddonfield store at 221 Kings Highway East is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. The Margate store at 9412 Ventor Avenue is open from late spring to late summer from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Website: carolinesfashionluxuries.com.