Bailey Richards | Hazard Herald

Charla Napier (left) and Rhonda Brewer say business as their consignors mall, Nu 2U, is picking up.

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HAZARD — With several new businesses opening up in Hazard, one of them aims to help give more people access to affordable goods of all kinds. Nu 2U Consignors Mall has a wide variety of items from many different sources.

Rhonda Brewer and Charla Napier moved quickly on this dream and opened up shop in their large space near the old M.C. Napier High School in just a few weeks.

“We opened April 1, and we really decided two weeks before that, we literally threw it together in less than a month,” said Napier.

The space and business are split into several different areas. While the Nu 2U is a consignment mall, it also rents booths to vendors and local businesses.

“While it is the same concept as the vendor’s mall, it is a bit different because we do have monthly booth rental spaces,” said Napier. “We truly do a consignment and it is commission based.”

Since they opened in April, they have managed to have so many vendors and consignors that they have filled the 10,000 square foot downstairs area of the store. The 7,000 square foot upstairs is currently being used for large items and furniture.

After just a few months of business Napier and Brewer said they have seen good business and lots of interest in the store.

“We just had our open house on Saturday, June 23, and we estimated about 300 people,” said Napier.

The down side of this business for these two is that they may love the merchandise coming into the store a bit too much at times. Despite the good amount of sales, both women said they have spent quite a bit of their profits buying items in the store.

Brewer and Napier opened the business with a goal in mind to help local people struggling with money issues. By giving people a place to sell unwanted items and others a place to buy for less, they hope to give families dealing with hard times a leg up.

“We felt that by doing this we offered the people in this area a place to buy new and used quality merchandise at these kinds of prices,” said Napier.

One way they are hoping to accomplish this is by hosting a sale to help families with back to school items.

“We are having what is called a consignment sale,” said Brewer. “We are focusing on back to school items, getting kids clothes, and school supplies, and shoes, and things that families are going to need for the kids’ return to school. So, we are really looking to have some good quality clothing and shoes.”

While the consignment mall has vendors selling gently used goods and items, they also have around 15 local businesses selling brand new items at reduced rates. Many of the items are considered last year’s model or are no longer being made in production.

Brewer and Napier said that they owe a good amount of their success to social media and viral marketing on Facebook.

“Facebook has helped us tremendously,” said Napier.