Green Expressions offers shoppers chance to buy unique items with recycling flair

One man’s trash may be another’s treasure, and with the right eye for recycling vintage goods, it also can be someone’s business. Just ask Jet and Russell Magathan.

They opened Green Expressions, a 6,000-square-foot retail gallery in Olathe, a year ago, and now about 50 dealers sell unique items there. The goods have been gleaned from area flea markets and antique sales and then repurposed or recycled. The vast array of merchandise includes rustic home decor, painted or restored furniture, antiques, neon signs, vintage barware and kitchen items, hand-sewn pillows and dish towels. Jet Magathan said other offerings include vintage and modern jewelry, accessories, clothing and one of the largest classic vinyl records selections in the area.

Russell Magathan oversees Green Expressions’ daily operations while Jet handles the financial tasks when not working her fulltime job as finance director of Kansas School for the Deaf and Kansas School for the Blind.

Q: Why did you start Green Expressions?

The Magathans are not new to the vintage business. They had a booth of their own for five years inside the nearby antique and flea market A Place in Time.

“It was our hobby but we wanted to be able to give people the opportunity to shop for these kinds of items in Olathe,” Jet Magathan said. “Having had a booth for several years we were on the other end, so we really knew what to expect.”

Green Expressions gives the couple the chance to share their belief in taking care of our environment.

“We promote reusing and recycling — taking an item and making it usable for something else,” she said. Russell Magathan restores furniture and sells some of his projects in Green Expressions.

“You can see before and after pieces in the store,” said Jet Magathan of her husband’s work.

Q: How do you find vendors for Green Expressions?

“We knew some dealers since we had our own booth at A Place in Time,” Jet Magathan said. “We also advertised in The Kansas City Star and visited popular flea markets and looked in the West Bottoms for dealers.”

Because of the volume of dealers and the nature of the business, she said the store’s merchandise is constantly changing.

“We encourage our customers that if they like something they see they should go ahead and buy it because it may not be there the next time,” she said.

Q: How do you operate?

“We’re like an antique mall,” Jet Magathan said. “We lease to other dealers and they pay us rent and we sell their stuff, charging a percent of their sales. “They can decorate their space any way they want.… We just track sales for every dealer and pay them out twice a month.”

Dealers set their own prices on merchandise and occasionally help out in the store, but the Magathans handle all the day-to-day operations for Green Expressions.

“They have to keep their booths replenished, but we do the selling for them,” she said.

Q: How do you market the store?

“We’ve used printing advertising in the newspaper and specialty magazines and put flyers up at other malls,” Jet Magathan said. Word of mouth has also been successful.

As part of its marketing strategy, Green Expressions also has a few special events including a large Parking Lot Sale that took place in September.

“We give other dealers a chance to set up in the parking lot for a fee,” she said. “It’s a way for them to test the waters, get rid of merchandise and see if this is for them.”

Having just celebrated its first anniversary in business last weekend, the Magathans plan to stay the course for the near future. Green Expressions will host a Holiday Open House on Nov. 8 and 9.

“We love bringing buyers and sellers together,” she said. “And we like being good to the environment.”

This story was originally published October 7, 2014 at 9:58 AM with the headline "Green Expressions offers shoppers chance to buy unique items with recycling flair."