Karen Goldberg has been putting her fingers in a lot of pies over the 28 years she has lived in Mill Valley, including the famous Mill Valley pizzeria, Tamalebe. Now, in a departure from its restaurant history, it has launched Warehouse, a 2,000-square-foot home consignment store, across the street.
Goldberg developed a number of Marin businesses, including Annabelle’s Restaurant in Mill Valley and Café Fresco in Corte Madera, before real estate caught her eye and became her passion.
“I built and remodeled about 10 or so homes in Marin, but in 2008 I lost everything and started helping others with interior design and retail design,” she says.
In 2011, she returned to her roots and opened Tamalbe on Miller Street, then built and sold BonBon and Playa in Mill Valley, and Moseley’s in Corte Madera, which she closed after the pandemic.
When I noticed the space at 444 Miller was available for rent, I naturally thought it would be a good restaurant. Or is it?
“After Moseley closed, I was afraid I’d lose it again,” she says.
Besides, she became anxious after the restaurant closed, and found herself “constantly reworking every room into a very small shack,” she said. “I did the same with my sister and anyone who asks. I love creating beautiful spaces for people.”
Her passion for design, reuse, meticulous craftsmanship, and detail in well-made vintage pieces made opening a home consignment store just “a natural expansion of my passion,” she says.
Add to those supply chain issues and a growing awareness of how procurement affects the planet, and offering cute home furnishings to a new generation of owners makes sense for her.
Goldberg, a fan of home shopping herself, has shopped “in all the cool consignment stores from Tivoli Decor in Sausalito to Mill Valley’s living room and home shipping center in San Rafael,” she said. “My days are always fun-filled, full of amazing stories about the items and the homes they came from. I’ve reached out to so many people in the process and it has been so rewarding.”
It had a different model in stock, though, and thought it could improve the experience for those who indulge in it. So I arranged the space in small reliefs to facilitate the visualization of the elements in the home environment.
The selection of items also varies, “simply because of our choice,” she says, noting that she is very selective about what she chooses for her store. “Each piece is handpicked and one thing is better than the next. It is fun to hear the call to prayer.”
Photo by PJ Premier
Old and modern furnishings are arranged in petite reliefs at Warehouse in Mill Valley.
There’s furniture, lighting, rugs, accessories, and some unexpected pieces, like a pinball machine. Prices range from $19 to $9,000.
There is also art. It has portraits of Robert Stevers and a collection of paintings by Hans Otto Bohm which were in a private collection in Tiburon.
“We want to use crystal and silver every day and weave it into our lives,” she says. “We want to make beautiful signed art available. We have everything from old restoration hardware to design on hand. We have the quality, period. It’s all quality.”
A warehouse is different from most cargo warehouses in another way as well.
“For the most part, if I liked it, I’d buy it right away so sellers don’t have to wait to sell it until they get their money back,” she says. “We ship some items that we feel may take a while to sell, and share the sale 50-50.”
She says she knows right away if the item is suitable for the store. They have soul, quality and special. All pieces should be “clean, clean, and clean”, although a natural patina associated with age is to be expected.
Sellers can send a photo and details of their merchandise to [email protected] for consideration.
The warehouse is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday at 444 Miller Ave. in Mill Valley. Call 415-888-2757 or go to thewarehousemillvalley.com.
show off
If you have a beautiful or interesting Marin garden or a newly designed Marin house, I would love to know about it.
Please send an email describing one (or both), which you like the most, and a picture or two. I will publish the best of them in the next columns. Your name will be published and you must be over 18 years old and a Marin resident.
Don’t miss the event
• April Showers bring April flowers, along with succulents, annuals, perennials, vegetables, shrubs, trees and seeds at Novato Garden Club’s annual spring reduction from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 23 at 7 Estates Drive and 6 Equestrian Yard in Novato. Go to novatogardenclub.org.
PJ Bremier writes on home, garden, design, and entertainment topics every Saturday. She can be contacted at PO Box 412, Kentfield 94914 or at [email protected].
