Consignment

There are those who see Sharon Weiner's proposed business venture in their Rittenhouse Square neighborhood as nothing more than a little shop of - horrors - "used clothes. " No, no, no, cherie. "It will be a very, very, very high-quality consignment shop," she says, "with very, very lovely things worn once or twice and a lot of bread-and- butter things that girls can wear to work. " Weiner, a widow and Philadelphia native who has just moved back home after 20 years in New York, has applied to the Zoning Board for a variance to open her high-class shop at 1953 Locust St., just off very, very lovely Rittenhouse Square.

In addition to the usual run of fine furniture and colorful crafts, sales next week will offer auctiongoers a couple of glimpses into the odd worlds of Victorian vanity and sports-car nomenclature. The Victorian vanity is a contraption of velvet, wire and beveled glass that will go on the block Wednesday at the Concordville Inn at the intersection of Routes 1 and 322. It is part of a consignment sale being conducted by William H. Bunch. "It's supposed to be a pin cushion," Bunch said yesterday, but added the disclaimer: "They had to call it something.

Much of the clothing found in thrift and consignment shops can be a turn- off. But occasionally you find a gem of a store - bright, clean and stocked with lightly-worn designer fashions at rock bottom prices. That description fits Merel's Clothes Closet in the Northeast to a "T. " I visited this neat-as-a-pin consignment shop last week and saw racks and racks of women's still-in-fashion clothes from the most famous designers. Some standouts: Lambswool/angora/nylon blend sweater dress by Mirrors of Krizia from the Bonwit Teller Designer Collection.