Autumn’s Closet, Little Munchkins relocated to new, bigger home

Sue Grossardt

Contributor

August 25, 2025

FOND DU LAC – After years of growing their resale business and community ties, Autumn and Andy Kastein have relocated Autumn’s Closet and Little Munchkins Resale Shop to a new home at 516 N. Rolling Meadows Drive – just three miles from their previous location.

Autumn Kastein said the move, which was completed in just 13 days, wasn’t easy – but thanks to the help of nearly 50 friends and loyal customers, they were able to shut one door and open another with minimal downtime.

As the business has grown, Kastein said they’ve formed strong friendships along the way.

“These women were the ones who showed up and helped us move, paint, organize and get the word out [about the move],” she said. “We moved nearly 7,000 square feet of inventory in 13 days.”

The resale story begins

Kastein said her love of retail merchandising goes back to her days of being in pageants.

“One of the ways I raised money for all the pageant expenses was by buying and selling dresses,” she said. “At that time, the only online platform was eBay. I created a group called the Glass Slipper Pageant Resale. It was a place where I invited every pageant girl who I came across into this group. It became this community where people could buy, sell and trade pageant items, dresses, shoes, accessories – you name it. I made it a mission of mine to buy, sell and trade pageant dresses as a way to raise money.”

Kastein said she would add her own signature to dresses as well.

“I would be out thrifting and would come across something… like rhinestones and would add it to a gown to make it more special and have greater value,” she said. “That was how I raised money for all of my travel and pageant expenses. It was a very expensive sport.”

Word of The Glass Slipper Pageant Resale, Kastein said, spread, and members grew exponentially.

“At one point, I had almost 300,000 members in that group,” she said. “So, it was kind of a big deal in the pageant community. I would go to events and people would recognize me and say, ‘You own the Glass Slipper.’ The joke became, ‘let’s go shop in Autumn’s closet,’ because all of the pageant wear that I had was housed in my own closet at home.”

Once she and Adam were married and moved to Fond du Lac, Kastein said she knew the business endeavor was worth continuing.

“I started the business at age 19,” she said. “By the age of 25, we converted our home’s guest room [into] a pageant room.”

Kastein said when people would come into their home to shop for pageant dresses, customers were the ones who suggested that she do this full-time with casual wear.

“I thought, ‘Yeah, that would be so fun. I love thrifting. I love finding treasures. I love hunting for the bargain, and I love passing that on to the customer,’” she said.

Kastein acknowledged the fear that comes with launching a business, calling it a true leap of faith.

“For so many years, it was just my side hustle and a way in which to earn extra income,” she said.

At the time, Kastein said she had a job that “just wasn’t for me.”

She said spending all day in a cubicle with minimal face-to-face interaction didn’t suit her outgoing personality.

“I truly dreaded going to work,” she said. “My husband and I made the decision, if we were ever going to try this, now is the time. We didn’t have children at the time, and we could dedicate all of our extra time to it.”

Kastein said the right retail space practically fell into their lap, thanks to a landlord who was willing to work with them.

After their son was born in 2019, Kastein said the business naturally evolved. 

So, when the space next door to Autumn’s Closet opened up, expanding made perfect sense.

“We added Little Munchkins in 2019 when our son was born,” she said. “The name, Little Munchkins, emerged as a great name for the business because that was our nickname for him.”

Children’s resale shops, Kastein said, continue to be popular for good reason.

“We, as new moms, learn just how quickly kids grow out of things and just how expensive kids’ clothing has become,” she said. “You also learn how difficult it is to host your own rummage sale. When you’re a mom, you have a job, and you have all these other hats that you wear. Selling items back to a consignment shop is a great solution.”

Since opening, Kastein said the business has blossomed from teen pageantry to women’s clothes to children’s clothes.

“I think my clientele has shifted to encompass more people,” she said. “In the beginning, it was much more tailored to the younger teenage girls. Now, we cater to the more mature women and moms, which is where I’m at in my life. We’re a big store, so we have a lot of room. There’s room for a wide range of styles.”

Kastein said the business has organically grown into a multi-generational store.

“Once we opened Little Munchkins, we included the family aspect of the business to include children’s items, and it really brought in a whole different demographic of people and young families and the items that they’re looking for,” she said.

Curve balls

When Autumn’s Closet and Little Munchkins Resale Shop were considered non-essential during the COVID-19 pandemic and forced to shut down, Kastein said she found herself going back to where it started – the pageant world

“Just because your doors are closed, you still have normal expenses like rent, insurance, electricity and water,” she said. “The only thing that was selling during those months was pageant dresses… I don’t know why, but the pageant world did not stop. People were still competing, even if it was online, or they were in preparation for their pageant a year later. They were still thinking about their wardrobes.”

Pageant merchandise and gowns, Kastein said, kept the business alive during the pandemic.

A steep increase in their lease presented another obstacle, and Autumn said it left them at a crossroads – which eventually led to the move to the 516 N. Rolling Meadows Drive location.

Always been the dream

Kastein said owning a business has always been her dream.

“If you look back at my very first pageant resume, under ‘future career ambition,’ I wrote ‘to own my own business,’” she said. “It has 100% been a dream of mine from the age of 16.”

Kastein said Andy is an integral part of the business.

“Andy can build and make anything – he is unbelievable,” she said. “And I always say, ‘My name may be on the door, but he is the one who makes it happen.’ He is the one who built the dream from the ground up. Without Andy, it simply would not exist.”

One of the highlights of owning Autumn’s Closet and Little Munchkins Resale Shop over the years, Kastein said, is hosting Mr. and Miss Wonderfully Made – a pageant designed to highlight the abilities of those within the special needs community.

“It’s open to anyone, children through adults,” she said. “They get to be on stage and perform and be in the spotlight for all the amazing things that they are. It’s such a warm event, because the community really just gets to embrace and empower them. The entire event is hosted, sponsored and fundraised through the work of Autumn’s Closet.”

Kastein said the store also sponsors a free community baby shower event.

“We start collecting items in January, and every spring, we sort and organize them,” she said. “A team of almost 40 volunteers set up the baby shower in our parking lot. Items are set on tables for free for families in need. They shop with no questions asked and no limit or background check.”

At last spring’s event, Kastein said more than 10,000 items were given to those in need, all of which were donated by customers.

She said she’s a firm believer in the power of small business and the role owners play in shaping their communities.

“If a small business found just one way in which to give back to the community, the world would be such a better place,” she said.