Walking into Jacki Meimann’s store, Great Stuff Ltd., is like entering a home where she is the gracious hostess.

But, when you sit down at a dining room table, you can’t help but notice all the tableware – and everything else – has price tags on it.

Meimann started Great Stuff, 312 Main St., with her sister, Claudia McCall, in 2004. McCall acts as a “silent business partner,” since she resides in Chicago while the day-to-day operation of the store is managed by Meimann.

The consignment store has a variety of merchandise, from jewelry to furniture and antiques. Wandering through the multilevel store, treasure-seeking customers can find objects to suit any home’s decor, a unique gift or that one collectible they’ve been searching high and low for.

Being a businesswoman was not Meimann’s first career. She worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 24 years, then retired. But she wasn’t retired for long.

“I wanted something to do,” Meimann said. “I’ve always had a passion for decorating.”

Meimann has been able to exercise this hobby at the store. Because it is a consignment shop, the inventory is always changing. With the turnover of inventory, redecorating and rearranging in the store is an ongoing process. Meimann has six employees who assist in the constant rearranging and in the day-to-day operation of the store.

“Everyone I’ve had has helped me tremendously,” Meimann said.

She said her staff is like family – and a few members actually are. Meimann’s cousin, Karen Dohrmann, had helped manage the store until recently. Marie Loney, Meimann’s mother, and Lucy Jacobson, a relative of her father, both help tag merchandise.

Loney enjoys working for her daughter and is proud of Meimann.

“We have a good time,” Loney said. “There’s no tension – [it’s] free and happy.”

Adam Brainerd, senior in construction engineering, does deliveries and pick-ups for the store. Brainerd said he appreciates Meimann’swillingness to work around his schedule.

“She’s really down-to-earth,” Brainerd said. “She interacts with people really well.”

Interacting with customers and being a part of the downtown Ames family has also been a delight for Meimann.

“It’s a neat family situation,” Meimann said. “I’ve made some wonderful friends.”

Allyson Walter, interim director of the Main Street Cultural District, said the unique business concept has been a great addition to the Ames downtown district.

“Jacki has been real active in the district,” Walter said.

The operation of Great Stuff is an ever-evolving process. Meimann said the staff is constantly finding ways to do something more efficiently and discovering a way to streamline an element of the operation. But sometimes it is hard to keep caught up with everything that must be done in the course of running the business.

“There’s never enough hours in the day,” Meimann said. “There’s more involved behind the scenes than people know about.”

Coming to work is not a burden for Meimann, and she enjoys her job.

“It doesn’t get boring here at all,” she said.

Meimann is confident that, once people visit Great Stuff, they will keep coming back because the store always has new merchandise. The welcoming ambiance afforded by Meimann and her family of employees can make a visit to Great Stuff like entering into the home of an old friend.

How Great Stuff operates

At Great Stuff, customers can be both the seller and the buyer. Here are a few things to know about the selling process:

– To sell items, consignors must fill out an inventory sheet and make an appointment to bring their items in.

– Consignors decide whether to price their items or grant that job to the Great Stuff staff.

– Great Stuff has an appraiser who can help determine the price of antiques, collectibles and other items.

– The consignment period is three months:

– End of the first month: The price of an item is reduced by 15 percent.

– End of the second month: The item is marked down an additional 10 percent.

– End of the third month: Unsold items either become the property of Great Stuff or are returned to the owner as determined by the contract between the seller and the store.