Timeless Treasures customers say former owner sold their items and never paid them
Andrea Bowen-Gardner was charged with 10 counts of embezzlement on Feb. 2 relating to her business practices as owner of Timeless Treasures, a now-closed consignment store in San Luis Obispo, the San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s office announced last week.
The 51-year-old from Arroyo Grande is alleged to have misappropriated funds from sales in her store. At least 58 people — those included on the criminal charges — say they did not receive money from the sales of their items.
Items include unique paintings, dishes, furniture and more. They are alleged to have been sold between December 2018 and June 2019, including at an auction in May 2019 following the store’s closure.
Multiple people who say they were defrauded by Bowen-Gardner told The Tribune that they either received bounced checks or they didn’t receive any payment at all. They said Bowen-Gardner said she was moving locations, but then closed her shop completely and liquidated the remaining items at an auction.
The Tribune has identified seven lawsuits filed against Bowen-Gardner, her husband Phil Gardner, or Timeless Treasures between 2016 and 2019 that involve non-payment, bounced checks and breach of contract relating to the consignment business.
In total, Bowen-Gardner was ordered to pay more than $27,000 to those who sued her, but it is unclear if the payments were made. Bowen-Gardner was evicted from her shop in May 2019 following failure to pay rent.
There is currently a federal lawsuit filed by multiple people who claim to have been defrauded by Bowen-Gardner, objecting to her 2019 bankruptcy filing pending litigation.
“We are confident that the evidence will show that no crimes were committed and that Ms. Bowen-Gardner only acted in accordance with the contractual agreements involved,” Patrick Fisher, Bowen-Gardner’s lawyer, wrote in an emailed statement to the Tribune last week. He added Bowen-Gardner “vehemently denies” the allegations.
In a phone call with the Tribune, Fisher said it’s standard for consignment stores to have a contract that states if an item is with the store for a specific amount of time and it does not sell and the owner doesn’t retrieve, then it becomes the store’s property. He would not state what the policy was at Timeless Treasures.
Fisher added that he believes the case is “political prosecution,” and said one of the 58 witnesses is a large donor to District Attorney Dan Dow’s campaign. When asked who the witness was, he declined to answer.
Assistant District Attorney Eric Dobroth said the office is unaware of any witness donating to Dow’s campaign, and that the charges against Bowen-Gardner were “a long time coming.”
“This is not about any political motivations and if Mr. Fisher really believes political motivation is behind it, he should speak with the 60 or so complaining cosignees who reported alleged theft to our office.”
Timeless Treasures is ‘a black eye’ to SLO consignment industry, customer says
Teena Colebrook of San Luis Obispo said she started going to Timeless Treasures nearly every week in 2016. The shop was on her volunteer route — she delivers flowers to nursing homes and food to the homeless — and she loved browsing through the unique items. Some weeks she’d shop, and other weeks she’d drop off some of her own pieces to consign.
Colebrook, 65, said Bowen-Gardner was always personable and friendly. She received two checks from Bowen-Gardner that she was told to wait a week or two to cash to ensure Bowen-Gardner had the funds in her account, which was a concern, but the money eventually came through.
When Colebrook told Bowen-Gardner she had some expensive art to consign in 2017 or 2018, she said Bowen-Gardner told her to wait to bring the pieces into the shop because they were too valuable and Bowen-Gardner planned to sell them at a special art auction in San Francisco.
A few months later, Colebroook said Bowen-Gardner asked her to bring the pieces in, so she did. She said Bowen-Gardner always had an update on the status of her pieces: Someone was interested in the art, Bowen-Gardner was waiting to collect more pieces before heading to the auction, someone took a piece home to make sure they liked it and will pay in cash soon, etc.
“I didn’t really have any suspicions because she was always so convincing,” Colebrook said.
Eventually, Bowen-Gardner told Colebrook that Timeless Treasures was going to move locations to either a spot on Laurel Lane or one in Arroyo Grande, Colebrook said.
About a week before the supposed move, Colebrook dropped into the store and Bowen-Gardner gave her an envelope of prints Colebrook had consigned because they may not be safe during the move — Colebrook was unaware that Bowen-Gardner was being evicted. Bowen-Gardner told Colebrook that she would move the rest of her art, and that her credits from previous consignment sales would carry over to the new location.
But the new location never opened.
Colebrook saw on social media that Bowen-Gardner had auctioned off much of Timeless Treasures’ inventory, but she said she had not been notified of the auction. She emailed Bowen-Gardner to get her art back, but setting up a time to meet was extremely difficult, mostly because of Bowen-Gardner’s schedule, she said.
Bowen-Gardner then dropped the pieces off at a UPS store claiming she did not know Colebrook’s address, but Colebrook said Phil Gardner, Bowen-Gardner’s husband, had been to her home previously when he delivered planters.
When Colebrook arrived at the UPS Store, she said only two pieces were there, and one was slightly damaged. Colebrook asked where the rest of her pieces were and said she was told to check the inventory list, which she said Bowen-Gardner provided to her. Colebrook checked, she said, and found that her art was never put on the list.
Colebrook asked Bowen-Gardner about a specific piece she consigned — a stained-glass window — and she said Bowen-Gardner told her the piece sold a while back, but she couldn’t remember the price or exactly when and would check. But Bowen-Gardner never responded.
All told, Colebrook estimates she lost about $50,000 worth of artwork.
Colebrook’s account is one of 58 included on the district attorney’s case and is part of the federal civil case objecting to Bowen-Gardner’s bankruptcy filing. Colebrook said Bowen-Gardner has accused those involved in the civil case, Colebrook included, of bullying and harassment for pursuing the case.
Fisher said the Bowen-Gardner has been harassed to the point she can no longer live in the community she loves. “Even if their accusations are true, the way these people have come after her, personally attacked her and pursued her really is disproportionate to anything she could have done,” he said.
Holly Bundy, who lives in Clovis but has been renovating a home in San Luis Obispo, described a similar experience.
In an email to the Tribune, she wrote that Bowen-Gardner was a delight to talk to, saying she thought the two had “struck up a sincere friendship.” She said she was “gob-smacked” at all the beautiful and unique finds in the store and was a customer of Timeless Treasures for about two years.
Before the shop closed, Bundy had consigned her mother’s dishes and two wool rugs. She was then told the shop was moving locations so she needed to pick up her mother’s dishes, but her two wool rugs were sold — though, the payment for them hadn’t been received yet. She said she continued to call to check on the payment, and then one day discovered that the store had been completely vacated.
She said she continued to call about a dozen more times but never received a response.
Bundy said she thought about pressing charges, but she could not find the contract she had signed with Bowen-Gardner — the only evidence of them in business together — and figured filing a claim would be more trouble than it was worth.
She said talk of Bowen-Gardner’s business practices had spread to other consignment stores in the area, and that it was “a black eye to this wonderful beach city niche industry.”
What’s next in the case?
Bowen-Gardner’s arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 23, in Department 3 of the San Luis Obispo Superior Court. Anyone with information regarding this case should contact District Attorney investigator Nick Coughlin at 805-781-5883.
This story was originally published February 12, 2022 at 10:00 AM.
