If you’re a savvy hunter, you’ve lined up early to go to a Mint Green Tag Sale event. One of the company’s owners, a born and raised Savannahian, shares some of her favorite spots around town.
Written by CATIE MCCOY
Photography by MIKE SCHALK
KRISTEN KUTCHEY PATTERSON often starts her morning at Savannah Coffee Roasters. Sure, there’s that much-needed caffeine fix — her usual is a double espresso. The location is also special to this Savannah native; it’s the site formerly occupied by Kutchey Auto Supply, owned by her grandfather for more than 60 years, until 2006.
Although they have taken a detour from car parts, Patterson and her parents, Marshall and Dawn Kutchey, have not veered from the model of running a successful business as a family. Sparked by Dawn Kutchey’s passion for upcycling and repurposing furniture, Patterson and her family own The Mint Green Tag Sale Co., offering the full-service management of estate sales. Their goal is to help people through major transitions, like selling a home and intentional downsizing.
Managing and staging estate sales is a far cry from a typical 9-to-5 job.
“We manage a different sale just about every weekend,” Patterson says. That means she and her team may be spending most of one week staging a house for an estate sale in Hilton Head and the next out on Skidaway Island. “Constantly jumping around is kind of inevitable at this point,” she says. “We don’t slow down much.”
Even an ideal day off for Patterson doesn’t call for much change in pace. When she’s not running laps around the city in preparation for an upcoming estate sale, she has two little ones running laps around her — and she’s loving every minute of it.
Patterson bounces around town with her two “partners in crime” — her daughter, Ella, and son, Emory. They frequently grab lunch at The 5 Spot in Habersham Village. After enjoying a spread of mac and cheese bites, sliders and a Caesar salad, Ella will be the first to assure you there is always room left for dessert — especially if that dessert is cookies and cream ice cream or chocolate-covered marshmallows from River Street Sweets.
“I love being able to take them to places that were a part of my childhood or spots I used to find myself frequenting before they came along, even though that feels like a lifetime ago,” Patterson says with a laugh. “There is undeniably something special about being able to watch them grow and experience places in Savannah for the first time. I can’t imagine it otherwise.”
Even with the kids and a family business keeping her on her toes, Patterson still finds ways to get exercise and enjoy the outdoors. She’s patiently awaiting the grand opening of her sister-in-law’s Pilates studio — Pilates for the People-Savannah — set to open on Bull Street in January. She also enjoys taking advantage of the Savannah sunshine no matter the season with a stroll down Bluff Drive on Isle of Hope.
If she has a bit of spare time after that, Patterson is never opposed to a quick trip downtown to peruse some of her favorite small, local businesses.
“While my kids and I might be more frequent fliers at Punch and Judy, I am a huge fan of Custard Boutique, The Printed Peach and One Fish Two Fish,” she says. “I like to pop around just about anywhere on Whittaker Street when I have a moment to shop for myself.”
Between balancing work and motherhood, Patterson finds that heading out for a night on the town has proven to be trickier than it sounds, but when she does, she makes it count with her husband, Will, her friends or her family. That might mean savoring the miso salmon and a well-deserved glass of pinot noir at The Vault or unwinding with whatever’s on tap and a side of fries at Crystal Beer Parlor.
“It’s not easy to pick only a few favorites when you’ve been here as long as I have,” she says with a laugh. “I’ve always loved being somewhere with so much to do, see and eat. Savannah continues to have all that and then some.”
