Richard Mùth of Fiore Fine Men

At least, the Bernie Madoff scandal in Palm Beach has been good for some store owners.

And for shoppers whose taste for Chanel and Armani don’t match their paychecks.

Consignment stores on both sides of the Intracoastal have seen a surge in business of late.

Some attribute it to the economic downturn. Others say the many Palm Beachers ruined by accused Ponzi schemer Madoff, possibly more than 100 families, are selling clothes and furniture and art in the hope of making a quick buck – even if a consignment sale traditionally nets the seller a fraction of what an item was worth.

“My business doubled compared to last Christmas, and all within the last two weeks,” said Sally Kimball, owner of the fancy Classic Collections on North County Road in Palm Beach.

“I’ve received at least 100 new items over the past two weeks. And it’s all real good stuff, like Hermes, Bill Blass and Chanel. Some have their tags still on them. I can’t give names, but I know those sellers are trying to straighten out their finances after losing money in the Madoff thing.”

And there’s more coming. Kimball says she received a dozen calls last week from women emptying their closets.

“These are not women who have one closet,” Kimball said. “They have seven or eight of them. They’re selling things they bought and held on to until they lost weight. Some clothes have been worn once. Many were never worn.”

Still, Kimball says, the duds aren’t for just any purse.

“If we have a suit that someone bought for $5,000, it’s now for sale for between $1,000 and $2,000. We have handbags that were $3,800 when they were bought at the store, and now they’re on sale for $1,000.”

FBI agents in New York arrested the 70-year-old Madoff Dec. 11. He’s accused of running what authorities called a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. For years, as members of the high-profile Palm Beach Country Club invested millions with fellow member Madoff, he allegedly used their cash to cover enormous losses from other clients – all the while promising everyone returns as high as 15 percent. With the list of victims here reading like a society who’s who, one of the conduits to Madoff was Palm Beach philanthropist Bob Jaffe.

He may be hurting, too.

The debonair Jaffe actually brought some of his jackets to Indulge at Fiore, a Palm Beach consignment shop that specializes in men’s clothing.

“As a matter of fact, we’re selling Mr. Jaffe’s things right now,” said manager Richard Muth about his longtime customer. “We’ve got some nice Kiton jackets and sportcoats that belong to him. New, they’re about $5,000. I’ve got one on sale for $895.”

On Antique Row in West Palm, meanwhile, the Chris Ellis Collection consignment shop is getting so much fine furniture and art that it’s expanding.

“At first, the economy in general caused our business to increase,” said manager Teel Clark. “But over the past few weeks, we’ve started seeing really high-end stuff from the island. It’s usually the house staff who brings the stuff over. So, I can’t explain why just yet.”