ABOUT US
One door closes
The founder of Clover Move, Ann Ashby, began her career at a very young age in her family-owned business, Lorenz Boot Shop in Iowa City, Iowa.
In 1973 she started out modeling shoes for the store.
As time went on, Ann worked in the stock room preparing for semi-annual sales and began selling. The clientele ranged from infants to senior citizens from all walks of life.
In 1985, Ann moved to Dallas to finish college at the University of North Texas. She managed a shoe store while finishing college and then went on to work for Easy Spirit Shoes covering four states in the south. Ann managed over 100 independent accounts and facilitated growth in the major department stores such as Dillards, Macy’s, and Lord and Taylor to name a few. In 1992, Ann returned to Iowa to help her father with the store. She purchased the store from her father in 1999.
Lorenz Boot Shop was a fixture in downtown Iowa City for 87 years when it finally closed its doors in 2006.
While it was very hard to close the doors, the knowledge taken away was priceless. Ann had learned so much from…
staging and merchandising, organizing, selling and liquidating assets, and most of all, customer service!
another door opens
As the store was closing, a young gentleman came in and asked what was going to happen with everything left over? He wanted to sell it on eBay. Long story short, Ann went into business with him and they started a company called Wow Auctions that sold cars and specialized in liquidating assets of closing businesses. Eventually, the partnership dissolved and Ann went on her own.
As Ann was still trying to figure out what she was going to do she realized she had two storage sheds full of stuff she could not part with. After moving it several times and paying for storage for many years she decided to start selling it.
The first major sell-off was in a retail location and the store was only open for a few weeks. Everything got sold and the load was lightened…a little. Watching your stuff sell for pennies on the dollar is very hard, but it became addicting… What else could she sell? Ann continued selling on eBay for years, clearing out everything she could.
on the move
In 2016 Ann received a call from Auction Nation, based out of Phoenix, and they wanted her to cover the Utah (where she was living at the time) market as the Regional Asset Manager. Since then, Ann has learned from some of the best liquidators on how to conduct successful online auctions, whether it’s a business or a residence. Her first online auction was a 30,000 square-foot office building!
Over the years Ann got more into estate sales and built up a good following in Utah prior to moving to Texas. She’s most comfortable working with these types of sales and understanding what her clients are going through.
Along with selling online, Ann has also moved 12 times since 2006 — so she became an expert mover! While working with clients, she realized they needed help with more than just an estate sale. There was organizing, sorting, shredding, recycling, cleaning, junk hauling, and more that also had to be done. She added those to her list of services so she could be a one-stop-shop for her clients.
In the Spotlight
And here she is today. Clover Move is her heart and soul. She dedicates herself to her clients and empathizes with their transitions. Customer service is her number one priority as she helps families, individuals, and businesses progress into the next chapter of their lives.
