If you are anything like me at all (and if you’re reading All Things Chic, I bet you are!) you have a closet stuffed full of great clothes and are constantly out shopping and trying to fit new things into it. Ok, well not constantly! So maybe pretty close…I admit there may be a slight shopping addiction.
Anyway, I am always needing to get rid of clothing that is either too small, too big, or just old and doesn’t work for me anymore. Gotta make room for the new! Back when I lived in Philadelphia, I found several great women’s consignment shops where I could bring my clothes, especially the suits and businessy stuff from my pre-motherhood career, and they would sell them and give me a decent percentage of the money. It was nice getting a check from them every once in awhile.
I do the same thing with kids clothes, but since I moved to Texas I could not find a decent women’s consignment shop in my neighborhood…until last week. Some friends told me of a new store that had just opened up called Blackbird Trading Company. They have a huge sign out front that says “Cash for Fashion!” Who can seriously resist that? So I popped in to check it out and was very impressed. This was an unusually large and hip resale shop, with fantastic music playing and racks upon racks of clothes, shoes and accessories. They seem to specialize in jeans and do carry a few labels of brand new items, but it was mostly gently used clothes. The best part? Cash on the spot for your clothes and no waiting around while they sell your stuff.
So I ran home, cleaned out my closet and headed back to the store with two bags of items. They sorted through them and ended up only selecting six items, all of which had tags still on them and had never been worn. They were mostly Isaac Mizrahi for Target clearance things I had bought for $5 or less and never returned when they didn’t work out for me. So they offered me $15 cash on the spot for the clothes OR $30 worth of store credit. Well you know me, I’m not gonna turn down an obvious deal like that. So here’s what I bought with my $30.
First of all, I’m a sucker for shoes. Heels especially, sexy and colorful ones. I am familiar with the Carlos Santana line of playful and fun stilettos from when they used to sell them at Nordstrom. I guess they don’t anymore, but they average around $100 a pair. So when I saw these for $25 in mint condition, I was sold. Wedges are incredibly hot right now anyway.
Then I found this adorable top for only $10, also in mint condition. It happens to match the shoes perfectly, and when you add a fabulous pair of dark denim jeans it makes for a killer outfit. So if you’re counting that outfit cost me all of $5 cash out of pocket.
See how great resale shops can be? I highly recommend you check some out near you today!
About Melissa
I’ve tried it and honestly, I just don’t like it very much. But I’m always impressed with the items you and Grace {Blackbelt} and others seem to find at those places!!
I am not a consignment shopper, but I am very much a consignment seller! The last time I brought in my loot, they took 100+ items! Now granted, that was two years’ worth of my daughter’s spring and summer clothes, and some were sold as outfits. But still! I get half of what it sells for. I’ve found that consistency is key; they used to only take a few of my items, but now they take almost everything I bring in because they know me and know that my stuff sells well. Win for everybody! 🙂
I have tried taking really great clothing items of my son and myself as he was growing up years ago at a really nice consignment shop and they had some upscale items that were gently worn items and also new items with the tags, but I didn’t make as much as I felt I should have since I would go in and check to see if the items were still there or not and so I wasn’t too happy with the way they did me there. Closer to home I checked another consignment shop and they had lots of things and were very busy so I went through our clothes and I had things with tags on them and we took several large boxes and she checked the items and would you believe that she closed her shop with all my stuff and was gone and I couldn’t reach her so I felt like she ripped me off and so now I am weary of selling my clothes at these shops considering how I have been done by thesse other two and the people who owned them. I have bought some items from some consignment shops before that were very nice and were either gently worn or had the tags on them. Just not too lucky with trying to sell our clothes at these places 🙁 Maybe eventually I will be able to find the “right” one for me and be treated the way that I should be treated since it’s time to clean out the closets again- respect is key when doing business with someone. Maybe the rest of you do better if you live in a larger area than I do- I live in a rural area with no large cities nearby in TN. Memphis and Nashville are about 150 miles away from me. So I have to deal with what I have around my area and that’s not saying a lot so if anyone has any advice that I don’t already know then please feel free to share it. Sorry if my comment is too long, but wanted to share my experiences with the rest of you.