Reselling your old clothes and buying gently worn items is a trend with real staying power. Case in point, my BFF Lou sent me the deets on yet another Consignment/Buy On Sight clothing store that’s sweeping the TC. They’re called Clothes Mentor, and there’s probably one near you.
Lou forwarded me this press release on the newest Clothes Mentor, which opened in Edina this month. Here’s what they have to say for themselves:
“Our store is finished and all it lacks is GREAT inventory! At Clothes Mentor we pay CASH on the spot for gently used women’s clothing sized 0-26 plus Maternity, Shoes, Handbags and Accessories.
We open to buy, Thursday March 11, 2010 at 10:00am (yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t get this to you sooner. My bad.). We are located at 7585 France Avenue South in Centennial Lakes Plaza, next to Old Navy and our phone number is 952-831-3350.
Our buying hours are 10am to 6pm Monday – Saturday for the next 4 to 6 weeks as we build our store inventory. Look for our local ads on radio and cable TV and for our upcoming announcement about our Grand Opening in the in the next few weeks (Have you guys heard any ads? I’ve been listening for them, but so far, nothing.).
Please feel free to drop by the store and let us look at your gently used clothes, etc.” (Oh I’ll drop by. You can count on that, my friend.)
I also visited Clothes Mentor’s web site. They have stores across the country (which equals ‘staying power’ in my book), and each one is “independently owned and operated by a local franchisee under a licensing agreement with Clothes Mentor, LLC.” What does that mean to you? In a nutshell – if one store won’t buy your items, try another. They all have different merchandise needs, and operate fairly autonomously.
Caveat – when you sell your clothes on a ‘buy now’ basis, you don’t get the largest amount you could for each item. For the biggest bang, you’ll need to try eBay or Craigslist. However, with stores like Clothes Mentor, you’re guaranteed cash upfront for what they can buy from you. No waiting around to see if it sells, like you would at a typical consignment store.
By the way? I kind of LOVE this term for wearing thrifted/consignment clothes – Eco Fashion. Al Gore would be so proud of my wardrobe…
Now let’s hear from the Empire – have you tried out Clothing Mentor? And if you have, what was your experience like?
4 Comments
There is also “Shop Again” in Hopkins which is the only remaining store in the fire-destroyed Shady Oak Road Shopping Center. One of the gals took in about twenty pairs of some designer shoes I had been looking to divest of and some of them moved pretty well. Others, I picked back up.
Have fun!
I love Clothes Mentor! I went to the first one off 394 but now to go the one in Burnsville. The staff is always so wonderful and they have a great selection. I took my SIL when she needed some “interview” clothes and she found an entire outfit, suit (two piece), button down AND shoes! It was a great day.
Another great consignment store is “It’s New to U” in downtown Savage. Her store is very well organized, always has new things. She will try to sell your stuff for 60 days, after that you can pick up your stuff or she will donate to a charity (can’t remember the specific name of the charity but it’s similar to the PROP shop…I think the charity is called “dressed for success”??). Anyway, highly recommend the place…nice place south of the river.
I’m curious what kind of prices you get at these places. Do you get less at the cash now ones than at the true consignment ones? I have three bags of nice maternity clothes to sell and am wondering if I’ll get more buy selling to a consignment store or including them in a large group garage sale I’ll be participating in soon.