Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/122387
r e t a i l i n g t o d a y secondhand, first-class buffalo exchange takes a boutique approach to selling used goods K By Steve Bergsman erstin Block understood by instinct how to set up her 1970s-era used-clothing business as a place people would want to shop: Make the store look like a boutique. she knew just how to lay out a space to make it look modern or cute or simply attractive, instead of merely dumping a lot of used stuff onto some shelves. "Used merchandise back then still had a bit of a stigma to it, so you had to make it look appealing," Block said. 146 SC t / M a y 2 0 1 3 the stock came from her own collection of goods — things she had bought over the years and which she knew were salable because of another skill she had: a gift for rummaging through piles of stuff and finding treasures. other inventory came from young people who came in wanting to sell or trade their items. the year was 1974, the place was tucson, Ariz., and the enterprise was Buffalo exchange, which today is grown into a chain of nearly 50 coast-to-coast stores selling items both recycled and new, and which continues to grow at a rate of about three or four stores per year. All of that was still off in the future, though, when Block was shopping at thrift stores and at swap meets to conserve what little money she had. she had just been fired from a job doing furniture displays when she decided to open her store, near the campus of the University of Arizona. the original storefront measured just 400 square feet. When the 400-square-foot shoemaker's shop next door became vacant, Block took over that space too, though even that proved insufficient for the fast-growing inventory. Block opened a second store in town, in 1975. "A friend of ours who had been working with us was moving to tempe and said, 'if you want to open another store, i'll manage it,' "Block recalled. that worked out well, and then another colleague moving to california's Bay Area asked whether Block wanted to open still more stores. she agreed, and now there were Buffalo exchange shops in Berkeley and san Francisco as well. the initial business model was to purchase, sell and trade recycled clothing,