BOSTON (CBS) - On Newbury Street, sandwiched between a sex shop and an ice cream parlor (keep it clean people) sits Second Time Around, the favorite consignment store of the town's cash-conscious fashion set. Their third location on a street where not even chain coffee joints like Starbucks have more than two, Second Time Around packs 'em in -for three simple reasons: Deals, simplicity, consistency.
DEALS
No where else in this city have I found so much high-end designer clothing for cheap. Where else on earth would you can find a decent Prada jacket for under $30 bucks and not feel like someone made a mistake? See this James Perse t-shirt dress? Just got it May 20th for $16 - perfect condition - retailed at $130. Jackpot.
SIMPLICITY
All of the clothing tags are color coded and correspond to color charts that are posted all over the store - indicating the discount, making it dead easy to understand the cost and turns shopping into a game. The color-coded discount tags at STA.
- Green = 0 discount
- Red & Yellow = 20% off
- Pink & Blue = 30% off
- Black & Tan = 50% off
Other stores, like The Closet on Newbury, date their tags and base the discount on the length of time the item has been on the rack. They then require shoppers to do a kind of math problem in their head, which unless you're coming over from Cambridge, just isn't fun. Game or math? hmmm…
CONSISTENCY
I can honestly say I have never seen Gap clothing, for example, in any of their stores. They do not dilute their inventory with commercial designer clothing, just to fill racks. This keeps their reputation intact and makes me, the shopper, confident that I will not waste time pouring through racks of everyday clothes to, hopefully, find one cool thing. And the employees are always well dressed and enthusiastic!
Boston is filled with great consignment shops but to me, it's the little things that make STA the best 'gently worn clothing store' in the city.
Michelle McCormack is a strategist and blogger at LoveTheCool. LIKE her Facebook page Secret Boston and
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