Buffalo Exchange

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I popped in to the new Buffalo Exchange (where the video store used to be) today on my way elsewhere. To my surprise (because I hate shopping except online) I walked out 20 minutes later with a virtually new pair of Timberland boots for $32, a Star Trek T-shirt for $6.50, and the perfect costume blouse for the show I'm in for $13. Not exactly the bargain that Goodwill is, but it would be impossible to say that I wasn't delighted.

I hadn't wanted another chain store here, but if we had to have one, this one seems fairly useful and non-disruptive to me. You can sell them your old clothes and shoes, though I don't know what they pay. After I got home I found a coupon on their website good through the end of the month.

Comments

[dominika-kretek.livejournal.com]

Dagnabit, you bought those boots in the window, didn't you? Curses!

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Nope! I found mine in their basement. I'd been desperate for waterproof boots for fall and winter, but I can't afford my usual zappos.com right now. So your window boots might still be there. :-)

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree. Also, the overlap with Poor Little Rich Girl is quite small: PLRG has "vintage" while the Buffalo's stuff is mostly just "used". Furthermore, the Buffalo has men's clothing and PLRG has none, nor does any other place in Davis or Porter that I can think of. While in theory I'd prefer a local store, retail clothing is a great addition to the Square, and I'd certainly rather have a (non-Gap inc.) chain clothier than a local burrito place or nail salon :).

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

PLRG has a small selection of men's. (Once upon a time it didn't, but now it does. Toward the back.)

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

After I got home I went to their website to make sure they hire their staff locally (a big sticking point with me since the Hyatt scandal). They do. They seem to have a socially responsible business model, and they do a lot of fund-raising for wildlife and domestic animal welfare. All in all I think they're a pretty good fit for the neighborhood, and as you say, they don't overlap PLRG very much.

[ron_newman]

Oh good! I was just about to ask if they had men's stuff. Maybe I'll stop in tomorrow during Honkfest.

Gap

[dangone.livejournal.com]

They are a corporate chain, which is just as bad as a Gap, or a Staples, or a Chipotle in my book.

Re: Gap

[ron_newman]

Is there such a thing as a 'non-corporate chain' ?

Re: Gap

[dangone.livejournal.com]

Got me on that one, I suppose not, but there are such things are local chains.

Re: Gap

[sunshineyellow.livejournal.com]

So, at what point should a small business owner with a profitable concept stop growing? Two locations? Three? Four?

Re: Gap

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

There are a number of different metrics folks use... you can set goals like: The owner of the store personally hired and has regular face-to-face contact with all the store managers. Or, has personally met a majority of employees. When an owner is completely out of touch with front-line employees, the equity tends to go way down. There's also often a tipping point in the standardization-customization tension: Where ti becomes more important to be the same everywhere, rather than to be responsive to who's in the neighborhood.

Re: Gap

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I have first-hand experience with that as an employee. Long ago I got a job at a Payless Shoe Store in Rochester, NY. All of the buying and merchandising decisions are made centrally for the chain, and in March the store was stocking only spring shoes. But March in Rochester is still the dead of winter, and it doesn't get warm until May. Our customers needed boots and other winter footwear and we weren't stocking them anymore. They weren't thinking about frilly white Easter shoes yet by a long shot. But the manager, who Payless had brought in from out of town, wouldn't even listen to us. She just told us what terrible sales people we were because we weren't moving the spring merchandise faster.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping Buffalo rises above that model.

Re: Gap

[yihwalu.livejournal.com]

When I worked at Buffalo in Portland, we would get memos (bulletins they called them) from corporate in Phonenix about what they wanted us buying for the store.

Re: Gap

[sunshineyellow.livejournal.com]

Wait, what? Why do these metrics only apply to businesses? I don't think the president has met every single government employee. And I don't think the post office is out of touch for being the same everywhere.

Re: Gap

[ron_newman]

But if you sell clothing, of any kind, you should be sensitive to differences in climate and local fashion. What sells in Texas in March won't sell in Minnesota or Massachusetts (see plumtreeblossom's comment above this one)

Re: Gap

[sunshineyellow.livejournal.com]

I saw that, but that's only one example of a dumb business. I don't particularly care to shop at Payless myself. However, I've found the Macy's here stocks a far more varied supply of winter clothing than they do in my home area in CA. If the people in that climate find that the business is not selling appropriate things, it will not be patronized and headquarters will come in and shut it down or fix it. It's not any different in that regard from a local store which stocks inappropriate apparel and loses money. A chain outlet might be able to lose more money than a single local business before it goes under, but it will go under all the same, even more so if it's a franchise.

But that's just Payless. McDonalds, which I know a lot of people love to hate, has entire departments dedicated to localization, especially abroad. There is a tension between localization and standardization, sure, because standardization is where many of the cost savings that allow businesses to grow large are created. But if a company misjudges, it's checked by the market.

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

my friend just posted about getting a cute skirt there also!

I happened to overhear

[mamabunny72.livejournal.com]

one of the sales staff tell a customer that they pay 30% cash of selling price, or 50% store credit.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I might opt for the store credit, actually, since I saw so many things there that I liked. I have lots of clothes in my closet that don't fit or don't look good on me, but would look great on someone else.

Also

[cupcakebetty.livejournal.com]

If you buy something and use one of your own bags instead of one of their plastic ones, they give you a 5-cent "chip", which you can then donate to one of 4 local charities they support; there are little boxes on the wall near the door, and you just drop it on on your way out. Way cool!

hiring locally

[dangone.livejournal.com]

I stopped in and asked if they hire locally and they told me the management is not local but the other workers are.

I like the idea of BE, but I cannot back them after finding out they pay minimum wage (it was on Craigslist a few weeks ago). I would rather they take the 5 cents they give to charity and put it towards paying those kids a living wage.

Dan

Buffalo

[yihwalu.livejournal.com]

I used to work for Buffalo when I was in college, and yes, we were paid I think 5 cents over minimum wage. That isn't what bothered me, it was all of the people that came in looking for money for their (stolen)items. Maybe that won't be as bad here as it was in Portland.

Right now they have tons of cheap stuff because they load up their new stores with stuff from other locations.

Anyways, my question is, does anyone know who has the best sushi in the square? I will start a new thread on this one, as I am new to the area. I can't figure out how to start a new post!

Re: Buffalo

[bostonartist.livejournal.com]

Just a question if you don't mind. How can you tell if a customers clothing items are stolen?

Re: Buffalo

[yihwalu.livejournal.com]

Well, it was usually pretty obvious.

They would come in over and over, usually selling leather jackets, jewelry, purses, stuff like that. They would become agitated if we decided we did not want something.

I didn't like it at all, it became frightening at times. When somebody needs cash and they need it right then and there it can become a scary situation.

Re: Buffalo

[ron_newman]

Oregon or Maine?

Re: Buffalo

[yihwalu.livejournal.com]

Oregon. :)

Sizes?

[rivenwanderer.livejournal.com]

Is their stuff sorted by size, or is it all a jumble like Goodwill? If you could tell, was there much plus size stuff that was 1X or larger?

Re: Sizes?

[mamabunny72.livejournal.com]

The BE does sort items by sizes and type: ie sweaters are on one rack S-L. I didn't notice much beyond L, but then again, I'm not looking beyond L.

sizes

[yihwalu.livejournal.com]

I cannot speak for this location, but at the one that I worked for we did not have 1x+ and it was not sized out.

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

Forgive my ignorance.. is it a consignment store or do they just sell "retro" style clothing?

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

They buy used clothing from customers and other sources (and I think some new items, too). It's not really retro, though. Most things I saw were simple used contemporary clothing.

Some Buffalo Exchange Facts

[somlocal1st.livejournal.com]

Buffalo Exchange:

--Is based in Arizona
--Has annual revenues of approx. $55 million
--Has, in Davis Square and in Brooklyn at least, targeted vintage markets developed by local entrepreneurs then moved in....

We ask that residents support locally owned fashion that has added character, for years, to Davis Square.

Joe Grafton
Somerville Local First