re•volve — Local services in Corvallis

Let me start by saying that I love this store - its thoughtful selection and having the availability of quality, curated consigned clothing in town is great. It’s on the pricier side for a second hand store but the quality of the clothing justifies the price — I’ve splurged on some good finds here that I’ll have for a long time.

But my experience consigning my stuff has shifted my perspective of the store a bit. I have been trying to get an appointment to consign my clothes for many months without luck. Every time I call, a staff person says it looks like they’ve already booked up, and curtly suggests trying back another time. I’ve been calling for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. I have a running weekly reminder that pings me to call revolve at the same time every single week lol. Finally, I got through today and the person on the phone offered me one day of availability, which I couldn’t do. She couldn’t do anything for me — like schedule something even two weeks out — and curtly told me to call back.

I’ve consigned many things with Revolve before (and been a regular customer and all-around fan) and want to continue supporting this store and giving my clothes to a place where they might find a home that’s not the landfill. But this process is exhausting and makes it close-to-impossible for anyone working full time to be able to meet their scheduling constraints. I know it’s a small shop working hard, and that it takes effort and care to sift through the donations and curate the store. But it’s unrealistic to ask people — and potential customers — to devote this much time to trying to reach Revolve to consign their clothes, when the store doesn’t make it especially easy to do so. I’m sure the store doesn’t want to get an influx of clothing “dumped” on them, but offering only a tiny window of time to accept donations weeds out potential consignors and a wider variety of merchandise.

All that being said, here’s hoping I get through next time. Just wanted to pass this...

I do not want to shop in places where I get get publicly reprimanded and put down for no reason. Nobody should. I came to my appointment which I had set up weeks prior, my best lightly worn 12 pieces neat on hangers. Erika, the owner it turned out to my surprise, immediately told me in a stern voice that everything needed to be folded and in a bag. She added ‘you indicated on the phone that you had been instructed about our rules’. I then said I’ll fold the clothes and put them in a bag, no problem, I just thought someone would look at the clothes at the appointment, and they show better on hangers, a misunderstanding (I felt a little sad for my designer clothes who had to be squished into a Target bag). Erika repeated that I indicated I knew the rules and that she turned away people who’d be happy to have my spot. I told her I had no problems with putting them in a bag and asked then if she was Ronnie whom I had spoken to on the phone, she said no and I said ‘oh that explains it’ (Ronnie did not give me the rules on the phone but who cares, this isn’t a medical procedure or the bar exam, it was just so out of proportion how this rule thing came up again and again). Erika then loudly repeated ‘what does that mean… ‘that explains it, what does that mean’. The way she yelled at me in front of everyone (the store became very quiet) was so humiliating and I did not know what to say. I started to shake and she added (as I was neatly folding my clothes) ‘It seems you are resistant to our rules….’ Then, I RAN - I had plans to shop for new clothes as my closet got lighter but I’ll never set foot there again. Shopping...

The items they sell are all good quality and the store itself is not bad looking. Price wise they are not horrible but could be better--maybe taking a bit less of the profit from sales would help. Items seem slow to move in their store, be it price or the types of items they have... for a bustling college town it seems like they would have a quicker item turnaround. My biggest complaint is that the staff seemed unhelpful unless you were actively making a purchase or if it looked like you were sure to buy, otherwise they have been rather less active in lending assistance or settling issues. All in all I wouldn't recommend it, but that is just my take on the place and not everyone would agree. I do have one friend who is from Eastern Oregon who likes to look around there, though I don't think she ever bought anything there, and there are not as many shops to choose from where she lives so it might have been a novelty thing. I personally don't feel the need to return as I have had better experiences in other clothing resale stores in...