Plato's Closet - Muskegon — Local services in Fruitport Charter Township

New to the area and I LOVED the Platos in Kalamazoo so I figured I would try out the Muskegon location. Owned by different people, no biggie that's cool, same owners as the Holland location. Overall decent location by all of the shopping and a Starbucks/Subway.

I have tried to sell with this location about seven times now and that has always been an interesting process depending on who was working. When I chose not to sell with them this most recent time the girls at the counter were very offended. The younger girl about high school age threw my bag back and didn't want to make eye contact with me the rest of my visit. This was after I waited 20 minutes for her to finish her conversation with her friend that she was checking out about their classes (I know specific details about 4th period, which is cool, nostalgic for the days pre-college I guess). The counter was not empty as there was another guest at the separate register handling a buy and a return. Waiting is never an issue, but how I was treated and how I feel surrounded by the women who work there is a problem. This location needs to decide what their atmosphere is. Are you an uppity Holister with models on your windows that pick and choose who can frequent your establishment or are you a local sustainable consignment shop?

I then went back in to purchase about $60.00 worth of items as the store is shoved to the brim with clearance. There are so many pieces in the store. Some remind me of the Goodwill Outlet bin store with designer prices tags, some are destined for the dump, but if you dig you can find some gems. Pricing is steep and the items all have different styles. You can tell a few different people are accepting and pricing items as you will find outdated and valueless items or trendy items way under value like a $5.00 Abercrombie fall top that I would have easily paid $12.00 for or my great grandmas faux silk moo-moo for $18.00

If the location can find some “more seasoned” management then they may have a chance to wrangle in the young women and give them some direction so that their pieces are selling instead of filling the aisles with clearanced wares.

Will I return? -Yes. I got some great deals, and the store is the only one in town. Will I be fearful that I am going to be judged and talked about as if I am back in school? -Yes, but it is worth it to avoid fast fashion and to support a local business.

I will say that there are two great women in there. The woman in lolita fashion and another of the younger women are always so nice and always working hard!

Perhaps my overall rating will change, until then please try...

Walked in behind some friends, overheard "something something stickers" and correctly assumed there were sticker sales. The first rack inside the door had red signs hanging all over it saying "CLEARANCE 90% OFF" and listing all the previous vs new prices with that discount. This was the only rack in the store with these signs, plastered on both ends, and mentioned nothing of stickers, though I did scour it looking for some, assuming there were extra special discounts or something. I found no stickers on this rack. I probably spent 15-20 minutes just flipping through this single "clearance" rack. I picked out a sweater (from the sale rack) and some jeans (not on the sale rack) and proceeded to checkout. The sweater was not on sale, and in fact was $23. I asked if there was a mistake as I pulled it off the sale rack, and the girl behind the counter clarified that only things with stickers were on sale. I bought the sweater anyway (for $23) because I am tragically a people pleaser and didn't want to make them do any more work for my misunderstanding. After leaving, I considered how I had been intentionally bamboozled by the store. The advertisement was certainly intentional to fool people like me who are too embarrassed to have fallen for this misdirection to argue ethics of marketing. At the end of the day, I paid $23 for a sweater with a large, dark stain on the side of the hood that I hadn't noticed in store. The sweater retails brand new for $30.

Don't be afraid to ask as many clarifying questions as you can about their "sales" BEFORE you shop, less you fall victim to their absolutely intentional scam.

Or, just go to Goodwill for hidden treasures at a fraction...

I’ve been selling my clothes here for the past few years and have only had a few issues. I stopped coming for awhile because of an issue a few years ago, but decided to give it a try again in hopes that they hired new people. I have noticed that a lot of the staff can come off a pretty rude and annoyed :/… Hope is really sweet and one other girl who I believe is a manager. But it really just depends on who is working that day to determine the experience you’re gonna have. I feel like they’ve gotten a LOT pickier with what they will buy. I’ve always had good luck selling, but the last few times I get sent back with most items (brand new with tags, name brand, that sort of thing)…. And get told they are out of style. I just feel like the girls that work here aren’t very nice whenever I come...