Sandy's Savvy Chic Resale Boutique — Local services in Gainesville

You MUST read the deets on my experience at Sandy’s Savvy Chic Resale Boutique....I WAS a very good customer at Sandy’s. I’m a fashion stylist so I often shopped here for my clients, especially those on a limited budget OR those who really like unique vintage pieces and I also shopped for myself. I was in the store several times between August and November 2018 shopping with and for my daughter-in-law, who was going back to work after having my grandson. I did find some amazing items that were perfect for her work wardrobe over the course of approximately 6 weeks. I was gifting her these items and spent around $1100 during this time frame. This is a considerable amount of business, especially for a thrift shop, even one as good as Sandy’s. HOWEVER...the last time I was there, as I was checking out, I spied a fake Balenciaga bag on display behind the counter. I told the cashier that the bag was not real and that I hoped they were not selling it as such but he had no reaction. I did have some pieces on hold for my DIL when she could come with me to try them on. I was there with her the next day when I was approached by the “manager” on duty, who proceeded to tell me that I was no longer welcome in the store and that if I did not leave immediately, she would call the police. WHAAT!! I was flabbergasted so I asked her why and she proceeded to tell me that I was a “troublesome customer”, putting things on hold and generally causing “trouble” so they no longer wanted me as a customer. I was completely floored but did walk to the checkout desk and made my purchase. I was escorted by the manager out the door.

After this incident, I made several unsuccessful attempts to contact the owner of Sandy’s and even sent a LinkedIn post to her but received no response. My DIL tried to contact the owner through the store’s facebook but again, received no response.

About 6-8 weeks after my unpleasant encounter with the “manager”, my DIL and I entered Sandy’s to sell some items. After we filled out the paperwork, we were approached by the General Manager, who told us that she did not want me in the store and promptly asked me to leave. When I asked her why, she first cited some general BS, to which I replied that I was a really good customer and could document how much I’d spent in just the last few weeks. She then got a bit more specific, and said that I was upsetting their customers saying that the designer bags they sold were fakes. Of course this is not true because I only knew of the fake Balenciaga tote they had behind the counter. I told her that I only told the cashier this but she replied “it was loud enough for other customers to hear.” She then proceeded to tell me that all their designer bags were “authenticated”. My DIL then said: “so you provide an authentication certificate, right?” The general manager hedged a bit at this point, totally ignoring the question. Then I asked, “where do you get the bags authenticated, is there some service you use?”. Again, she ignored the question, asking me to leave. So my guess would be that she lied and that no, Sandy’s does not provide an authentication certificate and no, they do not have their designer bags authenticated. This is total BS.

I have shopped at Sandy’s for more than 20 years, both as a personal customer and for clients. I do think that their customers deserve to know that Sandy’s was definitely selling a high end handbag as genuine (as reflected in the ticket price) at least this once. And no, there is no high end authentication service that Sandy’s uses because no such service exists. High end consignment stores like TheRealReal and Poshmark, have former employees of high end brands on staff to authenticate designer goods. But Sandy’s of course, does not. And no authentication certificate is issued upon purchase of designer handbags. So buyer beware.

And if you think refusing service to such a good customer for this reason is unfair, (I was simply making the cashier aware that the Balenciaga tote was fake) then please comment...

I have kind of a love/hate relationship with Sandy's... I absolutely love shopping there, but I have been incredibly frustrated every single time I've brought in items to consign. So, this review is in two parts.

The shopping is SO much fun! I love the thrill of the hunt, especially if it ends up with me finding a bargain. In fact, if you're looking for jeans, I'd recommend you try Sandy's first, even before Ross or TJ Maxx. HUGE selection and bargains galore, from basics like Old Navy to super high-end like Hudson. The store itself is open, airy, well-lit and beautifully organized. One of my favorite finds ever was a pair of cranberry Ivanka Trump flats in suede, perfect for the holidays, on clearance for $1... not a fan of the family, but hey, cute shoes are cute shoes.

Bringing clothes in for resale, however, is another story. I swore after the last time I would NEVER do it again; however, my teenage daughter persuaded me to give it another try and she went thru every item (hers, mine, and my son's), carefully curating the items with me. I took in a laundry basket and a huge shopping bag full of stuff; of that, they offered me $5 for a pair of men's Sperry's. When I told my daughter, she was incredulous and asked, "Are you sure they actually went thru ALL of it??"

Huh. Good question, especially considering the Sperry's were on top. On unpacking the items that I'm going to give away, it became obvious that most of them hadn't been unfolded... I have a particular way of folding, and they remained folded the exact same way, in the same stacked order., which means someone had pretty much hastily flipped thru them, quickly glancing without even unfolding. Among the items refused were:

dresses from Garnet Hill and Hollister skirts from American Rag, Hollister, Izod, and Gap tops and tees from American Rag, Gap, Esprit, Club Monaco, Free People, White House/Black Market, Talbots, Cabi, and Ralph Lauren dressier tops from Ann Taylor, Cache, Bebe, and Tart boys'/mens' cargo shorts, including Paper Denim & Cloth girls' denim Hollister shorts.

Keeping in mind that all of the items were in current style, season, and in new or like-new condition, it's hard to believe that NONE of them were deemed resale worthy... but then, it's hard to imagine they got a fair evaluation when they weren't even unfolded. When my last two batches of clothes were refused, I blamed myself for bringing in stuff that was probably too "mature" (Banana Republic, White House, Loft, etc), but with most of this last batch being junior sizes, styles, and brands, I really have to wonder.

So, long review short, I do love shopping at Sandy's. I highly recommend it and will continue to shop here both for myself and my teenage kids. I always have fun shopping and I ALWAYS find something to buy. As far as bringing in clothes for resale, I'd recommend keeping your expectations low, because it can be very disappointing and frustrating have almost 100% of your...

First of all let me say that the staff are usually very friendly and the store is very clean. My major concern however is the sheer amount of fake shoes I have found here. I resell rare sneakers like Jordans and Yeezys and get a lot of my inventory from local Gainesville thrift and consignment stores such as Sandy's. I have over 500 successful sales on platforms like Goat and eBay as well as selling locally so I have a lot of knowledge on what to look for when it comes to verifying the authenticity of sneakers. But since the start of 2021, I have realistically found about 10 different pair of fake shoes here priced high as if they were authentic. This includes but is not limited to: Nike maroon foamposites, Jordan 6 green gatorades, Nike sacai waffle blue varsitys, Jordan 11 concords, Nike vapormax plus, and Yeezy 500 soft visions. When I first starting coming here I would tell the staff when I found fake shoes and show them various comparison photos on my phone of what details on them were off and they would never seem to listen. Every single shoe I mentioned above I have had authentic pairs of that I have purchased directly from Nike or Adidas or from sites like StockX or Goat. When I showed them why their maroon foamposites were fake the employee at the counter took them behind the counter, but when I came back the next day the shoes were back on the shelf, priced exactly the same with no indication on the tags that they were not authentic. You guys know what shoes are rare and therefore price them high for a reason because you realize what you have. But I think it is extremely unfair to be buying shoes you know are rare but don't bother to authenticate them before putting on the shelf, because frankly some of the fake shoes I have found here are terrible replicas. Obvious ways to tell include quality of the materials, fonts on the size tags, SKU code on the size tag, overall shape and construction of the shoe and the stitching under the insole. There are 2 apps called CheckCheck and Legit App where you can submit photos of rare sneakers where specialists will review them and tell you if they are real or authentic with reasons why. You can get results back in minutes so I see no excuse why Sandys employees should not use these apps when rare sneakers come through the door. I realize Sandy's employees don't have the same level of knowledge that I do when it comes to these rare sneakers but I think they have a certain responsibility to ensure they are not tricking their customers into paying...