Buffalo Exchange — Local services in Minneapolis

Very disappointed with the service I have received my past couple visits. I have been coming to buffalo exchange since 2015 regularly and bought many clothes and supported this business for years. As of now I am never going back and I would advise that people go support other consignment or thrift stores. The first time I experienced terrible service was about one week ago when I went to this store with my Uncle. So my uncle who is Native American was sent to sell his wife’s authentic Louis Vuitton purse, since she bought it impulsively a few years ago and never touched it and wanted to sell it and buy a new purse with it.

Hearing this I told my uncle that there is this really good store that I frequently go to and recommend he come here with me to sell it, even if only for store credit since they have nice stuff. When we arrived to try and sell this item multiple ladies at the store stared at him as if he was some sort of vagrant thief. He went to talk with the buyers and After a few minutes of waiting she took a look at the purse for under 30 seconds. She briefly just touched the inside without looking at labels or anything and told him it’s fake ,since :”Louis Vuitton doesn’t feel like that.” and that she won’t offer anything on it. This was extremely ignorant and offensive and proved that their buyers have no knowledge of luxury items since this item was a limited edition Authentic Louis Vuitton that was made with a different material rather then the ‘iconic Louis Vuitton bag’

Rather then just saying that they weren’t interested in buying it she told him that it’s a fake and that it is illegal to sell.This was offensive since he himself actually had the receipt for this item at home and spent his own hard earned money years ago to purchase this item for his wife and still had receipts to prove his purchase. Just earlier this same day we were at another consignment store that specializes in luxury handbags and where it’s their job to spot fakes and were offered 750$ but he thought he could get more. The fact that the buyer didn’t even actually look at his item but just glanced at him and told him that it was fake is all the proof you need to know that this store has extremely discriminatory and bigoted business practices.

For some reason I was so naive that I put a few items on hold and was willing to give this store another chance. I wanted to bring some of my own items I had been wanting to sell since I had grown out of them, not due to the condition or quality of the clothes and possibly purchase a few items I put on hold. So I went to the store with a fairly large bag of clothing that consisted of Men’s Clothings from Brands such as; Calvin Klein, Banana republic, Ralph Lauren, Multiple brands from Macy’s, a few pairs of basic shorts, pants and shirts, and even two designer shirts, one Armani and the other from Hugo Boss. My girlfriend who is Latina was with me and I have a feeling this caused my treatment. I was shocked and told her that she didn’t even look through the bag and she told me: “I’m sorry but these items aren’t trending so I can’t offer you anything.” I was in disbelief that she disrespected me like this ,instead of taking a couple minutes to actually look through my items and then decide if she wanted to purchase anything, she just tossed the two least valuable items from The top and said she won’t offer anything. After this she didn’t take the time to even properly fold the items and put them in the bag. She threw them on top all wrinkled and handed it too me and said have a good one rather then listening to anything I had to say and moved on to the next customer.

Sorry for the long post but I want more people to know about the way this company treats their customers and how they immediately dismiss, assume the worst and disrespect minorities or the people who associate with them. This company lost a long time customer, and I will go out of my way to advise everyone to boycott this business if they care about how companies practice equity and believe...

I’ve exchanged clothing here before and had good experiences. That all changed the last time I went in. I was early and when I walked in the person at the selling counter said “I’ll be right with you” I replied “thank you, can I leave my bag here while I browse?” they said, this time with hostility, “I said I’ll be with you in a moment!” I should have left then but I figured they were busy and stressed and I’ve worked retail so I know how that is. So I left my bag and looked around the store. As I was looking through the dresses I overheard the same person having some sort of staff meeting and speaking about people who come in to sell, the way they were ripping on people coming in without appointments, what they bring in, etc. was beyond arrogant. Again, should have left but waited for my turn. While they looked through my bag, I continued browsing. I found one cute dress after looking through everything and then the person sorting my things came and found me. I knew that they had conferred with the other rude person because I saw them talking when I glanced over to see if they had finished a couple of times. The person who came over to me said they were keeping the sunglasses but everything else was “a little outdated” or not in good enough condition. LOL. Half the clothing in the bag was from last fall, I have a rule that I recycle if I get anything new. I would never bring clothing in bad condition anywhere, that fabric gets recycled into something else. There were Isabel Marant and Missoni pieces in there, which was obviously lost on the lead buyer of this piace. Yeah, they kept the cheap $10 sunglasses from ASOS though. When I was browsing there was so much cheap stuff from forever 21 and h&m and there were pieces that were definitely from a time long before last fall. I think this place needs a new buyer, one who isn’t so arrogant. I lived in LA up until the pandemic and I have family in Italy so I am in these places as much as possible and I can tell you, this little store in Minneapolis and it’s lead buyer are anything but on trend. Not only are their clothing choices questionable and outdated, their attitude is as well. People aren’t nearly as arrogant in other places. Especially after what we’ve all been through int he last couple of years. Perhaps they were having a real bad day after all, I don’t know. What I do know is that I’ll never be back. And I sure hope no one gets charged more than the $10 I paid for those ridiculous knock off...

I LOVE or maybe loved this place previously but my last experience brought on a surprising level of disappointment - not only with selling items, but also their selection. I brought in a bag of clothes, a bag of accessories and a brand new pair of heels, still in the box. I dropped them off and was excited to wonder the store (I also have a $50 gift card burning a hole in my pocket as well).

As I looked around I was excited to see the accessories - they have a great selection - but then I started looking at the price tags...$11 for a necklace, $17 for a pair of obviously worn shoes...then I saw a pair of sandals, TARGET sandals for $9.50 from two summers ago. Are you kidding? TARGET brand anything, 2nd hand, for over $8 is insane, no matter what it is. I can go on Amazon and get the same quality of merchandise NEW for that - AND fee shipping, AND then I don't have to use gas or my time either! The dresses were the same, many low brand items, priced over $10 and they weren't that well taken care of either. And let me tell you - anything you're trying to sell that has a stain on it - please, don't be pretentious enough to sell it for over $12. Just don't.

Then, the nice gal at the front desk politely told me that they didn't want anything I had - which I am typically TOTALLY fine with hearing, no problem - but comparing what I had - many higher quality items, barely worn - to what they were attempting to sell at prices I can get all those items at on a good clearance day...I left confused on disappointed.

Over all I have to say this round, I was highly disappointed with what they were trying to sell at the prices they were doing so. I understand that Uptown is growing and changing, but why you didn't want my $120 ALDO heels I wore once for a wedding this year, but you bought someones TARGET sandals, from 2 summers ago, and tried to sell them instead? You have got to be kidding.

I do plan to try again in a few weeks - hoping for better...