Calico Trading Co. — Local services in San Luis Obispo

I recently visited this store to donate a variety of high-quality clothing items, many of which were brand-new with tags or lightly worn from PR packages and brand deals I’ve received as an influencer. However, my experience was extremely disappointing.

Despite the excellent condition of the items, none were accepted. While I understand that stores have specific guidelines for what they take in, the lack of explanation and the dismissive attitude I encountered were unprofessional and uncomfortable. The employee who returned my items made an unnecessary remark, stating, “We’re not going to be buying any of these things from you,” in a condescending manner.

My intention was never about making money, as their offer would have only been a small percentage of the value. Instead, I planned to use the funds to support my annual initiative of creating goody bags for the homeless in Los Angeles on my birthday. A friend who frequently sells similar items at this location was also surprised by the treatment I received, raising concerns about potential bias in their selection process.

Regardless of the reasoning, the experience was disappointing and left me feeling unwelcome. I cannot recommend this store, particularly to individuals from marginalized communities, as the environment felt...

As we all know, SLO has lots of certain things (sandwich joint, anybody?) and not enough of others. We are in no short supply of thrift stores, no sir! However, Calico is filling a gap of what any rad college town needs: a true second hand clothing store.

We went on their grand opening day (because we're cool like that) and it's clear that the owner has done it right. Store was clean, well organized, and the selection was great. My wife found three or four winners, and I'm excited to keep going back to see what else I can find. Selection was geared towards a wide range of ages it seemed.

Was approached by a woman who warmly introduced herself, turns out that she's the owner. A true SLO County native who's turning over a new career leaf... and is doing it well. Excited to see this place...

I really like this store! It’s clean and local and always has good options. However, I had a pretty lame experience. I bought a pair of sandals a few days ago in a rush. The cashier did not tell me I would not be able to return or exchange, or else I would not have bought them. I went back to exchange them because they didn’t fit (tags still on) and they would not even give me a store credit. I was fully planning on buying a few things and spending much more money than the 18$ return for the sandals. The cashier just stared at me and was so unhelpful. Seems like pretty common sense that happy customers are returning customers, so hopefully they will consider...