In my opinion, there are two kinds of successful consignment stores, the boutique kind that are small, well curated and higher price, and the others that are larger, unorganized, that take nearly anything, but are well priced so things move fast. Goodbyes had the look and feel of the later, with the prices of the former.
I didn't know there were two stores so seeing a big SALE sign, I walked into the men's side where they have women's on sale. Okay, cast off clothes are one thing, but cast off's on sale. YIKES! There were hundreds of sad, worn out garments, not for $5-$10 but for $40 - $60!!! Are you kidding me??? The vibe of the place was dark and almost dingy. There was faint smell of Chinese food coming from somewhere. There was a commotion upstairs where apparently they have an office. I spent about 5 minutes and turned to leave. On my way out the sales girl complemented my purse, and though I thought it was a weird thing to do, I was nice and participated in a little small talk. She told me there were lots of great handbags across the street at the other store... oh, another store. I assumed it was going to be the nice boutique I had hoped for. I was wrong. The place was big, over crowded with merch, and way too expensive.
The store had about 10 women and one very weird looking guy pawing through the racks. I started off straight ahead where nobody was and found lots and lots of overpriced sweaters. One was totally pilled, another was stained. This was thrift store quality stuff with price tags of $60 - $80, my heart was sinking. I found the evening wear, some cute things, but the prices were high for what they were. I took down one dress and before I knew it, a girl was taking it out of my hands saying she would hold it for me. Okay, whatever. I turned down an isle that looked promising, it was labeled "Designer" and it was long. The rack did have lots of designer labels, but they were priced really high for what they were. It seemed there was no rhyme or reason to the pricing. It was designer, so it was expensive, even if it's totally out of style, ugly, or worn out. There was a fat section of St John knits... does anyone wear those anymore?? There were a few Chanel cashmere sweaters, but really ugly ones. There was a section of really expensive things, a few really cute coats, but the prices were insane. I know some of the jackets were cheaper when they were on the sale rack at Saks 5 years ago. I really think the pricers are high on something or perhaps its just random pricing, like pin the tale on the donkey.
I was getting really tired of being there so I went to try on the one dress that seemed okay. The girl who took the dress was nowhere to be seen, so I went to the rack where I saw my dress tied with a men's tie. As soon as I reached for it a girl flew up behind me saying something I really could not understand. She pushed me aside and handed me the dress, as I turned to go into the room she yelled I needed a number, and she handed me a number. Whew, I was one step closer to leaving this level of hell. The dressing room also is where they keep their huge shoe collection. Here they had the same problem, the "designer" shoes were way overpriced for worn shoes, and the non-designer shoes were also overpriced for used shoes. I tried on the dress behind an Ikea curtain, the dressing room was FREEZING COLD!! The dress was okay, but not great. It was $89, a bargain compared to the other ones I was looking at, but by then I was so done with the Goodbyes experience I got dressed, gave back the dress and the number, and headed for the door. On my way out I noticed some Hermes scarves in the case. I love Hermes scarves so I asked to see a few. The girl behind the counter scowled at me and told me they are expensive, like she didn't want to bother showing them to me if I wasn't going to buy them. At that, I was done. I left and will never return again. read more