I'm not from Chicago, just visiting. So I was unprepared for the spring snow storm and that meant my little one didn't have the appropriate clothing for the climate. We have a once upon a child in Mississippi where I live, and honestly they could learn a thing or two from this store. They had wonderful customer service and a relatively organized store. It was clean and I was able to maneuver through the store with my stroller. The reasons I didn't give them 5 stars is the prices on some items were just ridiculous and some items needed to be cleaned. Also the tagging and price tags were often missing or in wrong section. In addition to high prices, messy items and misleading price tags the little boys department is lack luster. Maybe an eighth of the little girls section. But the experience was still worth it because like any thrift store you find your gems, and like I said the customer service was superb. I will with out a doubt return before I leave in hope to finding some more bargain items, and would recommend this store as long as you are prepared for the semi dirty items, wonky prices and tagging and lack of little boy items. read more

Sugar & Spice and everything nice, that's what girls are made of. Trucks, dirt and toys for the dapper little boys. I had a great haul at Once Upon A Child. They have carts for convenience, an associate came around a couple time asking if I needed help. Wall to wall clothing. Lots of new with tags items. They have shoes, hair accessories, lightly used toys. Reduce, reuse, recycle is the name of their game. If you're on board with saving the planet or just want to scoop something without paying full price, for sure-stop in! Plenty of parking. read more

See all

Holley is always so friendly and helpful when I am looking for something specific and I spend a lot !

Staff was super friendly and welcoming. Store was clean and organized and there was a great deal going on, just felt as though the deal was very limited. But will definitely be back when I'm in the area. Thank you. read more

Good prices and pretty organized, nice variety as well, would recommend for sure, will visit again

I come here expecting something better every time and it just seems to get worse. Girls ignore you while they gossip about each other. Nasty attitudes. Clothes nasty because they don't care. Not coming here again read more

I came here to look around in hopes of some good finds, but honestly had a bad time with the staff. First, the store was disgusting. The clothes had a ton of stains and it smelled funky. The nastiness of the place combined with the nasty attitude I got from Tonia made it clear this was not somewhere I wanted to give my dollar to. read more

They have a big selection but it's not clean at all and they could really use some Febreeze in there

I used to like this place. I used to find cute clothes, now they're out of style, stained, or faded and they told me that my 2 baskets of baby clothes were in terrible condition. More than half of it my daughter never wore. I took my baskets to the Naperville location and they bought more than half of it. This location is crammed and aisles are hard to walk down. I don't mind driving a little longer to the Naperville location, its cleaner and more organized. read more

I love this store. I'm disappointed that they would accept filthy toys, however. But I've found beautiful items for great prices otherwise. The ladies who work there are very friendly and helpful. read more

I had high hopes. This store is disgusting. It stinks of cigarette! There are air fresheners everywhere but they don't help the stink. The workers are lazy and rude. The amount of money they offer you for your items is laughable. DISGUSTING!!! read more

almost a year ago i left the review below on yelp and google. a person from "corporate" lied in a response to my review on google and said they tried contacting me. i THEN wrote an email directly to that lady, who's name is Alexandria and i never got a response. She was just trying to make it appear like they handle their business. what makes me mad most about this dumb situation is that i never once was acknowledged in any way. what happened in my case wasn't the end of the world, but it sure was a case of dishonesty and it was a ripoff and it needed to be dealt with and it wasn't and no one so much as even apologized. that is extremely bad and greedy business. i was hoping i could give these people the benefit of the doubt once i heard from them but i never heard from them because the whole business is bad. from non caring corporate all the way down to all the rude employees. i stand by my bad reviews of this business. these dishonest liars referred to as 'employees' sold me a dirty, rusted out item that later i was told i can't return. this is how customers are treated? don't go to this store. not only am i extremely disappointed at how i was treated over the phone while explaining the concern i had with the item i purchased, i also am completely dissatisfied and irritated at the fact that i contacted so called "corporate" and they STILL have not gotten back to me. i bought a bouncy seat. was lied to that there are no batteries in it because they "always check every item and make sure it works before setting it out on the floor." not only was that a lie, there WERE batteries in there and one exploded, therefore ruining the entire thing. so no. it does not work and will not work again. my question is, how did someone sell this to THEM?? the screw was SO rusted thst i had to break the plastic to even get it in. and under one of the batteries i found a dime. smh. so it's IMPOSSIBLE that anyone checked ANYTHING before putting it on the floor to be sold. so this means someone tried getting into it but couldn't and so they shrugged their shoulders and slapped a tag on it and put it out to be sold. that's just pure greed. and obviously routine at this location. and silly me, i asked questions about it before i bought it and trusted this was an honest business with honest people and took their word for it that it worked and was in fine condition. i was very wrong n ill never make that mistske again. no one apologized for their lies or error. And the "manager" got nasty with me over the phone as if i had no right to be upset. i will NEVER ever go to this store again. i'd recommend to NOT go to orland park either. it's completely disorganized and there's are hundreds of dirty clothes that they expect you to pay full price for. i asked one lady had they changed their standards for accepting clothes. she said no but "some clothes ARE going to be stained and so that's just the way it is." how appalling. one dress looked like a baby puked coke on it. yea, it was that big of a stain yet it was hanging up with the rest of the clothes. there were TONS of stains on tons of clothes. i regret ever giving this store my business read more

See all

What a dump. That's all that needs said, but I'll elaborate a bit. The employees are rude & really I don't want or need to listen to your conversations about things I don't need to know about. So shhh you are at work. Walk around & ask if the customer needs help. The store stinks. It's dirty. I probably got hand foot & mouth just walking in. Seriously, you'd sell things if you washed things when they come in. Your things are over priced for the quality & condition of most things. And I take care of my things. I brought things in to sell once. Nice things. Things I would buy if they were in your store, but you gave all but one outfit back. Yet you take in ripped & stained things in & put overpriced price tags on them to sell?! read more

This place is huge! So many items. Many of the prices are high, imho. Some items I can purchase new at Walmart and I have done so. It is somewhat difficult to reach some items as the place is packed. If you need something for kids, this place probably has it. Just be aware of the prices. read more

I dropped off a stroller, a pack 'n play, and crib bedding. The store was fairly empty, but you'd never know it by the unhelpful staff!! I asked one employee if she could hold the door or prop it open, since another lady and I were trying to bring in our loads of stuff. She said yes, but never did anything to help us. Then none of the staff explained anything about the process. We had to ask what the policy was. All the employees behind the desk were not worried about assisting the customers. The staff could not be bothered by them asking questions. Very rude customer service!!! read more

We recently moved here from Virginia. I love once upon a child. However, waking into this store I was shocked. All their strollers and swings were very dirty and stained. There was even a stroller that had old cheerios on it! There was a swing with a sign that said gently used. It was very used and in terrible condition. All the kids shoes were extremely beat up too. I can honestly say I won't be going back. read more

If I could give 0 stars I would. This place is unorganized and dirty. WORST customer service I've EVER seen. They even told one lady in front of me to "try to have a garage sale" instead to sell her items she had. All the workers look miserable. VERY picky with items they buy, so I wouldn't bother. I'd rather donate to goodwill for free than give these rude people my service again. Also, clearance items need to be sorted and ORGANIZED!!!!! Horrible place. Would NOT recommend. read more

This place is ok. I'll come here for odds and ends or things I'll only use a handful of times and even then I'm picky. When it comes to toys and baby furniture: I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt that they take in a lot of items and don't have time to clean them thoroughly. But it doesn't even look like they give them a once over for appearance sake. I wanted to buy my son a swing when he was an infant and I didn't because they were all dirty. Same when I looked for a highchair to take to his sitter's house and a spare pack and play. Yeah, I could've purchased it and taken it home and washed everything (which really should be done anyway) but I wasn't sure the stains would come out. There's items in there that I know are newer (because I have the same thing for my son) and they look like they've been put through the ringer between the stains and wear and tear. My son's items still look brand new- even the heavily used items. This makes me hesitate to bring my items in to sell. The couple items I have purchased (a chair and pack and play) were new in the box and decently priced. When it comes to the clothes: I've come here for when my son suddenly hit a growth spurt and I needed clothes to get him to the next size I already had on hand for him (from baby shower etc). Took some digging and found some cute things. Bought mostly new with tag items. I noticed some stuff on the racks was stained and worn or slightly damaged. It's a little difficult to navigate through the store as it is packed tight and you really need to dedicate some time to dig through the crammed racks. Not super easy with an antsy kid. The minimal interaction I've had with staff they've been friendly. The store is dirty. The carpet is stained. There's kind of an over all dingy feel to the place and it smells weird. read more

I wish I had known about this place prior to having my baby! Everything here is catered to infants and children. You can find great conditioned second hand (some new with tags) nursery furniture, accessories, toys, apparel and shoes. I was able to buy 9 articles of clothing (18m-2t) for only $30! I highly recommend this place. read more

This store is now under new management. Out of all the Once Upon a Child stores I've been to (Orland Park, Chicago Ridge, Oak Brook), this one is as good as it gets. I went in yesterday just to browse for my 11 month old son while thinking, "I know I'm not going to find anything good in here but what the hell", and was amazed at the amount of nice clothes/jackets for him. And when I say "nice", I mean these clothes were not discolored, frayed, faded, and beat up - yet they were being sold for great resale prices. They looked like they were laundered, ironed and pressed, and that there was actual thought put into their quality versus whether they were simply name brand. I even saw a few items I know came from Target, but you know what - that's OK, because the items were still in tip-top shape and reasonably priced (under $3). I even bought a couple of toys (and I never do used toys) that needed a little sprucing up with Lysol wipes and we were good to go. Also, at the other OUC's, I would never find nice clothes for my seven year old daughter. But this location had tons of beautiful, unique, and high quality options in the size 9/10 range. I got about four outfits for my daughter, seven outfits for my son, nick knacks and toys - paid a little over $100. Might I also add that their stroller selection was immaculate! Every stroller lined up in front was CLEAN and ready for use - imagine that! I wouldn't have hesitated to purchase a stroller right away if we didn't already have one. Kudos to the new manager and her team! read more

Absolutely love it. HUGE place, full of "gently used" baby and kid clothing, toys, gear, and accessories. Easy to find what you're looking for, and the prices are fantastic. More pricey than going to garage sales, less than shopping new, and a heck of a lot easier!! read more

This store and its staff are fantastic! So much nicer and more organized then the rt. 59 location in Naperville. They accomplish a great resale environment even tho their volume of clothes is significantly higher then any of the other resale stores. They also achieved the ultimate goal of a resale store, I bought clothes for my kids while waiting to sell mine!!! The clothes are anywhere from well used to new with tags! I will always drive past the Naperville location and go the extra 30 minutes to the crest hill location. read more

I've been in this store many times, and today was the worst. It smelled horrible. Also, I brought two laundry baskets of very nice boys winter clothes. I never take anything there that has holes or stains. THEY ONLY BOUGHT 5 OF MY ITEMS OUT OF TWO BIG LAUNDRY BASKETS!! If you look at what they have hanging on the racks, most of it is sub par garbage. I want to know how stuff with holes and stains ends up on the racks, and they are also so picky with what I bring in. I will never shop again. Also posting on Facebook this experience. read more

Best Once Upon A Child in the area .. Been to several others and none of them are like this one .. Huge store , organized and great sales !!! Always great customer service . read more

I use to shop here often when my son was small, but he's almost 11 now so there's nothing in there for him. Even though they moved into the old Crows Nest it's still WAY to small, I popped in the other day & there's just so much s#£t everywhere I had to leave!!! Way to overwhelming!!!! It's a damn hazard to your health in that place!!! They need a bigger space!!!! read more

DO NOT SELL YOUR CLOTHES HERE! Horrible experience! I sold them over 150 items of children clothing and they gave me a check for $193. It took me 3 weeks to get that money into my bank account! The check they gave me was a bad check the bank deny it right away. I called and they kept telling me that the issue was taken care of that everything should be fine and it wasn't. After MANY phone calls I was told that they will mail me the check since I live 30 miles away. Well after 8 days and NO CHECK in the mail I gave them a call and was told there was a miscommunication and they couldn't mail the check! Why I wasn't told I don't know so I finally had to drive 30 miles to get my check 3 weeks after selling my clothes! Ridiculous! Just a whole nightmare situation! read more

We used to really love this location for buying gently used baby clothes and gear. The past year or so they seem to have gone off their game with the sale of dingey, overly used items. I haven't found anything of quality the past few times I've been in. From a seller's perspective, I went in this fall with a bag of really good quality items for sale and they only bought the first five things off the top of the bag and handed the rest back. It seems like they've overwhelmed their inventory with things they can't sell and are in need of an overhaul. They have a tendency lately toward "flash sales," where they'll offer for instance, 15% off denim as if they're a legit clothing distributor. This comes off as a little tackey when the majority of their inventory is so used it really ought to be repurposed, and consumers can find better quality by shopping garage sales. read more

I love the selection and the prices of most items are pretty good. Name brand jeans for my daughter for 10-15 bucks. Some things look a little worn, but I expect that from a resale shop. If it was really that bad I wouldn't buy them. I hear from a lot of people about the actual process of dropping the clothes off and getting paid for them. They usually will give you about 30% of what they will sell it for, so if they are selling jeans for $10, they will give you $3. It also depends on how much of something they have in stock, or if the items you bring in are popular. If you bring in something brand new with tags and it is not current, they aren't going to take it. As for the customer service, I haven't had a bad experience with them. They are helpful when I ask a question and they don't hover when you are trying to look for things or trying things on. They are usually behind the counter checking items in, or sorting the massive pile of clothes that people have tried on and discarded. Overall, it is a great place to check out and save money. Like any resale shop you have to look through the racks to find something you like. I would much rather come here and pay $10 for a great pair of jeans (name brand, wear well, long lasting) than $10 for a pair of target jeans, that I will have to replace in a few months. read more

I don't even want to give one star!!!!! The people there are rude and dirty! I came in to sell a bag of clothes and the first problem was there was a 3.5 hour wait! I finally came back after 4 hrs and she didn't know where my stuff was..then she asked a co-worker and she found it. They gave me my bag back and told me it was a no buy because they weren't taking those items. I was completely pissed so I asked the other worker why my skectkers..a&f...justice and children's place clothes were refused and she began to tell me that they found a few pieces of animal hair on a piece of clothing but if I rewarded them maybe they'd consider taking them! What!!!????? I spent an hr looking thru clothes for my daughter when I dropped these items off and found only 5 pieces of clothing that were worth buying but I decided not to purchase them when they refused my stuff!!! There are numerous items in there store that are ripped..stained..pilled..hairy and smelly they they've bought but my bag with a few dog hairs just was unacceptable!! Kiss off!! I've spent hundreds of dollars over the past 10 years there but I wouldn't go back to this store if they begged me! read more

save your gas money and time. we offered them over 150 pieces of children's clothing. they said it would take 30 minutes, after waiting 25 minutes, i walked to the counter to find the two employees talking, hadn't touched our items. we were quoted another 15 minutes and the employee made a smart alec comment. i waited another 30 minutes. a large percentage of the clothes had tags and hadn't been worn. the employee going through the clothes took 15 pieces, they tried offering $11 for jackets, name brand button up shirts, new with tag jeans and sweaters. they stated the other clothes were faded and stained... our son wore most of the clothing items once or twice or not at all. the ones he was more attached to were not being sold due to sentiment. what a pathetic and insulting experience. i took all the items i planned to purchase and put them back on the shelves. i refuse to patronize this establishment. 15 items they would have made $150+ (based on my research of their average price point) they wanted to sell for $11. what a joke. unethical and poorly trained to uphold a standard of poor morals and common business practices. also its a children's clothing store. the music should fit the clientele. not the club kids employed at said establishment. read more

My husband and I had our first child in August of 2012 and we purchased very expensive baby items. A friend of ours told us about Once Upon a child and how they buy gently used things for a fraction of the retail value. We decided to take our pottery barn bassinet (valued at $200) that we only used for one month, about ten sleepers, five two piece outfits and three pairs of baby shoes from stride rite ($30 a pair). We stood in line for twenty minutes on a Saturday afternoon just to find out that there was a three hour wait before we would find out if they wanted to buy our things or not. I looked around the store for a while and I will say that the items they sell are very nice and reasonably priced. My baby got fussy and we decided to go to the mall and come back. Upon returning we were offered $50 for all our items. This place is good for the buyer but not for the seller. I decided to take my items back home and sell online. read more