CONSIGNMENT SHOPPING IN THE GTA.
If you’ve been reading my blog from the beginning you know one of my main intentions since starting this blog was to stop spending so much money on fashion. One reason, I just own way to many clothes, it’s actually grotesque and most of the time I don’t even wear half the stuff. Two, fast fashion is such a huge negative impact on our environment and since having a child I’ve really wanted to decrease my carbon footprint.
Thrifting is a great way to get rid of old items in your closet, as well as replenish items (only if needed of course . . . Right?) and reduce your carbon footprint by not buying fast fashion.
While I was on my maternity leave, sometimes I found myself with more time on my hands in a day than usual. Which would lead to tackling chores I wouldn’t normally tackle. One of which would be going through my closet and seeing exactly just how many clothes I in fact didn’t wear. Being on a fixed budget during my mat leave, I was also looking for extra ways to earn a few spare bucks here and there. Instead of just thrifting my pre-loved clothing, I decided to visit some consignment stores in hopes of selling some of the items. I visited 2 of the more popular buy and sell’s within the GTA and outlined them below, so you too can earn some extra cash on your used clothing, or at least get free clothes by trading in your old items!
My first stop, and where I’ve been most successful, is Style Encore .
This is a good stop for the office lady, and probably why I was so successful “selling” here. Most of the clothing I mostly had to sell was old work clothes, from a pre-mummy life. Style Encore is more upscale brand items but at great discounted pricing. They have mostly business attire but also some casual wear, jeans and athletic wear. So, a lot of options for selling from your cloest and making some moolah. I ended up making around $40 and getting those pair of booties pictured below for free! Win, win. The other plus is they don’t buy by season like other consignment stores, they’ll buy winter or summer items all season long.
My second stop, was Style Encore’s sister store, Plato’s Closest.
This store is the younger more casual in trend sister. The clothes they buy and sell are trendier and they pretty much only buy items that are in style at the moment, or at oldest the season before’s trends. Therefore, if you have clothes from a season or two prior it’s likely they won’t buy them, but it’s still worth a try. Plato’s is also a little more casual chic, than professional office attire. Like Style Encore they too buy winter and summer items all year round. I’d classify the style of clothing in this store as what you’d find in the soon to be buh bye Forever 21 and H&M. This is a great stop for up to date fashion items at low low prices and without leaving a huge carbon footprint by getting your wardrobe in trend.
Have you ever consigned shop and tried either of these places?
If not, what places have you tried? I’d love to know!
Another noteable mention, but I’ve only ever visited the one location in Sauble Beach, and only ever for buying. The Patch. There are only 4 locations, Guelph, Cambridge, Peterborough and Sauble. The store in Sauble has a GREAT selection of all sorts of styles. Super casual wear, workout gear, hipster trends, fancy dresses, work items. I find it's more geared to the younger crowd, my sister always fares well there. Again, this is solely based on visiting only the location in Sauble, I’m not sure what the other locations are like.
