Plato’s Closet Experience
Like many before me who got burned by Plato’s closet….Our fate arrived yesterday.
My oldest daughter loves Plato’s Closet. She has been buying her clothes there for the past couple years. I was even considering on getting her a gift card for her birthday this year. Well not any more!
For those of you who do not know, Plato’s Closet is a very trendy hip used clothing store that caters to kids 13-20 years of age. They sell mall brand clothing like Hollister, Old Navy, Gap,Forever 21,Rue, Billabong,Guess, Abercrombie,True Religion and the alike type clothing. You get the pictture.
Many times you can find new clothing with their tags still on. We saw a pair of Blue jeans that the original tags said $183.00 new. They were selling for $40 dollars. Not that I would ever spent 40 dollars for a pair of blue jeans for one of my kids, but others would, I know.
Then there was a Forever 21 top that the retail tag said $18.90, it was priced for only $6.00, which is right up my ally.
When my daughter goes there, she spends about $30-40 dollars and comes home with several new outfits. She is a Capri/blue jean type of girl and she loves cute baby-doll tops, and Billabong Tees.
They also sell gently used shoes,DVDs, Books and costume jewelery. I have bought many pieces of jewelery myself there. Mostly bangles and a few beaded necklaces. found a necklace with my name on it a while back too.
They also sell bags, purses and scarves.
We first started going there a couple years ago when my daughters started collecting Vera Bradley bags. They retail for 40-60 dollars new, but you can find them in like new condition for $10-15 dollars, and a couple times for even $8 dollars.
Each time we have paid in the past, the sales lady has asked us if we would be interested in selling there. Each time I have declined, as we normally just Free-cycle all the stuff that the kids either out grow, or decide that they do not like.
That said, My two oldest are getting to the age where mom does not pick out their clothing anymore. Sad, I know! It means they are growing up. I trust them, and they dress very nice, but in the past when I had hit a good sale some place and bought them home something, I could see it in their eyes that they did not really care for the pattern, color etc.
This past Christmas I bought my oldest daughter a couple of long sleeve tops and a hoodie. They all had stripes on them, as I knew from when she was a little girl, she always loved stripes..Well, not no more! She was too gracious to hurt my feelings, and they went to her room, never to return! lol
I bought her another top last month, it too was striped, and it was mostly black, only to have it too, disappear to the room and never to seen from again!
This prompted me to ask her one day a couple weeks ago if she would like to go through her closet, which is a pretty large walk-in closet..over packed with clothing. I asked her if she wanted to try to weed out a few dozen items and try to take them to Plato’s Closet to sell.
Unlike other consignment stores Plato’s buys on the spot. They only require that the clothing to be current fashion, name brands only, no stains, rips etc. Their website states that the clothing should be less then 2 years old, and still in current style. Great!
Well, my daughters were rather excited at the prospect on earning a few bucks. They quickly came up with a few dozen items, and I too, though in some costume jewelry that I no longer wear and about 4 pocket books. Mostly stuff that I had either picked up from the Goodwill, or bought at Plato’s in the past year.
I set everything out on the kitchen table and told my daughter that everything looked good except a couple Walmart clothing items. I knew that even though they might be considered trendy, I was pretty certain Plato’s would not take them because I read all their terms on-line. My other daughter had placed a few long skirts in the mix too, and I knew they would not sell either, because they only sell mini skirts & dresses at Plato’s. Oh, and look at all these striped garments I pointed out, even with their tags still on them!! LOL Daughter dear came forward and told me that she does not like striped anything..or black anything! *G*
Currently, one of my daughters is really into the Victorian poetic look. She would never find these types of Lacey high neck things anywhere now adays, but since that look is considered “trendy vintage” , she is able to find stuff like this at Plato’s. She also likes the plaid western look and has found severel blouses to go with her denim skirts that fit the mark.
My oldest use to only wear dresses and skirts, but is now finding her own little nitch, and basically dresses for comfort. YAY FOR COMFORT!
This being Capri’s,jeans, tees and tops. Don’t ask me about her shoes though! They are not for comfort! lol
She likes heels! Not pumps, but cute little platform hemp sandals. I think she has almost a dozen or so. I use to wear the same style when I was her age. I guess some styles never cease. :o)
Truth be told… I find it rather ironic we buy anything at Plato’s, but we spit and chew. The ultra loud rap music makes our head spin, but we have learned to tune it out. Many times you will see people break out in dance while shopping!
Once a girl shopping there, maybe 14 or so, walked up to my more conservative daughter and asked her why she was wearing an Amish dress. I have no clue why this other girl even cared..mind your own bussiness), but you know how snotty some girls can be..
Anyway, my daughter always handles herself with so much assertiveness & poise. She simply pointed out that the girls style was obviously jeans and a tee-shirt, and “HER” style was Amish Dresses. I am so proud of her! She has a huge mixture of clothing, but loves the old fashion look the best. It really does suit her.
She does get ridiculed for it though. Especially at church!! Yep, ya read that right!
A couple weeks ago she was at a VBS and had a girl walk up to her and laugh, at how she was dressed!!! At bible school no less!!!! I tell ya, Church is just as bad as public school, maybe worst!
She told me that she handled it the same way that she has in the past.
I have to give her credit too, I would not have been so kind. I am only human!
I told her how proud I was of her, however had it been me… I would have pointed out that “I” have my own style thank you very much! and, as I would be saying this to the her, I would look her up and down, and then look at all the other girls,and tell her that apparently, she does NOT! (have her own style that is) I then would probably tell her that I am NOT a follower, but a leader and it is a real shame that she is nothing more then ordinary…a puppy dog follower..
(This is what I would have said when I was HER age!) I would never actually say anything like this nowadays…I have matured…I might think it though! he-he!
Yes, not exactly the right thing to do, and I am so happy that my daughter is so poise, yet assertive! Gotta love that girl!!
Now getting back to Plato’s, and the Love/Hate relationship that we have with them now…
The tees and jeans are great, and of extremely good quality, the jewelry shoes and purses are equally great. They even take men’s clothing and shoes. All super trendy mall brands only. Huge sneaker sizes that you certainly would not find just anywhere. I had no idea that a man can have a size 14 shoe!!! *fainting*
I think the “idea” of Plato’s is great. I love the fact that there is a local alternative for teens to go and purchase name brand clothing that they know will hold up with mass amounts of washing, without having to spend all day at the mall. I see the big picture, and what an over night success the store has been. There are 4 in my state alone, with hundreds nation wide. WOW!
SO, we fold every thing nicely and place it all in several laundry baskets. Their website states that they will not even look at your clothing if is it in bags, and not folded. Crazy, I know! Such snoots!
We drive 45 mins. Walk in… to be told that we need to wait at least an hour. Even though the store was practically empty, and the 3 employees were texting and walking around laughing at one another!
Any sane person would have said, never mind and just left, but I was willing to put in the time for my daughters sake. I told the staff that a hour would be fine, and we would just browse around the store while we waited. She then makes me sign a contract that states we will not leave the store during this time!!
I felt like I was at the hospital taking a glucose test! LOL (pregnant joke)
The store was pretty empty because the previous day there was a fill a bag for $20 dollars. On sale days, they do not accept any clothing though. Apparently BAGS are ok on sale days! GRIN! Last month they would not even give you a bag for your stuff that you bought. They said they were taking a stand on being more GREEN!!! LOL
So, we looked and looked, and looked some more. One of my daughters found a change purse, and the other found a braided belt. They went to pay, this was about 30 mins into it. The employee asked her if she wanted to wait to use a store credit. I told her no, it was only $5 dollars for both items and we would just pay.
We paid, and watched, as two of the employees grazed over my daughters clothing asking one another if THEY would wear it???? Say what???
Is this how they determine what to buy? Everyones style is not the same! Is it??
I watched from afar as the snotty girls rumaged through the remainder of purses, shoes and clothing, whispering and giggleing, how all this stuff was soooooo LAST SEASON!!
They even laught at a pair of pink Adidas shoes that I am still seeing local teens wearing still!! The leather clogs got thrown back into the basket as though they were a rag…. as well did all the clothing and Fall/Winter hand-bags! They didn’t even bother to refold anything!
Here it is August and with Fall fast aproaching, I thought for certain all the Fall colored items, as well as the bags would be taken. But nope!
They call my name, and we head on up only to be told that they will only purchase 3 items from us. The rinestone peacock earrings, the copper cuff bracelet, and the Gladiater sandals. My jaw dropped, and the girl added that all this clothing, shoes and bags are simply not stylish enough to be sold in their store!!!!!!
I was shocked! I told her, most of these things came from THIS store. She just repeated herself, while calling the next person who was waiting their own fate..Oh, and here is the kicker!! She gave us only $4.03 for all 3 items!!!
So there you have it folks….Can I go back and TP & egg their door??? *G*
This prompted us to come home and do some Googling. We found, dozens, NO! Hundreds, of folks that have walked the Platos Fate!! Otherwise known as…walking the PLANK!
They even have a boycott webpage. We read about girls who have brought Macys, and Dior clothing to them, only to be told they are not intrested. Other girls have bought hundreds of dollars worth of high end blue jeans…only to be handled over 20 bucks for 50 pairs!!
Got an Authentic Coach bag that you paid $400 dollars for? Well, Platos will give you $10 for it! That is only if it is still like new!!
All and all, this has been a HUGE learning expirence for my kids. A store that they really loved, is somewhat tarnished now.
My husband says it is all part of the system, and it is a bussiness. He is most definetly right..Bussiness’s often times get Greedy.
Will we shop there in the future? I have no idea..It is like Walmart..Yes, we can Boycott them like so many other Christians do. They would rather support the local ma & pa type stores, and who wouldn’t. Of course we would rather support the locals…But we would have to have double the income coming in.
I would love to support Ma & Pa..but Would need 20 bucks to buy 3-4 items, as with mega greedy places like Wally-World..I could purchase 8-10 things.
We do not do our grocery shopping at Walmart any more, but for the little things…Yep, Walmart is the one stop shop…If I need a toothbrush, Mascara, cat food and Windex.
SO…..
If my daughters want good quality clothing and do not want to use all their money on ONE item, they will have to bite the bullet, and face the Plato Vipers!!
This world is not fair, but we all seem to be playing the same game, or have in the past….
