Runway Fashion Exchange

This placed popped up in my neighborhood and I’d been meaning to clean out my closet. Long story short, I had a very nice experience here (hence the «a-​okay» rating). The sales associate who helped me was nice and friendly.
I wanted to share with other Unilocalers that they must have a VERY young clientele. Think tween/​teen only. None of my items sold (I’m 30… maybe too conservative/​preppy in style for the store.) I brought in stuff from Anthropologie, Banana, Gap, Macy’s and Coach and it was all a no-​go.
If you are looking to outfit your teen with the «latest» styles than this place is worth a look. I saw a lot of dresses and glitter!

It’s that time of year again, PROM. DRESS. SHOPPING. Ugh. Not my favorite outing with my daughter. That said, this year it wasn’t so bad! Thanks, in big part to Runway Fashion Exchange. Sooo glad we found you! You made the experience tolerable.
Seriously, this is a great, great store. They had a very nice selection of formal dresses and we were able to purchase one at a great price.
The store has a good vibe, is laid out extremely well, with space to move the hangers, not all crammed in like some places. Love the sofa outside the dressing rooms — the owner seems to understand that sometimes shopping can take awhile!
Do yourself a favor and drop by this adorable shop. It offers new clothing and accessories at great prices besides gently worn items. We’ll return very soon!

Long story short: I was born, about 30 years passed, I never got rid of anything, and then one day my significant other looked in my closet and damn near shat himself.
Cut to current day: My ish lives here now.
Chances are you don’t know me and/​or aren’t a fan of my ‘style’, but if on the off chance you think you might like the ish I wear, please know that you can come here and purchase the best of it.
I don’t know if any of you have ever done closet-​clean-​outs or brought your old clothes to Goodwill or other stores similar to Runway Fashion Exchange, but this was a first for me as I’m a well-​documented hoarder who has actually never, ever in the last 30 years gotten rid of a single piece of clothing… and I have LOTS of it. And some of it’s really nice.
So at the request of my significant other, I did a semi-​closet clean out and came here to try my luck at selling my old stuff that I was, in all honesty, just too fat for, and that had little to no value to me, but could still be worth something to another (more slender) soul.
I came to Runway Fashion Exchange after filling up and entire industrial-​sized rolling laundry vat at Goodwill with my lesser item and hoped to find a pot of gold at the end of my junk rainbow at Runway Fashion Exchange.
This was my first time being on the opposite end of a cash/​clothing exchange so I was unsure of how things would go down and only brought in one box of my stuff and left the other 12 in the car… plus, I had to park really far away and I’m lazy so one trip was all I was willing to make whilst carrying anything.
It was a Saturday afternoon and lucky for me they were pretty slow and were able to go through my mammoth menagerie of goods right-​quick.
My boo and I looked around the store while they inspected everything and while there was a small guys section and a mighty gals selection, I was still about a decade too old to wear anything in here. I would 100% recommend this place to any teens/​tweens looking to score some super cute new and used goods. Especially for prom or fancy pants occasions where you might only where the dress once anyway — this place has a great selection, especially if the gal looking is creative and gets into one-​of-​a-​kind items… as any cool chica would. A more youthful Macklemore would totally approve of Runway.
Probably about 15 – 20 minutes passed and the girl at the front was done going through my box. I’d say they took about half the stuff and offered me a little under $ 60 for it, which was super exciting because none of that stuff had any value left for me, so to be able to walk away with $ 60 cash wash invigorating and made me not resent having to clean up after myself and the wreckage that is/​was my closet as much. Plus, I was only expecting them to offer me like $ 18 for all that. Surprise, surprise.
In fact, I’m ready to do a whole ‘nother re-​evaluation of my stuff now that the feeling of cold, hard cash is fresh in my mind and my hand. Runway, I hope you’re ready for 12 more boxes of my biznast coming at you real soon.

I have mixed reviews. We went in to look at Prom dresses for my daughter… just to see what the styles were and what kind of pricing a used gown carries.
To my surprise, we found a beautiful gown for $ 55 that fit great. Daughter wanted it, so who was I to fight it?
We did notice, on checking out, that there were a some sequins that were coming loose, as well as a minor rip where the skirt attached to the bodice– as if the wearer had stepped on the dress while walking.
I didn’t make an issue, figuring that– for $ 55, I can fix the loose sequins and we’re still ahead of the game.
I’ll probably need to have it dry cleaned, too– as it was probably sweat-​in on the dancefloor all night– but hey… it’s $ 55! Can’t complain!
A few days later, I took in some dressed to re-​sell. Some were short party dresses, and one was a prom dress that had been given to us by a friend, but it didn’t fit my daughter.
I was only offered $ 4.50 cash for each short dress, or $ 7.50/dress in store credit, so I kept them. I’d rather give them to a niece or neighbor in need.
The prom gown is gorgeous! Even the gals working at the store thought it was unique and special, but quickly tempered their enthusiasm as they realized that they’d have to pay more for it.
Initially $ 145 was thrown out as the estimated sale price.
The employee looked it over with a fine-​tooth comb– looking for anything that might make it less valuable.
She lifted each layer of tulle and inspected seems. I thought it was a bit much, as I’m sure that the dress we’d purchased just days before had NOT been inspected to that degree.
By the time all was said and done, I was told that the store could probably only sell it for $ 125– and they’d pay 30% cash for it.
Since I felt the dress was worth more than $ 35, (and I believe they knew they could price it higher than they suggested to me) I kept that dress also.
While I understand that they are trying to make a profit, I didn’t feel like they were quite upfront about the Prom dress resale value.
The store is cute and very fashionable. It’s nicer than a Plato’s Closet.
We’ll probably shop there again, but won’t try to sell anything of value.
update: 1÷15− looking for a nice Prom dress at decent price– try Embrace Consignment at 63^rd and Belmont, Downers Grove,. They have a GREAT selection!

I went here on Saturday morning, and the shop was pretty dead, which was good for me since I came to sell. I was expecting a dead-​ringer for plato’s closet, but they actually had a lot of of copies of things and new items, so it seems like they carry their own merchandise as well.
It is very teen/​young adult there, as advertised, so a lot of what I brought in was too mature (I’m 27…). They will offer you cash or a higher level of payback in a store credit. The cash amount was what I expected— enough, but nothing to write home about. If I have items to sell again, I would come back.
Small, but cute shop.