Buffalo Soldier



Shoe time: Vintage ’70s floral wedges, just a sample of Buffalo Exchange’s sassy footwear.

Leslie Weinstein wants you to buy, sell or trade at Philly’s new vintage-used clothing store.

by Margit Detweiler

When Leslie Weinstein was a 13-year-old Goth girl living in the Northeast, she spent the summer working at a neighborhood vintage store on Rhawn Street, Rutheanne’s Timeless Fashions. But she didn’t work for money. She worked for her pick of killer vintage clothes.

"Rutheanne would let me take one piece home a day. I’d come home with things like a wooden colored crucifix or a black housecoat from the ’20s," recalls Weinstein. "She also taught me how to steam clean, how to repair old fabrics and also do window displays. It was an amazing experience."

It was an experience that Weinstein has translated into a co-owned retail business some 16 years later. On Sept. 28 Weinstein will debut her own melange of other people’s discarded gems with Buffalo Exchange — a used and new clothing store on Walnut Street that will offer everything from a Ferragamo evening bag to Banana Republic leather to your grandma’s vintage sweater.



	Buffalo offerings, a vintage ’50s wool sweater ($25) and vintage ’70s Wrangler bellbottoms ($30)

And we do mean your grandma.

Bring any unwanted family hand-me-downs, those Gap Capri’s that never fit or the Kate Spade bag that’s sooo last year and, if they like your loot, Buffalo will either give you cash on the spot or a coupon for trade.

Sporting chunky black glasses, a ’50s circus motif dress and ultra-high John Fluevog shoes, Weinstein is a walking advertisement for her store’s range of merchandise — mixing the old with the brand new and highly trendy.

"Our customer is the kind of person who wears the ’50s beaded sweater over a Bebe tank top with dark Levi’s, platform boots and maybe older jewelry. People who like to bring it all together and be creative."

The resale industry is big business these days. ABC News reports that sales of used clothes and household items have more than doubled over the last decade. And for years now it’s been hip to wear a car crash of decades and cultures spread over one outfit.

Buffalo will also have a selection of new, as well as used, women’s and men’s clothing, shoes, accessories, jewelry and new household items like candles and bedspreads. The median price for most of the items is $13.50, "a little more for sweaters and coats," Weinstein adds.

The store will buy at all times of the day and will station a buy-sell-trade counter in the front of the shop to accept merchandise. After deciding on a retail price, the customer is given 35 percent of that price in cash or 50 percent in trade. High-end designer items, however, may be put on consignment.

Is there anything they won’t buy?

"We are very selective. It has to be stuff that will sell. And in good condition. Just ask yourself, ‘Would I buy this off the rack?’"

Weinstein recites a laundry list of desirable brands including J. Crew, the Gap, Fubu, Phat Farm, BCBG and Polo as well as Newport News, Rampage and lower-end but trendy lines. They’ll give a bit more leeway to vintage clothes if there’s a rip or a tear, and when it comes to old ’70s concert T-shirts or Levi’s, hey, the more stains and holes the better, man!

Started by Kerstin Block, a Swede who loves clothes and adores "thrifting," the first Buffalo Exchange opened near the University of Arizona in 1974.

Back then the startup used clothing racks made from bicycle rims. "And there was a refrigerator with beer behind the counter," laughs Weinstein. "Well, we won’t have that."

Since then Block and her husband Spencer have opened 21 stores in eight states as well as five franchise stores, mainly on the West Coast. Philly will have the company’s first East Coast store.

So why not New York?

"Cause I’m from Philly. I was going to come back home anyway and I offered. New York, of course, is also a very high rent market. We would have to go into Brooklyn or Queens and those are areas we really don’t know about."

Weinstein had moved to San Francisco eight years ago and managed one of the Buffalo Exchanges there.

"The most interesting people have been systematically pushed out of San Francisco because it’s so expensive. I was living in this cooperative arts warehouse which is now a dot-com house. I’m paying the same amount for a nice one-bedroom in Center City as I was paying to live in a crack alley in San Francisco."

Weinstein, who co-owns the business with the company itself, worked to find a prime location and chose an abandoned building (formerly a medical supply store) at 1109 Walnut. They chose the spot because of its "up-and coming feel."

"It’s close to U of Arts, on the edge of the gay neighborhood and near Jefferson. People with great wardrobes."

Med students?

"Oh yeah, they buy pragmatically for comfort and good quality."



Clothes to you: Buffalo Exchange co-owner Leslie Weinstein

The space is dramatic with a long, long selling floor, and they demolished a second floor to reveal high ceilings and skylights. Buffalo Exchange is decidedly more Urban Outfitters slick than Salvation Army musty. They rejected the very pricey South Street where other vintage stores and buy-sell thrift stores reside. One shop in particular, Greene Street Consignment, has been compared to Buffalo, although Weinstein doesn’t have too many kind words about her competition.

"We walked in there and were really appalled. Two girls were sitting at the counter eating hamburgers and fries. The clothes were practically in piles and their displays looked thrown together. When we asked how it worked, the salesperson just handed us a flyer. To us customer service is a huge priority. I don’t want to have any bad blood between us, but I just don’t think they’re doing as much as they should."

But as Greene Street has a philanthropic arm, Green for Pets, where proceeds go towards building a no-kill animal sanctuary, Buffalo Exchange also has a strong charitable bent. Any clothes that don’t sell are donated to direct service organizations. And if you don’t take a plastic bag for your purchases, you get a token worth five cents which can be dropped in one of three charity donation boxes. Here in Philly, they’re offering Morris Animal Shelter, the AIDS Fund and possibly Planned Parenthood (who hasn’t confirmed yet) as charities.

Of course beyond feeling good about your recycled purchases, Buffalo is likely to be a prime place for Halloween shopping.

"It’s not like we carry costumes, but we carry great stuff to create that last-minute outfit. In our San Francisco store we sold tons of wedding dresses. People would come in and say ‘I need to be somebody!’ So we’ll rummage through the racks and find a Lionel Ritchie T-shirt, a pair of red pants and a vinyl belt — ta-da. You’re Lionel Ritchie."

And then, most likely, it’s once, twice, three times back to Buffalo Exchange’s selling floor.