GOLD COAST — Oak Street stores have been selling wares from the likes of Chanel and Balenciaga for years, but now there's a place where those high-priced designer labels are always on sale.
2nd Time Around, a consignment store focused on "contemporary" designer clothes for women, has opened at 43 E. Oak St.
Like other consignment stores, Boston-based 2nd Time Around accepts used clothes and pays a portion of the resales back to the people who deliver them.
But unlike any thrift, 2nd Time Around only accepts clothes and bags less than two years old from a select list of fashion labels. Discounts start at about 70 percent off the original retail price, said Kristin Kohler Burrows, 2nd Time Around's chief executive officer.
"Our whole adage is to leave her feeling beautiful and smart," she said.
Inside 2nd Time Around. [Provided]
The Oak Street store — which follows a Lincoln Park opening in 2009 — focuses on "contemporary" labels including Rag & Bone and Theory, but also premier brands such as Burberry and Prada.
The labels accepted vary by store ("The Burlington, Vt. store doesn't do well with Gucci but they do well with Patagonia," Burrows says), but 2nd Time Around pays 40 percent of the resale price to those who deliver used clothes. Those who drop off handbags get 70 percent.
Burrows, who's led the company for two years, said her favorite find from the store is either her Balenciaga bag or one of her Chanel skirts.
Discounts start at about 70 percent, but current holiday promotions through New Year's are driving prices even lower, Burrows said.
2nd Time Around celebrated the grand opening of its Oak Street store last week after quietly opening in September. The store replaced an art studio, Burrows said.
The Oak Street store is open from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, and from noon-6 p.m. Sundays.
The 2nd Time Around store at 43 E. Oak St. [Provided]
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