A ‘green’ shopping experience at Buffalo Exchange

In my never-ending quest to find boutiques with an interesting twist, I stumbled across a great new consignment shop.

Like most other shops of its kind, Buffalo Exchange buys and resells merchandise but boasts “cash, not consignment” as their way of business. Everything from shoes, to jackets, accessories, women and men’s clothing and they also “trade.”

Need a trendy top, a cute pair of jeans or a fabulous pair of Michael Kors sandals? Yes … I said Michael Kors.

This boutique is a great place to go. You can find items from various designers from high ticket to low but all being sold at a wonderfully afordable price. In fact, my teenage son and I both found a new favorite while going through the racks.  I found a fantastic floral print dress by Oscar de la Renta. And he picked up Nike sneakers, barely worn with the replacement laces tucked inside (unused), circa 1999.  And to top it off, the cashier gave us the option of going plastic or token. I’m used to hearing “paper or plastic” at my local supermarket but “token”?  That was a new one. Essentially, if you don’t take a plastic bag, you receive a token worth $0.05 to deposit into one of the charity boxes mounted on the wall as you leave the store. They then donate all of the money to the selected charities. Isn’t that awesome? Needless to say, in an effort to support a “green” shopping experience, we opted for the tokens.

If you love affordable shopping with a cause and know that there are tons of hidden little gems to be found in boutiques just like this one, check out Buffalo Exchange located at 1521 Central Ave. in Plaza Midwood.

T. Strong is a TV personality, personal stylist and fashion journalist who contributes commentary on Creative Loafing’s Klepto blog in addition to writing for several other national media organizations. To learn more visit www.StyleMayvin.com or follow “therealtstrong” on Twitter.

This article appears in May 10-16, 2011.