Students find deals at trendy re-sale store

Clothes litter the closet floor of freshman Brittany Boggs as she searches for an outfit worthy of her date this coming weekend, but without an update her wardrobe seems to be lacking. As a college student Boggs is always low on money and stores at the mall are too expensive for her low budget. Lucky for her, she knows a secret about a store that not only sells discount-priced, name-brand clothes, but also buys clothes from their customers. Out with the old and in with the new. Boggs quickly grabs a few items she no longer wears, texts a few friends, and gets set for an extended shopping trip to Plato’s Closet. “I love going to Plato’s Closet since they have so many cute clothes and I always go shopping, maybe even a little too much,” Boggs said. “It’s especially bad when my friends go with me and encourage me to buy like everything, but it’s great that (Plato's) buys your clothes since as a college student I’m always low on money.” Shopping at Plato’s Closet seems to be a quickly growing trend among students as friends spread the news to one another, often searching for a new shopping partner in crime. The nearest Plato’s Closet to Bethel is located at 5942 Grape Rd in Mishawaka, Ind. in the same shopping center as the Hibachi Grill and TJ Maxx. You can often find sophomore Brianna Alexander there browsing through the racks of clothes, stacks of shoes and packs of purses. “I heard about (Plato’s Closet) through my aunt and I like to shop there because they have cute trendy clothes for a cheaper price,” Alexander said. “I found one of my favorite tank tops there.” This store isn’t only popular among the female population. Many guys love discounts and looking well-dressed just as much as girls do. Plato’s Closet accommodates the desires of young men looking for a cheap pair of jeans or new shirt that their girlfriend actually approves of. “I thought that it was going to be mostly for girls since the people I heard talking about it were all girls,” junior Ray Gimenez said. “What caught my attention was that the prices are so low that you can afford brands you normally wouldn’t be willing to pay for.” While most reviews of the store come back positive there are dissatisfied customers such as senior Kelsey Bucknam, she ran into a problem trying to sell her clothes for a little extra spending money. “I felt so rejected,” Bucknam said. “I brought in some brand name clothes and they told me they weren’t good enough.” When looking through a seller’s clothing offerings sales associates are looking for how up-to-date the styles are, if there are flaws that compromise the integrity of the article, if they have a need for that particular item, and how current the brand labels are. This can be frustrating for students and can leave them feeling dejected when their clothes aren’t ”good enough” as Bucknam found. Other complaints include that the dressing room only allows customers to take six items into the fitting room at a time causing shopping trips to take longer than desired. “When I take my girlfriend to Plato’s she seriously finds like a hundred things to try on,” Gimenez said. “Since she can only take a few things in at time it takes forever for her to try them all on.” For more information, Plato’s Closet has a website, platoscloset.com, which provides a list of nearby locations, photographs of their satisfied customers, a fashion blog, shopper testimonies and other content pertaining to the business of fashion and retail. Overall many students agree that this store is a good option for trying to keep their closets refreshingly in style and updated without their bank accounts flat lining.