When Second Chic opened its newest storefront, the Second Chic Outlet at 1871 Elmwood Avenue, in 2024, it added a third location to a secondhand fashion business that has spent roughly a decade and a half keeping usable clothing out of Western New York landfills. That outlet concept differs deliberately from the company’s original Elmwood Village store: rather than curating strictly boutique priced designer consignment, the Outlet location focuses on affordably priced masculine and feminine secondhand fashion generally priced between five and twenty five dollars, and it offers on the spot clothing exchanges so shoppers can trade in items and walk out with something new the same day. Together with the flagship consignment shop at 810 Elmwood Avenue and a second location at 5454 Main Street in Williamsville that leans toward feminine style pieces, designer handbags, and vintage gowns, the three storefronts give Buffalo area shoppers three distinct ways to buy and sell secondhand clothing depending on budget and taste.
Second Chic describes itself as a consignment store that shops and looks like a boutique, a distinction that matters to shoppers who associate secondhand retail with disorganized racks and bins rather than a curated, boutique style presentation. Across all three locations the business operates on standard hours of eleven to six Monday through Saturday and noon to five on Sundays, and the company accepts consigned clothing through an appointment based process outlined on its website, giving Western New York residents a straightforward way to turn closet cleanouts into store credit or cash rather than donating items outright.
The Elmwood Village corridor where the original store sits has long been one of Buffalo’s most walkable shopping districts, filled with independent boutiques, cafes, and galleries, and Second Chic’s presence there reflects a broader citywide shift toward sustainable, secondhand focused retail over the past decade. Expanding into Williamsville and then into a dedicated Outlet concept let the company reach different customer bases without diluting the original store’s more curated, designer leaning identity, a common growth pattern among independent consignment businesses that start with a single flagship location and gradually build out a small regional footprint. The company has publicly framed its mission around the idea that it is all about the people, referring collectively to its consignors, its staff, and the broader community it serves, a framing that shows up consistently across its marketing regardless of which of the three locations a given customer visits.
For anyone in the Buffalo, Williamsville, or greater Western New York area looking to buy or sell gently used clothing, whether at boutique consignment prices or at the more accessible five to twenty five dollar range offered at the Outlet, Second Chic’s three storefronts collectively represent one of the region’s longest running and most recognizable secondhand fashion businesses, having kept clothing out of area landfills for roughly fifteen years and counting.
