A SECOND LOOK

If current troubled times have you staring at an overflowing closet with regret, you might want to change your perspective. The same dust-collecting clothes you pulled from your savings to pay for may just fill your designer denim pocket with cash.

If anyone knows this to be true, it's Debbie and George Pochiro. As the new owners of Plato's Closet, a national, secondhand clothing franchise, the couple have bought $89,000 worth of retail from people anxious to get cash for their clothes.

And, they haven't even officially set up shop yet. The grand opening is Tuesday.

On a recent Thursday morning, Jackie Delappi strolled in the southwest Vegas store with a Gucci handbag in one hand and a bag full of clothes in the other. The 27-year-old cleaned out her closet and figured she'd look into a financial reward for the chore. "I probably only do this twice a year," she says. "I don't like to part with my stuff."

Most women don't, but when sentimental feelings go up against financial strains, the financial strains usually win. Aside from benefiting from selling clothes to Plato's Closet, shoppers also will find plenty of merchandise to keep them busy.

"I'm thinking we're going to have a long line," says Debbie of the official opening.

As the parents of three daughters, two of whom are teens, Debbie and George know the significance of a $20 price tag on a pair of Juicy Couture jeans (valued at $248) or a $30 price tag on an Ed Hardy tee (valued at $100). True Religion, Rock and Republic and Seven for All Mankind jeans all have the same markdowns. As do Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister tees.

Whereas Debbie grew up during a time when sporting something from Goodwill was considered the ultimate fashion faux pas, times have changed. "Kids now really don't seem to mind," she says. "It's almost the 'thing' to do."

Stores such as Buffalo Exchange are to thank for the shift in opinion. Step one foot in the door, located locally in the UNLV district, and it's clear why. Hipster types staff the store, punk music plays over speakers and mannequins don neon wigs. It's nowhere near your mother's secondhand store.

The eclectic tone of Buffalo Exchange, coupled with a little concept the store has firmly stood for since debuting, explains its popularity. "We've had the Get Green concept since 1974," says local store manager Christine Rupert. "We've been promoting recycling this whole time."

Reusing clothes is the obvious means of recycling, but the store also discourages plastic bag use with its Tokens for Bags program. If shoppers elect to receive a token in place of a shopping bag then the store donates 5 cents to a charity of the customer's choice.

The feel good concept may resonate with secondhand shoppers at Buffalo Exchange in a humanitarian form, but for Ritzy Rags shoppers it's much different. The thrill of finding a coveted item with a triple digit price as opposed to a quadruple digit is what gives these shoppers a high.

Owner Pam Linder-Rothman has customers who will stop at nothing to complete their collection of Judith Leiber bags. Likewise, she's seen shoppers walk out of her store with an armful of Pucci scarves. Some stop by just to gaze at the fur coat they have on layaway.

Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Yves Saint Laurent and a plethora of other high fashion labels find their way here. The consignment store name drops more than a groupie on the wrong side of a velvet rope. But it's the sought after names that have kept her in business for 10 years.

Although Linder-Rothman can buy items from customers on the spot (for a quarter of the selling price), she encourages them to consign, which requires waiting 30 days at the least and 90 days at the longest. Customers who consign get 50 percent of the selling price. After an item has been in the store 30 days the price is reduced 20 percent. After 60 days, an additional 10 percent. She gives up after 90 days, requiring customers to come back and collect their things.

"For the good stuff, the turnaround is really fast, within a week," Linder-Rothman says. "But some of them just don't want to wait."