NYC Consignment Stores Accused Of Defrauding Customers

SOHO, NY — A consignment chain that abruptly closed its nine New York City shops is being accused of defrauding dozens of sellers who say that they haven't received payment for gently-used, high-end clothing they sold to the store.

2nd Time Around, a high-end consignment shop that had nine locations throughout New York City, abruptly closed most of its shops this month thanks to "a convergence of market forces hitting all brick and mortar stores – including increased competition from online retailers combined with skyrocketing rents," according to a statement on its website. The Massachusetts-based chain closed all of its locations throughout the country, with little advance warning to people who had entrusted the store with selling their clothes, and then paying them for the clothes once the sale was complete, according to dozens of sellers. Like many consignment stores, 2nd Time Around agrees to re-sell consignors' gently used goods. In exchange, consignors get a cut of the sale once their clothes have been sold. Now, dozens of consignors say they're owed hundreds of dollars each or more, according to complaints filed with city agencies and posts on social media.

When 2nd Time Around shuttered its New York City locations this month, a notice on its website said that not all sellers would be getting their promised checks. The company is apparently so broke that it warned consignors whose clothes were sold before May 1 that they "most likely will not be paid." The company's situation is so dire that its shop on E Houston Street was evicted for failing to pay rent, Bowery Boogie reported. The property's landlord posted a notice on the shop's front door stating that the consignment store had been evicted from the space. (Want more local news? Subscribe here for free breaking news, features, neighborhood updates and more from Patch.)

Now, the city's Department of Consumer Affairs is trying to help sellers get their items back — but it says it can't do anything about sellers who are owed money. The DCA said it would help return unsold clothing from the E Houston Street location on Thursday, but noted that the agency wouldn't handle claims for money owed. The DCA has organized previous return days for unsold clothes at the Houston Street shop, and told people who did business with one of the other NYC locations to file a 311 complaint.

New York City residents who say they are owed money by the chain are so outraged that they've begun to organized, launching a Facebook group for local consignors called "2nd Time Around Needs to Pay."

An unnamed 2nd Time Around employee told Racked that customers have been aggressive and insistent when trying to get refunded, some even turning taking items from stores when they can't get their payment.

"People come into the store and they try to take other things—they think because I can't give them cash, or I can't give them a check or whatnot, that they can just take somebody else's personal item as compensation," the employee told Racked. "We have consignors literally coming into the store trying to loot us!"

Patch was unable to contact 2nd Time Around for comment.

Lead image via Shutterstock; second image via screenshot.