The Main Street branch of the popular second-hand clothing store Buffalo Exchange is set to permanently close its doors this Sunday.
Regulars to the store will have seen a large notice on the front door that read, “Thank you Santa Monica. We loved the Santa Monica community and are grateful to have bought, sold and traded with you over the past 17 years. We hope to see you at our other locations in Sherman Oaks, Melrose, Orange County and Ventura.”
And additional note on the website added, “We want to remain a sustainable fashion resource for many years to come, so we made the tough decision to refocus efforts on our other stores. We will be buying up until close on January 15. Trade never expires and you can use it at any of our other locations.”
However, despite that notice saying “January 15” the last day of business is actually this Sunday, January 14 as the recorded message states if you call the shop on (310) 314-7300.
Credit: Scott Snowden
Buffalo Exchange started out as the original buy-sell-trade fashion shop in Tucson, Arizona in 1974 and according to the website, over 40 stores now exist across the US.
It was the brainchild of Kerstin Block and together with her husband, Spencer, they rented out a small 400 square foot space and filled it with clothes from Kerstin’s own closet. Soon enough, they had a bustling business buying, selling and trading the likes of denim skirts handmade by Kerstin, Hawaiian shirts and Kork-Ease sandals for an average price of $3.50.
In the 1980s, Kerstin and Spencer started setting their sights further afield and opened up a few locations in the San Francisco area. In the 1990s, as the popularity of secondhand shopping grew, so did Buffalo Exchange. From 1990-1999, the husband-wife duo opened up 19 new locations across California, the Southwest and the Northwest, learning a lot about business along the way.
Since then, Buffalo Exchange has only continued to grow and lead the way in sustainable style, offering customers across the US the option to recycle their clothing and accessories for cash or store trade on-the-spot. After 50 years of running Buffalo Exchange, Kerstin retired in 2024. Her daughter, Rebecca Block, continues to run the company as CEO.
“What I’m most proud of is how much we’ve been able to empower people — especially women. That and the clothes. It’s always been about the clothes,” Kerstin says in a quote on the website.
The turnaround of local businesses continues on Main Street, with both big openings and sad closures. According to staff, the lease is up on the Main Street location and all the stock will be distributed over the other outlets in the area. Some staff will be moved to a new store opening soon in Pasadena at 468 E Colorado Blvd, but not everyone since that new outlet is significantly smaller than the Main Street branch. Otherwise it’s business as usual (11am to 8pm) until 7pm on Sunday.
“We loved the Santa Monica community and are grateful to have bought, sold and traded here for the past 17 years. We want to remain a sustainable fashion resource for many years to come, so when our lease came up on this location, we made the tough decision to refocus efforts on our other stores,” Jessica Pruitt, Marketing Assistant Manager, told the Daily Press.
“We have five other locations in the Los Angeles area and we’re excited to be opening a new store in Pasadena in just a few weeks. We don’t have the exact opening date, but we’re aiming for the end of January and many of our Santa Monica employees will be joining us at this new location. Though we’re sad to be leaving Santa Monica, we’re excited to explore a new part of the city and meet new faces in Pasadena,” Pruitt said.
The store is one of the last brick and mortar sources left to find retro-style clothing, which can be extremely sought after and unlike the only other alternative, eBay, at least you can actually try stuff on before you burn a ton of cash in return postage. Overheard conversations inside the store this week almost invariably revolved around its imminent closure.
“The Buffalo Exchange has been around for I gotta think 30 years and it’s a tragedy,” Oliver Garrett, a customer at the store, told the Daily Press. “I mean all of Santa Monica is getting way too expensive. The rents have people fleeing. I can see why,” he said, adding that he probably won’t go to the new Pasadena branch, but would rather travel to the Ventura outlet instead.
scott.snowden@smdp.com