I had the most fun experience at Clothes Mentor in Minnetonka, a women’s boutique that sells high quality, gently used women’s apparel and accessories for a fraction of the original price!
As the ever penny-pinching mom that I am, I discovered Clothes Mentor recently not just because of their affordable designer fashions, but because of an awesome service they provide to busy moms like me. It’s their personal shopping service – and it’s totally FREE. All you do is sign up online, answer a few questions about your personal style, and then show up for your appointment, ready to try on apparel and accessories hand-picked just for you!
Personal shoppers of course aren’t new – they’re in stores from high-end department stores to thrift stores and have been around for a long time. But what separates Clothes Mentor from the rest is that the fashions are from high-end stores but at low, affordable prices. Clothes Mentor purchases them from customers like you and me – so they’re specially chosen, not donated. So yes, that means you can sell your clothes here too – so it’s a win-win whether you’re looking to make some extra cash or upgrade your wardrobe with the latest styles but without breaking the bank!
Clothes Mentor is a resale shop where you can find like-new designer clothing for up to 70% off retail. They buy and sell gently used apparel, shoes, jewelry and accessories for ALL women. They have sizes 0 – 26, petites, and maternity, so there’s something for every woman here!
There are 147 stores located in 29 states (including 10 in Minnesota) and with more to come!
The store is organized by size, with blouses, pants and other apparel sorted by color, so it’s very visually appealing and easy to see everything.
The quality of the clothing is the highest you can find next to new, and the variety of brands ranges from Adidas and Ann Taylor to L.L. Bean to Ralph Lauren and White House Black Market.
They have an abundance of everything from dresses to fitness apparel (which is super popular).
Beautiful handbags galore, organized by color and all like-new.
They also sell more higher-priced, designer handbags, which you can find behind the counter near the jewelry.
I signed up for the personal shopper service on their website, answered some simple questions about my sizes and styles, and went to my 2pm appointment. My appointment was with Erika at the Minnetonka location, which is also the corporate location (near the corporate headquarters).
First Erika gave me a tour of the shop and then brought me to my fitting room which was all ready for me – she had picked out dozens of clothing items and shoes for me to try out, perfectly suited to my size and preferences. There was even a bag for me with a few truffles (yum!) and a water bottle.
I spent an hour and a half trying on clothes. Erika checked in with me regularly, offering more pieces for me to try on, but I liked that she’s pretty hands-off, letting me take my time and decide what I like and didn’t like.
Trying on clothes for an hour and a half is exhausting! Thank goodness for the truffles and water…but honestly, it was fun to just try on piece after piece hand-picked for me. It takes an hour and a half just to go through a store, picking things out (especially if I have kids in tow), so having so many items picked out just for me was a HUGE time saver!
The prices were definitely a fraction of the original price. This blouse from Kohl’s was originally $40 new (and still had the original tags on it) but was only $12 at Clothes Mentor.
In the end, I picked out 7 items – 2 Ann Taylor blouses, an Adrienne Vittadini skirt, j. jill yoga pants, Isaac Mizrahi Live! pants that wear like leggings (they’re really cool – never found anything like these before), a pair of Kelly & Katie flats, and a pair of Anne Klein ankle boots. They totaled about $100 – much less than they would new. However, you could leave with a bagful of items for under $50 here – many items are priced under or around $10.
I was surprised I didn’t find more items that worked for me – I thought everything I tried on had potential (well, most of them), and it was neat trying on things I normally wouldn’t think to try on, but were picked for me based on my preferences. Some things I liked that I didn’t expect I would!
Overall, in the end, I was very happy with my items and my experience. When you come for your personal shopper appointment, there’s no obligation to buy anything – you may not like anything. Or you may find things yourself in the store that you like more (I found one item myself that I ended up buying). But I did really like several items that were picked for me.
How does selling stuff work?
I brought in some clothing items that I wanted to sell from my closet, to see if I could get anything for them. They went through the items while I shopped, and were quick, but only a few of my items sold. The other items I had were older than 2 years and not designer brands, so they couldn’t buy them, but they partner with a church that takes clothes that women can’t sell here but want to donate. The clothing is then given to families in need. When you take advantage of this service, Clothes Mentor gives you a tax-deductible receipt.
Where is it?
There are 10 Clothes Mentor locations in Minnesota:
Burnsville
Coon Rapids
Eden Prairie
Edina
Maple Grove
Minnetonka
Rochester
Roseville
St. Cloud
Woodbury
Map it! The Minnetonka location that I went to is here:
What else should you know?
Clothes Mentor is part of NTY Franchise Company which is based in Minnetonka and offers multiple resale franchises that you can find right here in Minnesota and beyond:
NTY Clothing Exchange – A fun and clean resale store for teens and young adults with designer clothing, shoes, jewelry and accessories that’s trendy and modern
Children’s Orchard – An upscale children’s resale store
Device Pitstop – An electronics repair and resale store
New Uses Resale Home Store – A stylish and completely redefined resale store for the home with “gently-used” furniture, artwork, small household appliances, other decor and household items
Visit the Clothes Mentor website for more info including locations and each store’s personal shopper service. They also have a blog written by a local blogger! And be sure to check each location’s Facebook page for deals and sales!
(Disclosure: I received a complimentary gift card in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are 100% mine.)
I didn’t know Clothes Mentor had a personal shopper program! I know they do at Style Encore, which is a similar consignment shop. I’ll have to look into the one at Clothes Mentor though because I love their store too!
I had no idea Clothes Mentor did this. I’ve utilized the sales staff at other stores before and fell in love with the way of shopping. Unfortunately my budget no longer supports that, but it would at Clothes Mentor!