Beacons Closet

I love beacons closet. The staff is a bit pretentious but they have great stuff. It's like everything you never knew you needed but you can find it there. Definitely worth a trip out of the city for great vintage clothes. more

you consider Kenneth Cole vinatage. Like someone said in another review, the clothes are cheap and are all trying way too hard to be true vinatge but they were probably made in a factory in China last week. And its disorganized and a headache to sort through. The accessories, belts and bags are a very small, limited selection ( terrible selection, really!) Same thing with the shoes. I'm an 8 1/2 and there was only one pair of 81/2 shoes in the store.And the jewlery they sell..I really cannt remember when was tje ;ast time I saw such cheap looking, ugly fashion jewlery. It was a little shocking. And the staff at this place is truly unforgettable. From the moment I walked in a little flustered from the 5 huge gargage bags that I had just dragged in, I was greeted by a lovely little thing that within 5 secons of speaking to me reminded me of the "4 bag Rule". And then after my explaining that I simply didnt know about the rule and telling her the 5th bag had tons of great bags in it, she let me go with 5 bags. Uh..yeah, she REALLY needs to go back to Texas ASAP. Then AGAIN, when it was my turn to hand over the bags, i got an even snottier little thing lecturing me about the 4 bag rule. Then the Golden Moment came: Ms. Snotty asked me if I could take the clothes back that they didnt want bc they really didnt want to deal with all of them....uh, yeah. Like many people who go there, half of the appeal is that the clothes are donated to charity and really, that seems to be a big show people. Little Ms. Snotty didnt seem to care one iota about giving clothes to charity. These people are gross. Rude as can be and apparantly thieves also. And just like the clothes they sell, totally cheesy too. Designer vintage in their dreams... Pros: That I'm never going back.. Cons: For starters, this is not a real vintage store unless.. more

Just to add a positive review in a sea of negatives I thought I'd give my two cents. Beacon's closet is one of my favorite stores in New York and I wish I could go more often. The clothes they have are some of the most unique I''ve seen and I feel that if I buy something there I won't see every other person wearing the same thing. Their clothes are organized by color and then by size, which I think makes things a bit easier depending on what you're looking for. You're pretty much guaranteed to find something awesome for a very reasonable price. But it's also true that they have expensive things as well. I've never really been treated badly by the employees. In fact a few have even been nice to me. However, most of them seem indifferent and aren't either really rude or friendly. If you're planning on shopping and not on selling then I recommend this store to you. Pros: Awesome clothes Cons: A bit cramped more

The Beacon's Closet experience is a lot like entering one of those Jersey Shore traveling fairs. When you first show up all the lights and colors and music can be distracting and a little exciting. But about a half hour into your visit, you've spent all your money on cr@p, you feel a little sick and any remaining joy is destroyed by the faint smell of B.O. permeating the armpits of surrounding garments. My advice - you can find the same caliber of clothing on the sale r@ck at Forever 21 - only it's new - and costs about a tenth the price of it's doppelganger jammed onto an overcrowded r@ck at Beacon's Closet. Besides the fact that the service is lame, the clothing barely rivals the selection at your neighborhood Salvation Army (which happens to be my preferred venue) - Beacon's Closet also manages in its spare time to function as a microcosm of all that is wrong with Williamsburg. Scamming people for their old clothes then marking them up to sell to trust fund babies who are trying to pass is the antithesis of a "Thrift" store. Let's just call a spade a spade folks: If you want to visit a thrift store, look up the Salvation Army, if you want to simultaneously bl0w your trust fund while fooling all your friends that you're slummin - then go buy my target sweater from 2003 currently hanging on the red r@ck, with the tags ripped off, and pay twice as much for it as I did. more

Below-average selection coupled with the worst customer service I have experienced anywhere in New York. The clerk was so mean, she actually made my college-age daughter cry. There are so many nice places to shop (i.e., Buffalo Exchange--cool people there!), why bother with such nonsense? There is simply no excuse for such horrendous treatment of customers. more

The people at Beacon are unhappy, that is why they are dreadful to customers. They are frustrated writers, musicians, artists, fashion designers, stylists, actors...and that last thing they want to be doing is working in a thrift store. But there they are - working in a thrift store! So I would show them sympathy, compassion and understanding since none of them will ever "make it" in their fantasy careers. Remember, they are clerks in a thrift store - and they don't like it. I know - they should not take their personal failure out on customers, but they resent you because you are shopping in the store and they are making assumptions about who and what you are. yes, that is judgmental on their part, but they are not open minded liberals who care about other people. They are frustrated, selfish 20 somethings who feel stuck. So just shop until you drop, buy what you like, wish them well, and be glad you are not them! Be thankful you can leave the store when you want, and leave them behind to rehang shirts and fold pants. Pros: Selection and prices Cons: employee attitude - although some shoppers like being mistreated by the help more

I visit Beacon's about once a season. The store has tons of great and not so great clothing all sorted by color. The prices are so reasonable I keep coming back. Yeah, the employees are AWFUL. Hipsters overly clad in vintage pieces with elitist attitudes to make anyone cringe. Who made them kings & queens of fashion? Just ignore them, they're not the reason you are there. When SELLING clothing, they're not going to want everything or even anything that you have. Remember you're trying to get money off of clothes you do not want anymore. Why is someone else going to want them? Are they really re-sellable or are they boring? Things you bring should be in good condition, and should be VINTAGE. They're not likely to take your brand new basic vneck sweater from the Gap if that's not going to sell. They do not like things with unfinished edges, your last t-shirt project etc. If it came from Forever 21, pull off the tag, they might take it unknowing. If they don't take your stuff, don't take it personally. Donate it or keep it. (And they do really donate). It takes time so get there early, bring a book, have lunch and come back or better- just shop! Pros: large selection, great prices, cash on the spot for sold used clothes Cons: employees need an attitude check more

I came down here a few weeks ago on a rainy day because a friend of a friend said it was a gem and had all this amazing vintage stuff. I get in and everything was garbage. So I decided to clean out my closet at my apartment and get some stuff from my parents house this past weekend and sell it to them. So we pack up the car with 3 shopping bags and a garbage bag full of sweaters and shirts that are all in brand new condition. All from good stores and some with tags still on them. There were also new purses and a few pairs of shoes. We called before we drove the stuff over and the guy on the phone says there is no wait. So my Mom and I finally get there and go up to the counter and the girl makes me fill out this form and says there's a two hour wait. There is nothing to do around there except the Brooklyn Brewery so we didn't want to wait two hours. So the girl says that we can leave the bags and come back in the morning except at 7:30 they throw everything out. I say that's fine and I'll be back in the morning. I go back this morning and walk in and the guy looks up my name and then finds me in a book with a huge cross out by my name that says VOID. There is NO WAY IN HELL that they looked through every single bag and there was not one thing in there they could take. It was the biggest scam ever and I couldn't even see what they didn't take or see if they were lying because my stuff "got donated" the night before. This place is SERIOUSLY full with a bunch of scumbag clothes stealers and I would rather stick pins and needles in my eyes then ever set foot in their garbage store again. more

Although the men's section isn't as big as say, Buffalo Exchange, the quality of the clothes is much better. Plus, they have the best selection of shoes I've ever seen in a vintage store. Pros: Great clothes, good music Cons: None! more

Why do the people at Beacon's think they are better than you? I am finished doing business at Beacon's Closet. The last two times I've tried to sell clothes here the people behind the counter have been very rude...And I am alway very nice and courteous. I bought a jacket there for $30. It didn't fit me very well so I sold it back. The woman it was worth only $15 dollars sold back. hmmmm. The prices are good if you can find something you like. I spent an hour looking and didn't find anything I liked. My friends are also getting soured on Beacon's closet. The people who work there are on some weird used clothing power trip. Pros: Lot's to choose from Cons: Unpleasant Employees more