Once Upon A Child

I had a great experience at Once Upon a Child in Durham! I was especially impressed with the fact that both of the employees who were working when I was there spoke spanish. I am always going to be inclined to support businesses in our community who accommodate spanish speaking customers. I both sold and bought while I was there. I felt fine about what I made selling my babies old clothes because I was able to buy some new ones for so little. To sell there stuff for so cheap you have to know you won’t get a ton for what you sell to the store, and I’m fine with that! I would (and have) recommended this store to friends.

Upon arrival the staff seemed friendly by welcoming me after I walked in. It quickly changed from there. They were not helpful in any way and very rude when I asked a question.

The staff are friendly and have always greeted me when I walked in. The store is clean and the items are clean looking. I liked buying from them but selling to them, they always offered too low. I did find some good deals there though. Once I was trying to find footed pj’s and they didn’t have any more. One employee went to the stockroom and came back with 4 – 5 big bins filled with them. He helped me look for the sizes I needed and when I was done he put the rest on the shelf. But the best part is I once lost $ 10 inside the store. I went up to the register and asked if someone turned any cash in. The girl said oh no you lost your money. She and another employee helped me search the whole store and the employee found it for me! To me that is great customer service.

I just found out that this store had opened recently, and I was looking for a well-​organized, well-​stocked consignment shop where I could buy gently used toddlers clothes. The clothing in the store is very well organized, by gender, size, and color family for the most part. The shoes however, are all thrown in bins, and I didn’t feel like my 1 yr old would put up with me sorting through them (they do have a tiny play area that I could’ve put him in, but he was really cranky that day). The clothes I looked through were all in very good or better condition. The staff seemed a bit off, I had to stand at the front for almost a full minute before I was acknowledged by one of the seven or so staff members standing right in front of me (honestly, it felt more awkward than rude, but still…). They were very polite once they decided to help me, though. I will definitely be back. It seems like they are growing their stock up (they have only been open a few weeks or so), and I look forward to finding more treasures for my son. I’m not sure if I will consign here, though, as the percentage seems a bit low to me (but not completely out of the ball park). The shop is a bit hard to find, but if you put the address into google maps and set it for satellite it is easier to find. It is near the sams gas area in the sams/​target shopping center off ¹⁵⁄₅₀₁.

Where do I even begin? I was excited at the possibility of selling some high quality baby items… but after my third visit (at different times in the year) I have come to realize that I will not make any money selling to this store. I have heard people say better things about the Cary location… but so far I have had three poor experiences.
The last few times I have brought very expensive designer baby clothes that my son could not wear. They were in perfect condition. They were in season. Not Carters — I mean like boutique baby clothes. What did they offer me? $ 4. I also brought in a $ 120 baby item that was in mint condition and they passed on it with no explanation. They didn’t have any in the store either– so it did not make any sense. I understand the need to be picky about what they take in– because the store is CLOGGED with clothes… but at least pick out good clothes. While browsing while I waited (by the way… seemed like only one employee could «sort» the clothes, other employee was texting on her phone, other was just standing there) I saw aisles of clothes that looked really basic and it just smelled similar to a goodwill. I am all about some thrifting but this isn’t a thrift store.
The girl who helped me recently was very friendly but the manager (I assume she is the manager) just looked like she hated her job. I understand it’s not a fun job but at least put on a smile so people will feel comfortable shopping in your store.
Save your expensive items and sell on Craigslist.

After hearing about Once Upon A Child from a couple mom friends, I was excited to find some great deals on cute infant clothing. I bought a couple things, but left with mixed thoughts about the store.
As far as the store’s selections, there are not many second hand toys, but there is a good amount of clothing for little boys and girls. I found that the section for baby girls was a bit limited, with way too much pink and purple. I’m not a pink and purple kind of girl, but naturally the store’s selection largely depends on what people donate/​sell. Two onesies I got were only $ 2.50 each, and one another similar was $ 8.00 which I found to be an odd difference.
Once Upon A Child is useful in that they will buy lightly used clothing or toys. Unless you have buckets and buckets of clothing, however, you shouldn’t expect much money. I brought in a dozen outfits, hoping to make maybe $ 12 or so. OUAC told me it would be an hour before they could price the items, so I went to hang out at Target. However, after I came back they still weren’t priced. A couple hours later, I drove the 20 mins back to the store, only to get 6 rejected outfits and $ 6.05 — probably about the amount I spent on gas driving back and forth 4 times.
Like another Unilocaler before me, I also noticed that the staff members were a bit cold and unprofessional. None of the three women behind the counter bothered to greet me when I walked in. One woman rang up my items while chewing ice cubes, one of which fell out of her mouth. I will probably go back, but if the staff were more professional, I would likely shop there more often.

I really wanted to like this store, but have 2 complains. 1. The staff were inattentive and not friendly. 2. I brought my clothes laid flat in a bin, upon return my clothes were just thrown my bin.