Once Upon A Child

Selling= 1 star, they are very picky on what they will take (wouldn’t take back a few things still with tags on them!) and don’t give very much, but anything is better than nothing. I wanted store credit to save sales tax, but when I checked out the girl forgot to take my store credit off and would only give me cash. I was told there was no manager there that could help me so I was out of luck
Buying = 5 stars. Store is neat and organized. Have good prices especially on sale/​clearance items. I buy almost all of my 2 year olds clothes here. Big selection of clothes/​toys/​shoes

Buy only brand names if you plan on re-​selling. I had over bought clothes, when I went to resell within a few month, they wouldn’t buy back. Saying out of style or too worn, even thought THEIR tags where still on them, since they where never worn. Pretty shady if you ask me… l
On the other hand it a good deal on name brands.

I’ve shopped at this location more than a handful of times. It’s one of my favorite places to find clothes for my children. There are always tons of brand new with tag items. The place it large and has a huge selection of clothes. Not so much for my oldest daughter who is 12, but the other 2 has a great collection. Parking at this location can definitely be a downfall, but I am always in the area for other stores in the plaza, so I don’t mind walking around.

There doesn’t seem to be consistency between items (toys, books, DVDs, shoes, hats, outfits, seasonal items) taken and what you get for them. It depends on who is reviewing your items. I bought a basketball hoop with no basketball from once upon a child (we just used whatever balls we had in our toy box with it) and when I went to sell it back, they wouldn’t take it because it didn’t have a basketball with it! I had a brand new kid craft kitchen — beautiful pastel colors– they wouldn’t take it because it didn’t have pots and pans with it. It didn’t even come with them when it was purchased! I wasted time and energy lugging it over there! That was frustrating! Even the same person may not take something and then the next time take it. On the up side, It’s nice to get cash rather than wait for consignment, the wait time is minimal, and for the most part workers are polite. The store does seem overloaded with incoming items.

I think some of these reviews are unfair. I have had good and bad experiences and have gone to 4 Once Upon a Child’s in the state regularly. This location is big usually clean, well lit and like any bargain hunting, it’s a hunt! I have gotten my sons entire seasons wardrobe here on three occasions. You have to go through endless amounts of clothes to find the gems but they are there. They should have never increased the prices though. I only buy clothes occasionally now due to the increase for example they charge $ 6.50 to $ 8.50 for jeans that are Children’s Place or Carters. I went to Carters last night and got jeans for $ 6.90! So needles to say I pop in a couple times a month that’s when I have the most luck. Last week I got a brand new pair of Nike ACG boots for $ 9.50!!! As well as some Timberland boots, snow boots and a cool pair of Sketchers. I got all four for less than the price of one at retail. But there are times when I go and time after time there are no good shoes at all. I’ve gotten my sons Northface jackets for $ 20. Also it’s good for baby items I got a $ 50 Boppy for $ 10, a $ 85 bouncer for $ 25, a $ 65 bellytime gym for $ 12. I have had frustrating times selling to them. Each time I sell I take the items they didn’t take because of «wear» or it no longer being «in style» to another Once Upon A Child location and they buy $ 30 to $ 50 of the items they rejected. They pass on Jordans and take the no name brand Cars shoes. It’s a mystery…

I always find great clothes for my kids, especially my 6yo son who is rough on his clothes. I have found anywhere from great play clothes to newer items. You def need some time to go through the racks. I used to go to the Hamden one and I’m so glad I have a closer one now. Yes, parking can be tough, but not a reason to skip out. Staff is always friendly and helpful. I recommend it! Plus they have great sales!

This is my second time going to this store to sell some items and it will be my last. Both times they only took about 10 percent of the clothes I had some i got back still had tags on them!!! Telling me a lot were out of style, really???, onesies never go out of style and some had «pills» on them… what ever. I looked at them again and the fabric on these items had very small pilling on them. The second time I brought some toys, a swing and a glider chair with ottoman. They didn’t take the swing because of a small stain on the seat part but took the rocker which by the way is a cream color, had a small stain on the arm. hmmmm. Not too consistent! And they didn’t take a play table which I had bought from them 2 years ago with a piece missing and the condition has not changed. So you bought it previously from someone with the piece missing but you won’t buy the same toy from me? Same for a bjorn I bought from them and we have only used maybe 5 times between two kids the rest of the time it sat in the closet. I will never go there again and you shouldn’t either unless you like trucking your crap back and forth and getting a very small payout. My advice… bring it to goodwill.

If I can give no stars I would. I went into the store early afternoon and asked if they had any clearance for the boys. They had not done the boys yet but the employee told me which would be marked down and she would do it for me. I bought clothes for my 4 yr old and had to leave to go pick up my other kids i came back to go shopping for them too. When I went up to pay they refused to give me the discount on the items that I knew were getting mark down. they were extremely rude. I work at a consignment shop and we always send people over to them if we do not have the merchandise at hand. But I will never send any of our customers to this rude unprofessional place again. I asked the assistant manager if she would be willing to give me the discount, seeing how we spent about an hour to two hours in the store shopping, 2 arms fulls of clothes. knowing which items were to be marked, she said «no but you can come back on the 20^th of this month and look for all the clothes that you had in your hand again for the discount.» I asked her so you don’t know which items are supposed to get marked down and you can’t help me out. She said «oh i do but no I can’t do anything, that’s the floor manager’s job.» and this isn’t the first time that the women who work there were extremely rude. I honestly don’t understand how they keep business maybe it’s only because they pay right out. they do everything with a damn attitude and that is not proper customer service. I’ve worked in customer service since 2002 and I understand people go through things. you never bring your outside problems into work. Because we as customers are the ones that keep these businesses open and keep those employees working and getting paychecks. To the manager… district manager… is this how you run a business? Good service=1 good word of mouth. Bad service=10 bad word of mouth. Which would u pick? They only had one other customer in the store other then my kids and I. I haye service like this. Makes me tell everyone I know about my horrible experience, and believe me… I know alot of people. Times are tough for me and to be shut down like that… really? I demand results…

It’s a hit or miss with this store. I found brand new swimming trunks for my infant son and it had a target clearance tag at $ 3.50,and a once upon a child tag at $ 6.50 lol. I asked the cashier and she had no choice but to give it to me for the less because I made a valid point. Found a few nice summer one pieces. but really at 6.50 a piece I can get it cheaper with coupons at kohls or carters. The cashiers up front were lazy hanging around chit chatting complaining about their job and the hours while sneaking in texts and food lol. If you don’t like your low paying job, don’t work there !!

New location, they closed Hamden and came here. Solid choice. Store is easily 5x larger than Hamden which was desperately needed that store felt like the walls were closing in on you.
Parking here is horrendous. You’re battling with people going to the gym, or grocery shopping — no worse than the other location but still should be mentioned. The location of the store itself doesn’t allow you to drop heavy items at the curb — so you have to lug items through the parking lot, to the store and if you have a lot — well skip going to the Edge next store it’s a workout itself. You know what would be a nice touch? If they had a flat cart (think Home Depot or Ikea) or offered to help. They didn’t even open the door for me.
Selection looks awesome, prices are alright. If you stack coupons you can buy new for cheaper at Kohls, Carters, Osh Kosh etc — but sometimes you score some good finds.
I come in here to sell stuff. I’m not offended that they don’t take stuff because whatever they don’t take I give to friends or donate. So it’s just extra cash for stuff I would give away — my only issue though is they ask for the clothes to laundered, and folded but when you get your clothes back they’re tossed in the bin and other bins are stacked on top of your clothes. So my once clean, neatly folded clothes are now in a heap with other crap on them. It’s rude to be blunt. You don’t need to make my clothes look like they’re on a display but really how hard is it to fold that onsie back in half and pile them?
My biggest gripe is the staff has no sense of urgency, and even after reaching out to management in regards to some extremely unpleasant interactions — there have been zero attempts to retain my business or correct the issue (s).
TL:DR?
One star for location size
One star for selection
Loss of stars for parking/​drop off & they treat your property like crap.