Once Upon A Child - Salem, OR - Salem, Oregon

Avery L.

Bare with me, this is a long one.
First off let me just say, I do love this store and all it’s about. I love that you can take gently used items to resell to other parents who need items! Some of their prices are amazing.. Now, I do also understand this store needs to make money, some of their stuff is SO expensive for being a resale store (in my own personal opinion).
I also have had an issue with this specific store, it’s frustrating to me that they are extremely picky about the items they take (I have only taken clothing items in this store, and I know no stains/rips so I have made sure to remove those from my pile I am taking in because I know they don’t want them). One time earlier this year I took a huge tote full of girls clothes. They looked through it, only took maybe a quarter of it. MAYBE. It honestly looked like maybe a handful of items. I wasn’t expecting the entire tote but I was expecting more than what I got back.
Anyway, at the end of the sorting I asked why they wouldn’t take more because a lot of the things they didn’t take looked to be in good condition. Their reasoning was if ANY amount of thread is coming up, they can’t take it. ANY amount of wear on jeans (even if it’s just slight discoloration they can’t take it), etc you get it. The lady there said “the items need to look good enough that you’d be able to walk into Walmart and purchase them as if they were brand new” “try washing and ironing them and bring them back in” I’m sorry that just didn’t set well with me. This is a RESALE STORE. This is NOT a brand new kid store.

Well fast forward today, I go in with another tote I know they’ll take hardly anything out and the bin was just about as full as it was when I brought it in.. not surprised unfortunately. But with the $12 I got from them, I purchased a couple small toys for my son’s birthday. I’m a little disgusted by the condition the toy was in when I brought it home to give it a good wipe down before I wrap it up for him. Literally food crusted in the crevices. The wipe is yellow as I’m wiping it. I’m not upset a baby toy is dirty, baby toys get dirty. I’m more upset that I got told it needs to be Walmart brand new for them to accept clothing, but apparently toys are not involved in that? Toys can be taken in this condition, but not good jeans that have slight wear on the knee? Honestly if I would’ve noticed ow bad it was in store I would’ve said something right then.

Maggie P.

I have bought a vast majority of my children's clothes and shoes here for the last 8 years and have 3 kids! While there have been times I thought the pricing was a bit too high, I have also found many amazing deals and saved hundreds if not thousands shopping here. I appreciate their standard of quality for their clothing items and the 20% discount you can earn. I'm seeing a lot of reviews complaing about the price they pay to purchase clothing items from customers - guys, let's use our critical thinking here. How do you expect this business to pay you the full value of these items and turn a profit? I literally saw a review say "then they turned around and sold it for a profit!"... duh. That's how they make their money. If you want a higher price for your items, sell on Facebook or something. But if you just want a bit of extra cash, it's worth it. For me, its worth it just to save the money shopping here.

The only reason I dropped a star is because some staff members could be a little more friendly.

Cooked S.

this is a great place with great employees, I think if your looking for good service and prices this place is for you… Also most clothing and other products have very low amounts of usage signs like stains scratches marks etc… Overall good place would recommend!

Brittney D.

I brought a bunch of stuff in the store to sell. I asked them ahead of time if they would except preemie clothes and I was told that yes please bring them in because they are in really high demand. I had twins that were premature so I had quite a bit of preemie clothes that had hardly even been worn and were in basically brand new condition. They didn’t take any of my preemie clothes and then told me the reason they didn’t take my stuff was because it’s not in demand. It was so confusing. Items in the store are also pretty expensive for being used.

A C.

All of the people with negative comments on here about pricing is a little bit confusing. I'm actually shocked at the expectation. Typical resale price on something is about 1/3 of the retail and that's about the price the store would want to sell it at therefore you cannot expect to get more than 1/6 of a retail price, generally.

All the people saying they would do better on marketplace, of course you would and you would have to go through a lot more work of your own other than just dropping off a bag and picking up cash.

Also the space rent and staff are expensive.

Virginia V.

I have been coming here for years trading and buying clothes. I always loved them. This time I brought a bag of clothes in to trade. Life got the best of me, I came in a few weeks later. I didn't receive a phone call or anything before they donated my clothes. Very disappointed! Not the best feeling to be told they got rid of my clothes. >:(

Gali R.

Very disrespectful! 5 workers and not even 1 could’ve said “hi” or “welcome in” . Aside from that I took in very organized clothes all folded , the lady gave me a low price for everything so I passed on that and she just shoved all clothes back in with an attitude (she was being a petty nice)

Cheralin H.

Took in $300-$400 worth of stuff and got back 70$. They also didn't take a bunch of the clothes I brought in (clothes weren't stained or anything) my husband and I used the credit to buy clothes, when it was time to give my husband his change, the guy at the counter asked my husband to donate it to the store.... Like we didn't already get ripped off with our trade in. Then when I went up to pay for some shoes, the same guy attempted to crack a joke by telling me that my husband had left me at the store and gone home. This store is unbelievable, DO NOT SELL YOUR STUFF HERE! I should not have had to pay out of pocket on top of using my credit. I got 4 outfits for all the stuff I brought in. Absolutely ridiculous. Will not be shopping here again.