The word of the summer especially for boutique establishments all around the East Village is consignment. What is consignment? It’s when you take your old designer clothes, put ‘em up for sale in a walk-in store environment rather than trying to sell it all on your own through craigslist, your own Web store, or eBay.

If you walk down 9th street and Ave. A (stay on the right of the street), stores like The Exchange (East Village @ 441 e. 9th Street (close to Avenue A) are just opening up. But they’re not the only ones, on 9th street alone, between 1st and Ave. A, there must be at least 4 other similar establishments.

The Exchange Store is a bit different in that they also sell American Apparel shirts for a cheaper price and carry unique clothing that is surprisingly cheap. Most of these stores have rents bigger than a recent college grad’s salary and still they somehow manage to stay open and profitable.

But what stores have started doing instead of consignment is giving a smaller percentage of the total price of shirts up front. So for example, you bring in clothes, they give you about 35% of the price they’d sell it for and out the door you go. For a piece of used clothing, that’s not a bad business model at all.

But how many of these stores can survive? There are a few that have branch-type deals set up and they are brimful with clothes and shoppers on any given weekend.

So this leaves the question open for competition. Will these stores that carry nearly-used or independently designed clothing be able to match up against the higher priced designer stores? Because it seems that Ludlow street has taken upon itself to extend SoHo’s high-retail motto and bring it to the East Village. The other day I saw a mannequin with a hat I liked and walked in. $70 for a shirt, $200 for some pants. I couldn’t believe it! And then I walked away…to eat a burrito at San Loco.

Related posts:

1. Failed Entrepreneur blames 9/11…still
2. Taking a brief break from thinking about politics…
3. H&M goes to the Dogs
4. thank you, cheap clothing manufacturer
5. Soho Newcomer