Buffalo Exchange expands with Internet, sell-by-mail

Called The Vintage Buffalo, the online boutique will feature vintage clothing and accessories, along with pieces that have cultural and Southwestern flair.

“It’s the best of the best of what you would find in a Buffalo Exchange store in the vintage section,” said Stephanie Lew, the marketing director and main overseer of the new initiative.

While some of the online inventory may include unique, unsold pieces purchased from Buffalo Exchange stores, most of it comes from company employees tasked with scouring estate sales, flea markets and antique fairs.

The collection sold online is carefully curated, Lew said. Vintage pieces make up 90 to 95 percent of the inventory. Other items are notable for additional reasons, such as being homemade or redesigned.

“Fifty years or older is considered vintage, so that’s the ‘60s or older,” Lew said. “Then we have a small selection of retro pieces.”

It has been eight or nine years since Buffalo Exchange had an online retail presence. But this time, rather than re-creating the store experience, The Vintage Buffalo is a separate endeavor falling under the larger “Buffalo Exchange umbrella,” Lew said.

Specialty pieces will cost around $100, with most dresses, tops and bottoms selling for $40 to $80. About 200 to 300 items will be online at a time, with updates occurring every few weeks.

Notable inventory so far includes an 18th-century Victorian dress discovered at an estate sale, Southwestern turquoise jewelry purchased from flea markets and a Fred Harvey clutch, such as those sold at stops along the railroad in the late 1800s.

It’s a treasure hunt.

“You would think it was nothing more than a pretty Southwestern clutch,” Lew said. “But then you realize it is a collectors’ item just sitting out at a flea market.”

For more information, visit thevintagebuffalo.com