The only thing you won't find at What Goes Around Comes Around is shoes. You see, it was just too hard to find pairs that matched the standard of quality met by everything else carried in the store, so the luxury vintage retailer has settled for being a "head-to-ankle" resource for shoppers looking to find one-of-a-kind pieces.
"Honestly, if you look at some of the other companies, they are literally just pooling in as much inventory as they can, and that's part of their model; a lot of that is just contemporary clothing or accessories," Maione says, gesturing at the shiny gold cases holding piles of vintage Chanel and Fendi nestled in the retailer's brand new Madison Avenue flagship. "We're sitting here with these heavily curated, collectable pieces.
"What's harder than staying in business for 25 years is staying cool for 25 years," Bober says. "Our company has figured out a way to do that, and one of the reasons is that we love the merchandise, and we buy what we love. The kinds of top-level clientele that we have — these people are the true influencers, and they continue to shop with us because they know that there's a certain cool factor around that.
That means the WGACA team puts as much effort into curating their sales associates — deemed "stylists" in company parlance — as they do their vintage goods. They look for people who have their own personal style, as well as a depth of knowledge in fashion, be that in one particular brand or in a specific category. These stylists help communicate the needs of their stores back to the home office, as well as helping to find special pieces for VIP customers.
"We always had to almost coax the clients and be like, 'Hey, you can buy and wear a preowned garment or handbag,'" Maione adds. "Now it's a full acceptability in the market, which works right into our sweet spot — something we have been working towards forever." Then there's a question of supply. While being particular — Bober calls it "fussy" — about quality is what has helped WGACA build a strong business, it also makes scaling much more difficult. "The RealReal doesn't have that challenge because they take anything," he says, for instance. But he remains confident that they'll find a way to capture the market, claiming that WGACA will "do over a hundred million dollars this year.