Starting off by selling 23 of her own handbags, Nguyen’s idea flourished thanks to her site’s ability to bring together an impressive inventory of pieces by brands like Hermès, Chanel, Goyard and Celine. “Our site [features] a bunch of [consignment] stores on one platform,” she notes, adding that Lux Second Chance’s reach has expanded from the Canadian market to include sellers in the U.S. and Europe.
One might be surprised by the fact that people are still keen to get their hands on a Birkin or Boy bag given the current economy, but Nguyen points out that there are several reasons why a business like hers has maintained–and grown–its clientele in the last few months. “Luxury buyers aren’t shopping frivolously right now,” she says. “They’re shopping wisely.” That purposeful pursuit is motivated by a sense that “classics never go out of style”, as she says, and that many people would rather make an investment in a luxury good than on the stock market–and Nguyen has done the research on this. She compared the value of some stocks to that of an Hermès Birkin bag, and found the iconic tote actually outperformed shares.