Entrepreneur Of The Year 2009
Road to Palm Springs
Kerstin Block
Buffalo Exchange
Tucson, Ariz.
Kerstin Block grew up in Sweden and came to the University of Arizona (U of A) on a scholarship in 1960. She was still searching for a career path when she came up with a novel idea born of her love for secondhand shopping. In 1974, she launched Buffalo Exchange — a business focused on buying, trading and selling fashionable used clothing — in a 450-square-foot store near the U of A campus.
Initially, the business was just a way for Block and her husband to support their two daughters, but within a year, the space had to be doubled. Today, Buffalo Exchange — a name the young entrepreneur chose because it sounded “American” — has 34 stores and two franchises in 13 states. She plans to open three to four new stores a year.
Buffalo Exchange purchases used clothing directly from the seller for cash on the spot, rather than on the consignment model. Unlike thrift shops, it offers quality used clothing at low prices in a store with a boutique atmosphere. Shoppers also buy brand-new items using trade, with no cash needed. Clothing that isn’t sold is donated to charity.
The company also collects donated used furs for the Humane Society of the United States, which uses them to provide bedding for orphaned wildlife. Since 1997, it has raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars for environmental causes.
