Once Upon A Child

Terrible store! I have bought here just a few times. Each time something I purchase ends up with something really wrong with it; a puzzle with a missing piece, a hole in an item of clothing that was not apparent in the store, etc. Yesterday my 5 year old found a Harry Potter game that he was thrilled to buy. It was taped shut so I crossed my fingers that it would be fine. Once we got it home, we found it was missing its rules and its game board and was useless. I am done trying to buy anything here.
This leads me to selling to them. I have nice items with little wear that I bring in from time to time. After waiting ridiculous amounts of time, sometimes hours even, they will buy only a few things, stating that the other items were too worn out. This includes toys in very good condition. When it look at their shelves there are lots of toys in disrepair I would never buy my children, dirty items, and obviously, items missing key components. And yet they turn down my things time and time again. Yesterday, was the last straw. I was the first person in the door and the only one in the shop for the first 20 minutes. I had one small bag of toys and clothing for them to look at. I was there 45 minutes and had to stand at the desk and watch the woman enter my buy as that seemed the only way to make them do what they promised 30 minutes earlier. They bought less than half, once again claiming wear on the items. I then got home to discover the Harry Potter game was missing key pieces!!!
When I called to complain this morning, I was informed I could come in anytime in the next 10 days for a store credit, only if the game was unopened. Ummmmmmmm… How the hell would I know it was missing pieces if I hadn’t opened it up? Also, how is that the only response I get to something so badly done on their part? They sold me half an item and then claim it is my responsibility to fix it and only if I can get back to them in the next 10 days and only for store credit. Terrible customer service, terrible products in terrible shape unless you buy new (and Amazon beats their new prices). I am done with them! Do NOT shop here or bother selling to them.

I had been to a few other OUAC’s that had been nothing short of a let down, so I was pretty sketchy about trying this one. But, when the baby storage room started over flowing into other rooms I decided to pack up the car and head over.
I walked into the store carrying a basket of clothes, a boppy, a diaper bag, a bumbo, tummy time mat, and a toddler (I wasn’t selling the toddler) the staff rushed to the door to help, and even offered to help with other stuff remaining in my car. You fill out a quick form and they give you a time estimate. The earlier you go, the less you have to wait. We decided to wait and take a look around. THIS STORE GOES ON FOREVER! We weren’t even half way through when a worker came up and said they were done. They took almost everything, and I made a decent amount of money.
The staff was friendly, they had tons of stuff, the store was pretty clean…
A few tips, try to clean/​wash/​iron whatever you’re bringing in. You wouldn’t buy something wrinkled and stained in a retail store, so don’t expect these guys to buy it. If you’re in a hurry, go in early.

I have been a buyer and a seller at the new location and the old location. The new location is much bigger and easier to search. I only bring in brand name baby clothing because you won’t get much for a bunch of random onesies. I have netted around $ 20 for a few baby dresses and shoes. Just today I sold them a swing, baby sleeper, baby carrier and stroller for $ 95. I believe the prices are fair based on what they are selling the items for in the store. Today I bought a Strawberry Shortcake DVD, girls size 6 denim skirt, girls size 6 denim shorts, and some white patent leather shoes for Easter for $ 15 total. I feel that is fair. I also showed up at opening time and there was no wait to sell items.

Disclaimer 1: I’m a seller, not a buyer. I can’t speak to the quality of items available for purchase. I can only speak of my experience of selling things to OUAC.
Disclaimer 2: I’ve never attempted to sell them baby clothes, not ever. So I have no idea what that process is like.
So, you’re probably wondering what the heck I’m going to write in this review, right? :)
Almost two years ago (this week!), we welcomed our baby girl home after a fairly uneventful (thankfully!) pregnancy and a great delivery. We had procured all new baby items during my pregnancy as we pretty much needed every.single.thing one might need to care for a new baby. No, really… we had, like, nothing. So we shopped. Kind of a lot, actually.
It took less than .02 seconds to decide she was the end of the babymaking era for our family (um, did I mention our other kids are 8, 7, 7, & 5? :) & once we hit the ground running with that notion, we decided to shed off our gear as she grew out of it. Whatever the exact opposite of «baby fever» would be… well, I have a strong case of that. Suffice to say, we’ve ditched TONS of gear to OUAC.
Here’s how it works: you bring in your gently used item and they make you an offer. The nice thing is that they tell you exactly how much they would give you and exactly how much they will tag it for sale. You can choose at that point of you want to proceed. To be clear, you could probably make a bit more money selling through Craigslist or what-​have-​you, but if you can’t be bothered with that (me), have zero time for that (me again), & adore instant gratification of cold, hard cash in hand (also me), OUAC is for you.
They don’t buy car seats or stuffed animals, but we’ve sold swings and high chairs and toddler bed and… yeah. A never-​used double stroller that’s taking up unnecessary space? Sold. A crib? Sold. This is my jam, baby. We’ve netted hundreds of dollars from OUAC over the last two years. Cha-​ching!
The employees are nice enough and they deal with a lot of complain-​y customers. Oh, and one final note: be prepared to wait a bit. The lines are usually a bit long, so I recommend selling solo if at all possible (even if you have a very patient little one). Now go clean out your basement and collect on your investments. :)

This was my 2^nd time here and I will not return. First of all, it is not kid friendly. It is so small and the aisle are narrow that it’s hard to navigate a stroller through them. The 1 ½ hr wait time for them to go through the clothes is ridiculous. They don’t even have an area for the parents to sit and wait. That’s the least they could do. Nobody wants to stand for that long. Also, I gave them an umbrella stroller, head supporters, bouncer and a bag of never worn clothes. They only took about ¹⁄₃ of the clothes and for some reason wouldn’t take the bouncer even though it was clean and barely used. Guess what I got for everything. $ 20. I won’t be returning.

This place is ok. Most of the clothes they resell here are in decent shape and decently priced. The shoes are a bit in the expensive side, but a good place to get baby clothes. If you plan on selling, be prepared to drop your stuff off and come back, as they are not good about doing it while you wait. You would probably do better having a garage sale, but overall a decent place to just get rid of stuff.

I am expecting my first child in the fall and stumbled into this store. I live by the Chicago Ridge one and have been there once myself. The girls are really nice. Yes, they are young and it is sometimes slow to check out because people like me buy a lot (they have to take the hangers off) but I haven’t had a problem. The girl told me that they go by a computer when you sell your stuff to them and they don’t pull prices out of their butts. I believe her. I have found some really awesome stuff there. I am glad that some «soccer mom yuppie» (as somebody said down there) is willing to sell her new with tags name brand items to this shop. How many people can say that they found a Chicago Blackhawks onsie for less that $ 5 with brand new tags on it? Somebody like me appreciates these sort of bargains. I think it is fun to look and find these treasures. I learned to bring more comfortable shoes. Ha!

This place lost my sister’s brand name barely worn shoes that belonged to my nephew. A bag full, they claimed to have misplaced it. I think they went on ahead and sold them. So this place is very unorganized. The parking lot here sucks, it’s really hard to get out of especially on the busy 159^th street.

This place is kind of awful, but it’s really the only one of its kind in the area, so I guess it deserves some stars for that. They have a new location, which is a lot nicer, but still, when you go in you need to know it’s going to take a while to sort through the large amount of crap on the shelves. There are great deals to be had on kids stuff (clothes primarily) but you do have to dig. They have good deals on shoes as well, but while they’re supposedly sorted in bins by size that’s really not the case and you have to take time to sift through to find the sizes you want.
They buy used clothes/​shoes/​toys, but I wouldn’t bother since they won’t take half of your stuff and will only take the best of the lot and offer you an insulting dollar amount for it– it’s better to just donate your children’s clothes, plus it takes them around 45 minutes do go through it. It’s a total exercise in frustration.
Be sure to sign up for their emails, because they do have occasional sale days which can save you a lot.
Also– I wouldn’t go here at night by yourself since most of their parking is on the side of their building which has no lighting and is pitch black and secluded.

My daughter and I stopped in here on Friday night (10−26−12) to drop off a bag of clothes. My first impression as I walked in was that it looked like a tornado had hit the store. There was stuff all over the place, all over the floor. They advertise on their website that they will look over your clothes and pay you the same day. This was not the case at the Orland Park store. I was told they couldn’t get to it tonight. Rather than going through the hassle of having to come back the next day, I just decided to take my clothes to the Goodwill store instead. I personally thought the store looked like a junk store with everything laying around all over the place.

I am a *huge* fan of resale shops. I tend to have a problem with mass consumerism (I know, it makes me sound like a blast to be around) and general wastefulness so the idea of saving a bit of money and buying items with a lot of life left in them… well, it appeals to me.
That being said, I am not a fan of the Orland Park location of Once Upon A Child.
I’m expecting my second child and am on the look out for well-​priced and gently-​loved baby items. Orland Park tends to be a bit of a… big SUV/​soccer mom/​yuppie-​ish kind of area so I thought the OUAC might have the goods. Do they? Maybe. It was hard to tell.
Why? Complete and utter disorganization. It appeared that items had been strewn about and never returned to their proper location. Masses of clothes were jammed onto the racks making it difficult to actually look through the items. Strollers and other baby gear were stacked together in a haphazard fashion with attachments from one brand of stroller stuck on an entirely different stroller. The pricing system baffles me. A used Graco stroller (in a long-​ago discontinued pattern) was priced at nearly what a new Graco stroller would cost. Is that long discontinued fabric in such high demand that it commands such a price? Doubtful. Carter’s jammies complete with worn patches and formula stains (yum!) were priced at $ 9.00. The higher end strollers and such available had definitely seen better days and were still over-​priced.
Want to look for a toy for your little one? Don’t do it here. The toy selection laying all over the floor and rather dirty. One Sophie Giraffe had the remnants of what may have been fruit snacks stuck to her poor little head. Ew.
Other reviews mentioned the less than stellar staff although I cannot attest to that. There was one very long line when I arrived in the store and only one staff person ringing anyone out. The line hardly moved in the time I was in the store so I am assuming that there was no extra staff in the store.
The reviews for this store seem very hit-​or-​miss so perhaps I was unfortunate to arrive on a miss day. However, given the filthy and disorganized nature of the store when I did visit, I cannot say I will be in a hurry to hit up this location again.

Ok this place has moved like twice since my last review. My friend insisted we try there for a higher end stroller I was shopping for. It actually looks like areal store. It’s clean, relatively organized and bright and open. Unfortunately, they are still batshit insane when it comes to their pricing. The only high end stroller to be had was filthy. It was a Joovy. Not sure the model but they wanted $ 100.00. The stroller was in BAD BAD BAD condition. I also saw a raincoat that was chipped. yes I said chipped. The coat was chipped and peeling. They still wanted $ 9.00 for it. Unbelievable.

The OUAC in Orland Park has moved into their new spacious digs and I am really loving it. There is a huge selection to choose from and everything is more spread out. I also love the deep discounts that you get (now that you can actually see what’s there).
It’s gotten better than ever.

Perhaps I’m missing something, but I’m crazy about this place.
I happen to be allergic to the suburbs, but when I get the email for one of their «bag sales,» I’m on it! You can fill a bag (albeit a small bag) with clothing and pay $ 10 for the lot. I generally shop freely then slink over to a corner to fold and roll each item into the tiniest possible size before stuffing the bag to capacity.
Re: selling clothing, check the website first or call to see what they’re looking to purchase or just consider the upcoming season (e.g. bring Halloween costumes & winter clothes in Jul/​Aug, summer items in Jan/​Feb). I try to bring items whenever I go to get a better deal.
Now, it IS a thrift store, so you have to sort through the junk but everything is arranged by size and color so that helps and I never have a problem finding multiple, high-​quality items. As the mother of an 8-​year-​old who grows an inch every time she sneezes, this place is great!
Just wish they were closer…

Great selection of used baby clothes, and finds, however not the most baby friendly environment. I have been there three times in the past four months and they never have a working restroom. It’s always out of order. The narrow aisles do not make it easy to use a stroller in the store. The real kicker us when I asked the cashier as I was checking out if I could nurse my baby in the fitting room. She said «I’m going to have to say no. We need our fitting rooms.» I have never seen anyone use these fitting rooms.
And I was a paying customer… I was pretty outraged since this was a CHILD’s store. You think they would be more accomodating to mothers since they probably make up 99% of their customers.

They’ve moved into a new storefront now, two doors down in the same shopping center, and now it’s a whole new and wonderful world of shopping because of it.
The formerly cramped, stuffy, unpleasant shopping experience has been elevated to roomy and much better organized, for the most part. The design is actually a bit crowded around the front door, but the aisles are now such that you can use a stroller while shopping — something that wasn’t possible before. And although you still have to search through buckets to find baby a new pair of shoes, they are much better organized now and not so high up in the air and are easier to get to. Some much needed staffing changes have also really lightened the vibe in here — I once was privy to a really long, really loud «I hate this fucking job» rant that was like something out of Bad Santa or something because of all of the little wide-​eyed, circle mouthed kids afterwards.
There are still random pricing oddities — random Carter’s or Baby Guess for $ 10, which is pretty wack, but there are still lots of deals to be found and it’s one of my favorite go to spots for «new» baby stuff.