Like some of the fashion items it sells, Buffalo Exchange is going retro for its birthday. The Tucson-based fashion reseller is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a cross-country tour featuring a renovated 1969 Airstream trailer converted into a vintage pop-up shop. The sleek, silver trailer is decked out with the store’s name, hippie buffalo logo, designs and website information as well as a personalized Bufex74 license plate.
“This project has highlighted the great artistic talent we have in our company,” says Kerstin Block, who opened the first Buffalo Exchange near the University of Arizona in 1974 and has grown the company to 48 locations in 16 states. “It truly celebrates the unique creative culture of Buffalo Exchange.”
Block’s focus on buying, selling, and trading fashionable and affordable clothing set the store apart from other reseller from the beginning.
Also setting the company apart was its commitment to the communities it serves. Buffalo Exchange’s Tokens for Bags program donates five cents to a local charity every time a customer opts out of taking a plastic bag. Buffalo Exchange has raised nearly $525,000 for local charities and saved 10.4 million bags with this program.
In keeping with the company’s environmentally friendly values, almost everything in the renovated trailer was purchased at thrift stores, flea markets, and salvage yards. The trailer’s clothing racks were fashioned from plumbing pipes in tribute to the original pipe wall racks used in the first Buffalo Exchange store.
The tour will run through May 22.
