|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Plato’s Closet, a consignment store with locations across the Bay Area and North America, celebrated the grand reopening of its Pleasanton location last month after it shuttered last October.
Marcie Webster, a local entrepreneur who took ownership of the store, told the Weekly that the Pleasanton location had been her favorite location and she was overwhelmed by the community’s positive energy following the store’s reopening on March 20.
“Everyone has fond memories of it and so many people came out to us and told us how glad (they were) that we brought it back,” Webster said. “The community has come out big time to support us and bring us great merchandise.”
Plato’s Closet, according to the company, is a national retail resale franchise that “focuses on sustainability, small business formation and providing resale for everyone”.
Webster said that while it mirrors a thrift store, Plato’s Closet is a for-profit store that, instead of relying on donations, actually purchases clothes from members of the community for resale.
Located at 4555 Hopyard Road, the Pleasanton franchise had closed in October because the previous owners were ready to retire and sell the business following the COVID-19 pandemic, Webster said.
Webster, at that time, had already owned a few other of the chain stores in the Bay Area — she bought her first one in Pacifica after having previously gotten into the retail business when she took over a North Face store — so she jumped at the opportunity when she heard about the closure of the Plato’s Closet in Pleasanton.
“I feel like this store is sort of a culmination of all the things that I’ve learned over the years with my other stores,” she said.
After Webster officially took over the store in January, she and her team had to work hard to remodel the store and start buying clothes from people in the community so that they could open their doors.
And while it did take some time, Webster said seeing the community line up for that first day back a couple of weeks ago was worth it.
“It’s just been so much positive energy,” she said. “I couldn’t believe how many people showed up.”
She said they had over 100 people in line during their first day open and throughout that first weekend they stayed packed with customers.
Webster also said she was glad to further the company’s goal of sustainability with this business model of buying clothes from people instead of relying on donations because according to her, most donated clothes end up in a landfill.
But just as sustainability is important to Webster, so is being able to provide affordable and stylish clothes for the youth in Pleasanton, as well as job opportunities for them.
“We’re excited about continuing to provide interesting and fun drops and events and things like that,” she said. “(We’re) hoping to get involved in the local high schools and work with local content creators … because it’s like a community store so I want to make it theirs.”
Pleasanton police vehicle, other car involved in injury collision at intersection near downtown22 hours ago
'Completely innocent': Fencing coaches deny allegations of swindling immigrant instructorsJanuary 15, 2026 5:33 pmDublin fencing school owners accused of bilking immigrant workers from Ukraine, PolandJanuary 14, 2026 1:59 pm