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Do you have a teenager obsessed with ALL the brands, like we do?!! If so, then you have to make a trip to Plato’s Closet. Plato’s Closet is a second-hand, gently used clothing store that is geared towards teens and young adults. They buy and sell all the popular name brands: Victoria Secret Pink, Vineyard Vines, Brandy Melville, Free People/Urban Outfitters, Uggs, Vans, Converse and more. The stores are franchises, each independently owned, with locations throughout the country. However, the closest Plato’s Closet to us, in northern Westchester County, is the one in Danbury, almost an hour away.
While I had heard of Plato’s Closet, I didn’t think there were any locations near us. But when our 13 year-old daughter asked us to take her to the one in Danbury, how could we say no?! She had seen their Instagram page and couldn’t believe the name brand deals that she was seeing. I told her not to go with high expectations, but we were all pleasantly surprised!
The Danbury Plato’s Closet is located in a strip mall right off of I-84, on Newtown Road. The story is super organized, albeit a bit small for all of the merchandise they sell. When you enter the store, they have some of the more popular name brand clothing displayed together. They had a couple of Victoria’s Secret Pink racks as well as several Free People/Anthropologie/Urban Outfitters racks and a North Face rack right in the front of the store. These racks are not grouped by size, so you do have to do some searching.
The rest of the clothing in the store is grouped by style (jeans, outewear, sweaters, shorts, long-sleeve shirts, athletic wear) and size. And it is also sorted by color, for the most part, as well! I’m not sure from this picture if you can tell how narrow the aisles are. But they are! The whole time I felt like I was saying “excuse me” or walking down a different aisle to avoid the congestion. The store buys and sells current clothing styles. Everything I saw seemed to be on trend (but really, what does a mom know?!) and my daughter had no complaints. The store was filled with teens of all ages, both male and female, my 13 year-old daughter being on the younger end of the shoppers.
There’s a much smaller Men’s section located in the back of the store. Athletic wear, outer wear, jeans, sweatshirts, footwear and more are available. Even though the selection wasn’t as large, my husband was able to score a pair of shorts and a long-sleeve button-down shirt from J. Crew, for $12 each.
The store showcases some of their new merchandise, cultivated outfits and trending pieces on its Instagram page. They even have a section in the front of the store where you can easily find these items, that are specially identified with an “as seen on Instagram” tag.
Plato’s Closet doesn’t just sell clothing and shoes. They also sell pocketbooks, accessories like belts, scarves, wallets, hats and even jewelry. Some of the more expensive purses and shoes are displayed behind the checkout counter.
Have no fear, there are changing rooms available to try on clothing. This mom was not buying anything without seeing it on my daughter first! There was no limit to the number of items allowed in the dressing room. They just asked for your name and the number of items you were trying on.
Plato’s Closet has a loyalty rewards program as well. Signing up is free and requires only a name and phone number. For every $20 spent, you earn a point. Once you earn 20 points you get 30% off.
We ended up buying my daughter a pair of slip-on Vans sneakers ($22), two pairs of jeans (Aeropostale – $8 and American Eagle $16), a pair of Nike athletic shorts ($14) and a gray cropped sweatshirt ($14). I had seen an Instagram post where they were celebrating Tax-Free Week early and by showing the post, I got 7% off everything. With my husband’s two items, altogether we spent $104!! The store is bag-less, so you either have to bring in your own shopping tote bag or carry out your purchases.
This shopping trip was a win for everyone. My daughter got some name brand clothing and we payed a fraction of the retail cost. This is the type of store that is getting new merchandise daily, so every visit will be different. She’s already mapped out other Plato’s Closet locations and discovered that there’s one right near my parent’s house in Rhode Island! I think we are in trouble! But if you have a teen who is into ALL the brands, but you, as a parent don’t want to pay the crazy retail prices, definitely check out Plato’s Closet!
Store Hours: Sunday: 11:30 AM – 6:00 PM Monday – Saturday: 10:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Buyback Hours: Sunday: 11:30 AM – 4:00 PM Monday-Saturday: 11 AM – 7:00 PM
Tips: *Get there at opening if you are looking to sell clothes. During our afternoon visit, the wait was 1 1/2 to 2 hours for people selling clothing.
*Have your child try everything on – especially jeans! Even though they may be a certain size in a brand, the cuts/styles are not labeled like they are when you buy them brand new.
*Check out the Instagram page before going to see if there are any special offers or deals!
*Do not visit if you are in a rush. This was our first visit and we spent close to almost 3 hours in the store! There were a couple of dressing room visits. Between the time spent waiting in line for a room and then waiting for my daughter to try on the clothes…..yes, it felt like 3 hours!
*There is a Game Stop, Spirit Halloween (seasonal) and a Pet Store nearby. My husband and son visited these stores while we waiting for our daughter.
*The store carries sizes XS/(00) to 2X/3X (with limited quantities) and even a few items in sizes 4X-6X.
Hello Friday! It’s been such a quiet week here since the kids have been with their grandparents (my husband’s parents) for a couple of days this week. We had a couple of date nights and caught up on some shows while they were away. They came home yesterday afternoon and the house filled back up with lots of noise! They got their schedules yesterday and the start of school is becoming real! Tomorrow we drop them off with my parents for a week in Rhode Island, while we work. Then we will go back up to spend Labor Day weekend in Rhode Island and to pick the kids up. Here are five from this week:
1. Reading – So this week I finished Us Against You by Fredrik Backman, but I didn’t want to. This book was just as good as Beartown and I loved seeing the story continue. I honestly didn’t want the book to end! If you haven’t read Beartown, I highly recommend it and then read the sequel! I am now reading The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren. I picked it up from the library this week and learned it was a one week loan! So, this takes reading priority. I’ve really enjoyed every Christina Lauren book I’ve read so I’m looking forward to this one.
2. Date Night – Monday night my husband and I went to the Peekskill Coffee House for what we thought was going to be trivia night. They didn’t end up hosting it that evening, but we ended up having a nice coffee date. Obviously, I had to go with something caffeine free or I would not be sleeping that night! I enjoyed the “Berried Treasure” which was a caffeine free fruit tea blend. I added a little sweetener and it was really tasty!
3. Cooking – When the kids are away I try to make recipes that I don’t think they would enjoy. My daughter is not a fish or seafood fan, so I thought it would be a great time to make BBQ Salmon Bowls with Mango Avocado Salsa. These were really easy to make and so delicious! This is something you could find on a restaurant menu, but can easily make at home.
4. Eating – For another date night this week we went out to eat to Table 9. Our neighbor gave us a gift card after we took of her cats while she and her family went away, earlier this summer. My husband enjoyed chicken and waffles and I had a very unphotogenic crab cake hoagie!
5. Watching – Without the kids home, my husband and I get the television all to ourselves! We’ve been switching between watching The Chef Show and Ugly Delicious, both on Netflix.
On this week’s podcast episode we discuss Minnewaska State Park, Boundless Adventures and Meal Planning. I posted the show notes to this episode as well.
Our family loves food halls! Food halls are an upscale equivalent to a mall food court. We love having a variety of food options available but being able to eat together in one location. We’ve been to City Kitchen and Urbanspace Vanderbilt in New York City multiple times. So when we heard that Hudson Valley Food Hall was opening in Beacon, we of course had to check it out.
Hudson Valley Food Hall is located at 288 Main Street in Beacon. The building was formerly inhabited by the Roosevelt Theater. The food hall is directly across from the Howland Public library and Glazed Over Doughnuts. From northern Westchester County it was approximately a 35 minute drive.
We planned to have a late lunch at the Hudson Valley Food Hall and arrived at 1:45 PM. The place was fairly busy when we got there. There are several food options from six different food vendors:
Bombay Wraps
Green House Salads
Hudson Valley Seafood
Katie Rose Bakery
Miz Hattie’s Southern BBQ
and Momo Valley.
Our first stop was Bombay Wrap, which also had the longest line during our visit. We opted for The Big Meal which includes rice with a choice of sauce, roti, two subji (fillings/mains), a samosa and a drink for $12.99. For our subji we got the Chicken Curry and Paneer Tikka, on the recommendation of the cashier. When we asked for his suggestions, he mentioned that these are two of their popular dishes. Everything was delicious but a bit spicy. That was fine with us, but the kids aren’t huge fans of spicy food. Overall, I think it’s a great value for the price.
We then stopped at the Momo Valley stand. Momos are South Asian dumplings native to areas like Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal. Established in 2018, besides momos, Momo Valley offers a noodle soup bowl, a chicken over rice bowl and an Everest platter (Nepal’s national fish that includes lentil soup, rice, veggies, dry curried meat, fermented daikon or carrots, and sautéed greens).
We opted to share a mixed momo bowl, which includes two grass-fed beef, two chicken and two spinach and cheese momos for $10. The momos are served steamed, though you can get them fried for an additional cost. We liked how each momo flavor is wrapped differently to differentiate them.
The Hudson Valley Food Hall doesn’t have a liquor license yet, so no alcohol is served. The plan is for the Roosevelt Bar to serve cocktails which showcase local spirits made in the Hudson Valley. At the time of this posting, the food hall still did not know when they will receive their liquor license. For now, it’s an ice cream and soda bar.
We tried a peach and basil soda. The syrups come from More Good, a local Beacon company that, besides hand-crafted soda syrup concentrates, also sells a variety of teas and bitters. A 16 oz. soda is $2.95 and besides Peach and Basil, other flavors include Concord Grape, Cherry Cola, Root Beer, Ginger Ale and Cassia Kream. We loved how the serve the sodas in a glass with a metal straw.
Although we did not try any ice cream, the menu looks delicious! The ice cream is homemade from the Mapleview Cafe in Poughkeepsie.
The food hall is narrow with limited seating. There is an upstairs dining space with a couple of additional tables and chairs.
We enjoyed the couple of items that we tried during our visit. We like how the food hall aims to showcase chefs and food from around the Hudson Valley. However, we wished that there was more unique food offerings. Overall, we are very happy to see a food hall in the area and wish the Hudson Valley Food Hall great success!
The Details: Hudson Valley Food Hall 288 Main Street Beacon, NY 12508
Hours: 11 AM – 9 PM, 7 days a week Hudson Valley Seafood is open 9 AM – 6 PM Once the Roosevelt Bar opens, food vendors will be staying open later
Parking: Street parking – see tip below
Tips: *Expect to wait a few minutes for your food, especially during busy times.
*Main Street on a weekend in Beacon is BUSY! We recommend taking the first available parking spot you find and hope you are good at parallel parking! We parked a few blocks down from the food hall and made the short walk.
* The Beacon Farmer’s Market takes place on Sundays from 10 AM – 3 PM, right down the street from the Hudson Valley Food Hall. After you enjoy lunch at the food hall, you can make a stop at the market to stock up on veggies, baked goods, cheese and much more!
(This post contains affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for information.) Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a great week. The summer is starting to feel like it’s over. Today the kids have their last day of summer camp. They are spending next week with the in-laws up in Ulster County while my husband and I work. Tomorrow, my daughter had requested we do some back-to-school shopping. Wish me luck! Here are five from this week:
1. Supper Club – Last weekend we hosted our monthly supper club. This month’s theme was Brazilian and I made this Brazilian Fish stew. It was pretty easy to make and very tasty. Although really, everything was delicious, as usual. It’s a lot of fun trying new cuisines to cook!
2. Reading – This week I finished The Art of Racing in the Rain, which I had mentioned in last Friday’s post. I have started reading Us Against You by Fredrik Backman. It’s the sequel to Beartown, which I loved. Even though I just started this, I know I’m going to love it just as much.
3. Hudson Valley Food Hall – This food hall recently opened in Beacon, so of course we had to check it out. One of the dishes we enjoyed were these momos (Himalayan dumplings). It was a mixed bowl that included two chicken, two beef and two spinach and cheese. I will have a full post next week about this new eatery.
4. Watching – So I’ve previously mentioned that I recently read The Bone Collector. I remember watching the movie YEARS ago, and decided that I needed to watch it again after reading the book. Well, the movie isn’t as good as I remembered! And I found it to be a lot different than the book. Lesson learned.
5. Cooking – It worked so well having my daughter pick a recipe and cook dinner one night a week, that this week I had my son take a turn. He chose this Bacon Mac and Cheese. I of course supervise and assist when needed, but it’s been great watching them gain cooking skills and take ownership of dinner. Too bad they aren’t around next week! I hope that we can keep this up during the school year, but we will have to see how busy their schedules get.
(This post contains affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure policy for more information.) It’s hard to believe that summer is almost over. I haven’t read half of what I wanted to read! The good news is that I read eight books last month and almost all of them were four star reads! My library is hosting an adult summer reading BINGO game, so I enjoyed reading books to get a BINGO. Maybe I’ll even win a prize! I’m sharing my books with Steph and Jana’s monthly Show Us Your Books linkup. Here are my July reads:
3 stars:
The Favorite Daughter by Kaira Rouda – Jane Harris lives in a beautiful home in a gated community and seems to have the perfect life. Overcome with grief after her older daughter Mary’s death, she’s barely left the house over the past year. With her younger daughter Betsy graduating high school, Jane is ready to get her life back. However, things aren’t as perfect as they appear and it is harder for her than expected. I like a good suspense/psychological thriller, but I wasn’t a fan of this book. Unlikable characters, unreliable narrator….I just wasn’t impressed.
Startup by Doree Shafrir – Mack McAllister is trying to launch an improved version of his Mindfulness app and needs money from investors to do so. Katya is a writer for a tech blog, where Dan Blum is her boss. With two young children at home, Dan’s wife Sabrina decides to reenter the work force and ends up being one of the oldest employees working at Mack’s company, helping them with their social media. After a scandal breaks, Katya and Sabrina This was my in-person book club’s July read. I didn’t realize that Doree Shafrir, of the Forever35 podcast that I listen to, had written a book! While I found the look into the tech startup world interesting, the story was pretty “eh.” None of the characters were very likable and the ending left me wanting more.
4 stars:
The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver – Lincoln Rhyme was a star criminologist until a work accident left him a paraplegic. He’s been called in to assist when a serial killer on a case he finds intriguing. With the assistance of police detective Amelia Sach, the pair work together to try to stop the killer. I watched this movie starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie years ago. I was trying to find a book to fit the “crime” category for my library BINGO game and decided to read this book, since I liked the movie. It was really good! I enjoyed the detailed forensics and what goes into a crime scene investigation. Now I want to watch the movie again.
A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams – Lily has known Budgie since they were kids spending summers together in Seaview, Rhode Island. During college, Budgie dated Graham Pendleton and Lily fell in love with his football teammate Nick Greenwald. Fast forward to Memorial Day, 1938 and Lily is back in Seaview to spend the summer with her family. When Budgie and Nick Greenwald arrive they get the small town talking, and not in a good way. Told between the past and present day (1938), we learn the story of what happened between Lily and Nick. This book has been on my to read list since 2013! Based on the title, I decided to make it a summer read. Overall, I found it to be an enjoyable read.
One Day in December by Josie Silver – Laurie doesn’t believe in love at first sight…..until one day she’s on a bus and she sees Jack sitting at the bus stop. After a year looking for him, her best friend and roommate, Sarah, brings home her boyfriend to introduce to Laurie…..and it turns out to be Jack. The story is told over ten years as we follow the three of them through their ups and downs. This was a cute contemporary romance and a perfect light summer read.
The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth – Ever since Lucy married Ollie, she was never close to her mother-in-law, Diana. Five years later and Diana is found dead in what appears to look like a suicide, but is not. Now everyone is a suspect and who had motive to want Diana dead? The book alternates between Diana’s past and present day. I thought the book gave an interesting look at family dynamics and parenting privileged kids. I’ve enjoyed every Hepworth book that I’ve read and this one didn’t disappoint.
The Overdue Lifeof Amy Byler by Kelly Harms – When Amy’s husband reappears in her life after three years and wants to spend some quality time with their children, Amy is left with a lot of time on her hands. She ends up in NYC for the summer on #momspringa living an exciting life. But when summer ends she has to figure out if she really wants to return to her old life. I know a lot of people read and posted about this book in past linkups and weren’t huge fans. As a mom of an 11 and 13 year old, the overwhelm and under appreciation is real! I could relate to Amy in that respect and for the first time ever, took a short two day solo trip to a wellness spa this past June. Overall, this was a relatable, fun read for me.
Verity by Colleen Hoover – Lowen is given a job to finish writing the remaining books of bestselling author Verity Crawford. Going through Verity’s notes, Lowen discovers an autobiography that she wrote with lots of revelations that she’s not sure Verity’s husband, Jeremy, is aware of. As Lowen starts falling for Jeremy she wrestles with sharing what she’s discovered. I recommended this book for my work book club’s July read and everyone loved it. This was the first Hoover book that any of them had read. I’m a huge fan of Hoover and have read almost all of her books. This book is so much darker than her normal stuff. It was a bit disturbing but also hard to put down.
Hooray for Friday! I hope everyone had a great week. It was pretty uneventful here for us, which I call a win! My daughter attended a local field hockey camp in preparation for the upcoming school year, where she plays on the modified field hockey team. My son was at the regular town camp all week. This weekend we are hosting our monthly supper club. This month’s theme is Brazilian, which I’m sure will be a tasty dinner! Here are five from this week:
Birthday Celebration – my husband’s side of the family came over this past weekend to celebrate my son’s birthday. Even though he turned 11 almost a month ago, this was the first day that we were all free. My son requested chicken parm. We also made meatballs, sausage, pasta, Caesar salad and garlic bread. It was delicious and we had leftovers for a few meals! Is it sad that the only pics I have of our food is the sauce simmering on the stove and the meatballs, pictured above, frying in the pan?!!
2. Listening – Dinner Sisters podcast. Each week, hosts Kate Schulz and Betsy Wallace pick the same recipes to cook for their family from popular bloggers and cookbooks. Then they make the recipes and review them for the listener. I’m always on the lookout for new recipes and I love hearing their opinions. I’m only four episodes in so far, but there are currently 74 episodes. I’m one of those listeners that like to start at the beginning and make my way forward. So I have lots of episodes to catch up on! I have yet to make any recipes that they have talked about though.
4. Reading – This week my work book club met to discuss Verity. Everyone liked it which was nice since I’m the one who recommended it! We picked The Art of Racing in the Rain for our next read. I read this book years ago and am looking forward to a reread. I even have it on hand from the library since I just had my daughter read it. I’m always on the lookout for good books for her to read besides the typical YA stuff she enjoys. If you have any good teen book recommendations, please share! I’m currently finishing up Born a Crime by Trevor Noah for my library’s adult summer BINGO game. It completes my BINGO win for the category, book by a celebrity or public figure.
5. Podcast – This week on the podcast we discuss Playland Park, local produce, adult summer reading and the NY Renaissance Faire. Then we end with our Quick Hits of the week!
