Buffalo Exchange plans to open a store in downtown by the beginning of March.
It will be the third Tucson location for the Tucson-owned consignment chain specializing in used but trendy apparel.
The roughly 2,000-square-foot storefront property at 250 E. Congress St., leased in December from Congress Street Partners, will be in the space formerly occupied by a bar called Sports on Congress.
It will be Buffalo's smallest Tucson store, but co-owner Kerstin Block sees it as a perfect fit for the area.
"There are a lot of people who live downtown who are a little more metropolitan, a lot of artists and people who just like to be downtown and hang out downtown," Block said. "We usually do well with them."
Block also hopes the store will bring in others who work downtown. "That's a little different clientele, and maybe they don't find what they're looking for downtown, but maybe they'll try one of our other stores."
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In addition to going where the customers are, Block said she hopes the downtown store will contribute to the area's economic rejuvenation.
"I've always been a person proposing that businesses should go downtown in order to rejuvenate it. I believe in that," Block said. "This is kind of like my gift and hope for downtown."
Block said she feels confident that the brand can succeed downtown. "We have the name recognition," she said.
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Buffalo Exchange has plenty of momentum moving into the new year. The company, founded in Tucson in 1974, has grown to more than 35 stores nationwide and was ranked in 2010 by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America.
Contact reporter Alex Dalenberg at adalenberg@azstarnet.com or 807-8429.