Buffalo Exchange founder, Kerstin Block, passed away peacefully in her home in August at the age of 83. A pioneer of the buy-sell-trade fashion model, Block leaves behind an enduring legacy of sustainable style, individuality, and empowerment that continues to guide the company today. Block left the clothing business to her daughter & Buffalo Exchange CEO Rebecca Block.
Block grew up in Sweden, where she developed a love of fashion and creativity from an early age. At 18, she boarded a boat to the United States on a scholarship to study anthropology at the University of Arizona. There, she met her husband and lifelong partner, Spencer Block, who would go on to help her transform her passion for fashion and bargain hunting into a new type of business—the first secondhand clothing store to pay out customers on-the-spot.
Drawn to flea markets and thrift stores, Block delighted in the treasures she found and imagined there must be others like her, but who didn’t have “the rummaging instinct,” as she called it. “For some reason or other, I came upon the idea that there must be other people who are equally addicted to this kind of shopping,” she recalled. In 1974, Kerstin and Spencer rented a 400-square-foot space near the University of Arizona, creating displays from bicycle racks and milk crates and filling it with clothes from Kerstin’s closet to start. Coming from Sweden, Kerstin chose “Buffalo” because of how American it sounded. And “Exchange” was simply what they’d do.
The idea quickly caught on. They soon doubled their space and, by 1976, opened a second location in Tempe. What began as one tiny shop that many thought would fail became the foundation of a movement. One likely key to success? From the beginning, the husband-and-wife duo valued honesty, individuality and creativity. “We built our business on a lot of principles,” Block said, “such as respecting people, treating everybody fairly and listening to them.”
In the 1990s, as secondhand fashion gained popularity, Buffalo Exchange expanded across the West and beyond. Block remained deeply involved, working hands-on in the stores to develop future leaders, including her daughter Rebecca, who grew up with the business from age 9 and started full-time in 1990. After Spencer’s passing in 2009, Kerstin and Rebecca ran the company side by side, their offices in direct line of sight from each other. In 2024, when Kerstin retired, she passed the leadership of the company to Rebecca, now CEO.
CREDIT: Agaton Strom
“It was amazing to see my parents build this business from the ground up and to be instilled with such values,” says Rebecca. “I’m beyond grateful for Kerstin’s mentorship and the vision she had for Buffalo Exchange. Working together for so many years, our decision-making was closely aligned and the transition was straightforward when she retired. I miss her dearly, but I know she was so happy with her life’s work and rested easy knowing the company would continue forward.”
Along with her love for clothing, Block was deeply passionate about giving back to the communities that helped her business thrive. Under her leadership, Buffalo Exchange donated more than $2.5 million to thousands of non-profits and kept millions of clothing items in circulation. Block herself lived these values—keeping a small, rotating closet and personally supporting many local organizations.
Today, her vision lives on through over 40 Buffalo Exchange stores nationwide and a lasting spirit of sustainability. Block never shied away from trying new things, speaking her mind or thinking outside the box. As a result, she built a company that redefined the secondhand clothing industry and inspired countless others to follow.
“What I’m most proud of,” Block once said, “is how much we’ve been able to empower people—especially women. I would say it’s given meaning to my life beyond anything I ever thought possible. And besides that, it’s the clothes. It’s always been about the clothes.”
Kerstin’s leadership, perseverance, and unwavering belief in the power of fashion and people will live on in the company she built, the industry she helped shape, and the many individuals she inspired.
