From browsing through high-end vintage shops to peeking around consignment stores, shoppers are flocking to thrift shops to snatch up second-hand finds.
Rerun in Portland, Oregon, Goodwill in Boston and Buffalo Exchange in Allston are three stores that prove customers have discovered the inherent value in not buying products at full price.
Rerun is a resale store co-owned by husband and wife team Joe Hilsenrad and Angela Homme. Homme’s family had been in the antique business when she was younger, an experience which helped inspire the couple to start Rerun when they moved to Portland, Oregon in 2005.
Buffalo Exchange, unlike Rerun, is a chain resale and consignment store with locations across the country. Since the store’s inception in 1974, Buffalo Exchange has become a booming business with 48 locations in 17 different states. People can now purchase their vintage goods online and sell their own clothing by mailing items in a the store.
Since it was founded in 1902, Goodwill has grown into an international nonprofit organization on a mission to “enhance the dignity and quality of life of individuals and families by strengthening communities, eliminating barriers to opportunity, and helping people in need reach their full potential through learning and the power of work,” according to their website. The enterprise is even more widespread than Buffalo Exchange, and now has 164 community-based locations in the United States and Canada.
These stores, founded for different reasons, are all part of the trendy thrift culture that attracts so many shoppers today.
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- When they first moved to their current neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, Joe Hilsenrad and Angela Homme, co-owners of Rerun, felt the need to start a resale store so that people would have a place to go with unwanted, yet valuable items like this colorful stock of blankets and linens.
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- A shopper considers a Rolling Stones logo skirt at Rerun, proving that thrift shopping isn’t just about saving money, it’s also a way for shoppers to connect to the past.
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- Unlike many consignment stores which focus on clothing, Rerun has a variety of products such as shoes, technology, accessories, furniture, and other household items like these colorful, gently-used ceramic plates and pots.
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- Daisy Grattan, who has lived in Portland for twenty years, has shopped in the area’s vintage stores since her youth. Grattan says she prefers shopping at resale stores like Rerun because she can find high quality products at cheaper prices and never has to look through “trash” to find something she likes.
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- The boot display at Rerun features a wide variety of brands, colors, and styles of shoes for sale.
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- Reinaldo Santana, 23, of Boston, looks through shirts at The Goodwill at 965 Commonwealth Avenue. Santana found a name brand product, a Vineyard Vines button-down, for a fraction of its retail cost.
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- Children are quick to outgrow clothing, which the full stock of children’s apparel at Goodwill proves. Parents can contribute to thrift culture by donating or selling clothing their children have outgrown, and also purchase clothing that their children will wear for shorter periods of time at lower prices.
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- “When you shop resale you’re spending significantly less on the exact items that are sold in major retailers. The majority of items we resell have been worn less than a few times, or are brand new and just didn’t fit the person right,” Tayla Frederickson, store manager at Buffalo Exchange in Allston, says.
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- A vintage backpack featuring a print of Marilyn Monroe had an opportunity for a second life at Buffalo Exchange. “One of the biggest benefits of shopping resale is you’re not adding to the demand for the production of more clothing which consumes natural resources. Instead, you’re giving clothing a second life within your own community,” Frederickson says.
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- The pants section at Buffalo Exchange provide an opportunity to browse a “wide variety of styles and brands on one rack as opposed to having to travel to multiple stores,” Frederickson says.
