More and more people are thrift shopping these days, giving once pre-loved items a second chance. There are many reasons why people go thrift shopping, and below my friend Brooklyn tells me hers.
Brooklyn Colby lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana and has been thrift shopping since she remembers. “Growing up I always got hand-me-downs, I didn’t have a choice,” Brooklyn said. “I would go thrift shopping with my family when I was in middle school. At first, I thought it was weird, I didn’t know why we were doing it. Eventually I grew to love thrift shopping.”
Currently majoring in Business, Brooklyn has always wanted to be her own boss. In the beginning of 2020, she started her own shop by selling handmade earrings and then moved to reselling clothes. When she finally got her LLC, she questioned what she was really going to focus on.
“I was inspired by an account that I came across on Instagram,” Brooklyn said. “That’s when it came to me, why don’t I start reselling vintage stuff? This is something I have always had in my life, something I am actually passionate about.”
In September 2020, Brooklyn decided to just focus on selling handpicked home goods and decor. Her shop has over 1K followers from all over the U.S. You can find her and follow her at @shopbrooklyncolby.
Brooklyn tells me what she likes the most about thrift shopping is the thrill that she gets.
“I am hunting for something that I don’t know yet. You can walk into a store and don’t know what you are going to find. You can find something from your childhood past, something you know your friend is going to like, anything. That’s where the beauty comes from; it was once loved and now you are loving it again. I personally look for things that I would like in my home.”
With the help of social media, Brooklyn not only does what she loves but she has also found a huge thrift shoppers’ community on Instagram. She has met a lot of kind, supportive people who have helped her by giving her feedback with her shop.
“The community is awesome, I never thought I would find such nice people. It’s just interesting to see all these people doing the same thing as me and instead of bashing each other we are all supporting each other.”
Another reason why Brooklyn loves thrift shopping is the help it provides to the environment. “When you buy secondhand items, you are preventing factories from producing air pollutants,” she said.
Brooklyn’s next step for her shop is to start her own website where people can purchase from and to start selling larger items. She also plans to renovate an old camper and turn it into a “pop up” shop so she can travel and explore while working.
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