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How Two Young Founders Opened Their Store Front
Isabella Ardell, 22, & Jesse Saybe, 24, opened the first vintage store in the historical town of Stillwater, Minnesota.
“We just had our grand opening on October 4th. Our store is located downtown in Stillwater, where Isabella grew up. She saw the benefit of a vintage clothing store for her community, the first of its kind. We hope it can be a third space for locals, a place where people can connect and gather with others outside of their home or work. We hope to make Vintage Revival an engaging environment for learning and inspiration. Our goal is to host creative events, such as mending workshops, fashion shows, and styling services, to differentiate ourselves from other shops. Our goal is to bring the community together through sustainable fashion. Stillwater is considered a small town to some, but the population is 20,000.
In our store, you’ll find pieces from the 1900s to the early 2000s, emphasizing timeless styles & silhouettes. Vintage has always been the blueprint of modern fashion. Our garments aim to give you access to more originality & affordability, obviously in a sustainable way.
The most sustainable and affordable way to participate in the fashion community is through thrifting.
We’ve always had a love for clothing and found it enjoyable to challenge ourselves in sourcing garments that feel/match our personal aesthetics. People gained a liking for our curation, and we enjoy sourcing. It was meant to be!
Jesse has been selling vintage for a couple of years now full-time, and Isabella just finally quit her job to pursue it full-time as well.
As we know, there are pros and cons to every career. When it comes to selling vintage, competition plays a huge role, and you aren’t getting much sleep. Whether that’s because there’s an estate sale you’re camping out at 4 am, or you’re not getting home from an event till 11 pm. But you create a community through these connections, which makes it all worth it in the end.
Our best advice to aspiring vintage sellers is always to be yourself!
If you do so, the feeling of fulfillment will follow, and so will the money. There is a niche out there for everyone. Also, be kind to the people you meet along the way; you never know where these connections could lead you.
With the rise of social media, there is a lot of misleading information about vintage items out there. The most frustrating assumption is that resellers are stealing from the poor. We’d say more resellers are simply making it by. Just like any job, it can be challenging and not so rewarding. This job comes with ebbs and flows.
According to the EPA, about 17 million tons of clothes are thrown out every year, and only 15% of that gets cycled back into our wardrobes.
We believe reselling of clothing will help us preserve our planet & history.
So many sellers and customers have helped us on this journey to get where we are today that it would take up this whole article. They definitely know who they are. We love you guys! But there are some brands we are inspired by that don’t have any idea who we are: The Find, PDA Shop, Scum Rags, Suburbia Circus, and Organic Zip.
We believe we can succeed by staying true to ourselves in marketing and sourcing. This will help us gain a trusting clientele. We might find ourselves sacrificing our personal lives and hobbies because of the workload. We will have to remind ourselves to set time aside to follow through on other passions.”
Vintage Revival
321 Main St. S
Stillwater, MN 55082
Mon-Thu 11am-5pm
Fri–Sat 10am-7pm
Sun 11am-6pm
@shopvintagerevivalmn_
vintage houndstooth coat