Main Street Matters By Michelle Owens - Executive Director, Tybee Island Development Authority/Main Street
You really can get blood from a turnip.
Whoever said you can’t get blood from a turnip never met my mother. Or my older sister. Or my middle sister for that matter.
With five girls in the family, second-hand shopping wasn’t an option. It was a requirement. My middle sister can find every thrift store, clearance blow-out and
garage sale in a 200 mile radius. She can sniff out a rock bottom deal for the same designer purse I splurged on and “treated myself” to for my birthday. Hers will
still have the tags on it, while I’m not so sure mine wasn’t used and returned within the 30-day policy.
When my mom and older sister go “couponing,” the stores actually pay them for their groceries. I’m no math genius, but I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to work the
other way.
Needless to say, I grew up dreading a trip to the local second-hand store. They were stuffy, smelly and junky. I wanted to shop at Belk instead. To this day, I rarely
go into a second-hand store, but apparently, that makes me a freak of nature where retail trends are concerned.
Trend watching experts have hard facts and figures proving that Main Street shoppers nationwide are developing a “voracious” appetite for resale and recommerce.
What once was the domain of hipsters and thrifty moms is now a main stream trend. Online stores like ThredUp.com and Rent the Runway attract thousands of
buyers each month with catchy slogans like “Secondhand clothes. Firsthand fun.” Brick and mortar stores like Style Encore are cropping up like an 80’s t-shirt.
Rental fashion houses where you rent the outfit and return it are a thing. For real!
The National Retail Federation, an industry professional group, reported that the U.S. secondhand apparel market was worth $24 billion in 2018. If sales figures
stay on track, they could reach $41 billion by 2022 and $64 billion by 2028. Holey sneakers Batman! That’s a lot of merch – no doubt flowing to market from the
overstuffed mini-storage industry because millennials don’t want their parents’ junk. They appear to want a stranger’s junk instead.
Being a secondhand Rose from 2nd Avenue is now an esteemed status! Next thing you know, there’ll be a parking shortage and overcrowding over at the St.
Michael’s Church Thrift Store!
Of course the serious question for us locavores is how our hometown economy can take advantage of the hottest disruptor in the retail industry. Is there room on
Main Street for cast off couches and handbags? Is this trend coming soon to a street near you? And if so, how would you feel about that? Anybody out there brave
enough to hang out a used store shingle?
NYU Business professor, Scott Galloway, said this secondhand trend is like the “new gangster” blazing onto the scene, creating billions in stockholder value as
consumers find ever more creative ways to stretch a dollar or squeeze a turnip.
It’s hard for me to imagine, but I guess it’s true. My mom is OG, and you really can get blood from a turnip.
TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | MARCH 2020 29
/ThredUp.com