Hanaa Mohamed

Influenced by her brother during quarantine, sophomore Hanaa Mohamed often goes thrifting to find cute, quality clothing items with her siblings. From the many thrifting sessions with her brother, Mohamed has become more experienced at finding cheap and affordable clothing. When thrifting, Mohamed often looks for Y2K style items like jeans and long-sleeve shirts she can wear on a daily basis. 

“I don’t like to spend too much at thrift stores, because it’s supposed to be cheap,” Mohamed said. “So if I’m spending a lot, I should be aware of that. But normally, I don’t really think about the price of what I’m getting, just because it’s always under 20 bucks.”

Her favorite place to thrift is Plato’s Closet, and although she acknowledges the items can be expensive, she appreciates the curation because it gives her better options. While thrifting regularly with her brother has taken away the novelty, she still finds thrifting enjoyable when she’s focused. Subsequently, her advice for new thrifters is to be prepared to look through a lot of different clothes, because there’s bound to be something they like.

“I think when I’m really locked in and I’m ready to look through every piece of clothing, I’m guaranteed to find something that I really like,” Mohamed said. “So I like it when all my attention is on thrifting, and so I will find something nice that I’ll really enjoy.”

Vicki Simmons

As a volunteer for The Echo Shop for over 15 years, Saratoga local Vicki Simmons has developed a love for thrifting. As someone who grew up in a family that ran a grocery store, Simmons’ childhood dream to “play store” was fulfilled when she discovered The Echo Shop through Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church. 

“We’ve been completely run by volunteers for at least the last 30 years, and we have about 80 volunteers,” Simmons said. “Most of our volunteers are often our best customers. They love thrifting as well, and going through our donations is like a treasure hunt. You absolutely never know what you’re going to come across.”

The Echo Shop, the oldest business in Saratoga’s downtown district, is a ministry of Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Saratoga. As a store financially independent from the church, The Echo Shop donates both profits and unsold clothes. Simmons estimates that most of their items are priced around $9, with the thrift store giving $100,000 to $125,000 in donations to various charities each year. 

“Thrift stores had kind of a bad rap for a long time,” Simmons said. “You expected them not to smell good and not to look very good. They would look rummaged through, but we’ve always had this dedication to keeping it really nice. And then twice a year, we clear everything out. We’re really a full circle generosity loop.”

The Echo Shop stays organized with teams of people who price and curate the items and frequent sales help clean out inventory before the start of a new season. Simmons also enjoys finding treasures in the donations they receive. One of her favorite finds for the store was an 18-karat ruby brooch, which was auctioned off for $2,500. 

However, beyond the physical items, Simmons’ favorite part is the community. Simmons fondly recalls an annual luncheon, where one of the volunteer’s sons played a song dedicated to The Echo Shop and made the day unforgettable. 

“It’s the people,” Simmons said. “It’s a great community of workers. It just seems like working together with people creates a really nice atmosphere. We have many people who would otherwise be alone all the time, and so we feel good about being able to include those people in the family.”

Tatva Vuppala 

Junior Tatva Vuppala was introduced to thrifting over the summer when he came across an Instagram reel showing off thrift items. Although he had never considered thrifting before, Vuppala was surprised by the quality and price of what he saw, and wound up spending an hour or so at Savers with his friends.

“I feel like it’s rewarding when you find something super interesting,” Vuppala said. “It adds a lot of variety to your outfit, compared to something you can just buy online or go shopping at a mall.” 

Vuppala’s first experience of thrifting at Savers allowed him to discover cheap but fashionable items. Not only did Vuppala find clothes he liked, but he also discovered pins, badges, books and other non-clothing items. However, his favorite thrift item is an old belt, which he notes has some wear and tear but is still high-quality. 

“Since I don’t buy that many accessories, it was a pleasant surprise to find these for that cheap,” Vuppala said over Instagram. “The Eagle Pin was a cool US ‘Presidential County’ pin that my friend found and thought would suit me. I bought the sunglasses because I didn’t have any and I need new ones. I also wanted to look for a ‘cowboy’ belt and that belt was the only thing that matched the most, so I just went ahead and bought it.”

Overall, Vuppala enjoyed the experience due to the wide range of thrifted items available, and advises those interested in thrifting to be open to buying novel items and pushing out of their existing style.

“I feel like there’s a lot to choose and part of the appeal is the mystery because you don’t know what you’re going to find there,” Vuppala said. “So you go in there with a general idea of what you want, but then you’re surprised along the way as you go shopping.”