Thrift store shopping sometimes causes Mason Gomez to scream with glee.
Take the time the 16-year-old high school junior from Huntington Station found a Juicy Couture Daydreamer bag at Island Thrift in Huntington Station: "I called my friend and said, ‘Look what I found!’ I was screaming because it’s just not something you find in a thrift store."
He got the bag for $20 and thinks he would have had to spend 10 times that amount to buy it online on eBay or other resale websites, if he could find it there. His other thrift store favorites include vintage Juicy Couture tracksuits; he especially likes the jackets with rhinestones and embroidered designs on the back.
Madeleine Ruiz and her father, Matthew Ruiz, try on vintage fashions at Encore Une Fois. Credit: Elizabeth Sagarin
The thrill of the unusual discovery is one thing that propels teens and young adults to wade through clothing, jewelry and accessories at thrift shops that dot Long Island. The fact that the secondhand and/or vintage items are often sold at bargain prices is another enticement to Gen Z shoppers on a clothing budget. "Thrift is pre-owned clothing that’s sold at a discount, not retail," explains Matthew Ruiz, co-owner of the Encore Une Fois curated thrift store in Oyster Bay (Encore Une Fois is French for Once Again). Vintage, by contrast, is pre-owned clothing that is 20 or more years old, he says; his shop includes a Y2K room with items from the year 2000 and older.
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Because the items have been cast off by previous owners, they are often one-of-a-kind, which lets teens dress in an individual style that can’t be easily imitated by others rather than just choosing their size off a rack of identical items at a department store, they say. They are often inspired by fashion influencers who display their thrift finds on social media, and they scour websites such as Depop and Grailed online for treasures.
In Nassau and Suffolk, the shopping scene has seen a rise in openings of such secondhand stores whether it be vintage, thrift, consignment or storefronts inspired by the originality of repurposed clothing. Notable locally owned openings include Huntington Thrift in Huntington Station, Encore Une Fois, Dino-Mite Vintage in Wantagh, Royal Native in Locust Valley and the 27,000-square-foot mega bargain store American Thrift in Farmingville.
‘TAKES DEDICATION’
"The reason why I started thrifting was I wanted to see if there was a better way to find better clothes instead of the trendy pieces, to find pieces you could never find at the mall," says Roland Jean-Marie, 18, of Bay Shore, president of the Fashion Club at Suffolk County Community College. He shops at brick-and-mortar thrift stores as well as online apps — where he’s found, for instance, a black and red leather vintage motorcycle jacket he estimates is from the 1990-2000 era for $100.
Roland Jean-Marie, 18, of Bay Shore, wears a black and red leather vintage motorcycle jacket, belts, chains and Balenciaga shoes, all purchased at thrift stores. Credit: Roland Jean-Marie
"I feel like fashion is more than wearing clothes. It’s the ability to become different variations of yourself whenever and however you want," Jean-Marie says. "I feel like the reason I do it is I want to be unique. I don’t want to be looking like everyone else. I want to stand out in the crowd."
Thrift store shopping takes perseverance, the teens say. "It could take hours going through every single item," says Madeleine Ruiz, 15, a high school sophomore, who, as the daughter of the owners of Encore Une Fois, has a lot of hands-on experience. "If you want to thrift, you have to be dedicated to it." Ruiz hunts for Miss Me Jeans that she seeks to pay $30 for when they are more than $100 to buy retail. She also likes T-shirts with wings in their designs. Of course, there can be disappointments — such as finding the perfect item but discovering it’s not your size.
‘FINDING GOLD’
Eliza Irwin, 15, a high school sophomore from Islip Terrace, says her mother introduced her to vintage shopping at Paper Doll Vintage Boutique in Sayville (the store burned down in October and plans to reopen at a different Sayville location in April). "My mom’s been taking me to that vintage shop since before I could even grasp what vintage was," Irwin says. "Every time I'd visit Sayville with her, I'd say, 'Can we go again?' "
Eliza Irwin, 15, says she's purchased several thrift store dresses and hopes to turn one into a dress she will wear to her prom. The wrap she wears here is from the '80s. Credit: Rick Kopstein
She also visits stores such as Savers in Holbrook and Island Thrift in Centereach, looking for pleated skirts and embroidered sweaters. "It’s almost like finding gold when you find something unique and you know no one else is going to have that," she says. "It’s self-expression. It’s almost like an art form, walking out of the house in a pair of butterfly sunglasses and a big chunky purse from the 2000s."
She’s purchased vintage dresses, she says, that she plans to tailor for her school prom. She says she feels it’s also better for the planet to recycle previously worn clothing and urges other teens to embrace items that "speak" to them.
"It belonged to someone else once," she says, "which means it could be waiting to find you."
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
