Vintage clothing is arguably the best kind of so-called retail therapy, which experts define as “shopping for the main purpose of making yourself feel better.”
For the last 32 years, Fayetteville’s iconic vintage apparel store Cheap Thrills has not only provided a lot of retail therapy to customers, but it’s also put millions of dollars back into the local economy and empowered people of all ages to discover their own unique style and to embrace their “weird,” so to speak.
Keeping Fayetteville funky, indeed.
Greta Allendorf, who bought the business in 2017, says she immediately felt that sense of “everyone belongs here no matter what your style is” when she first visited Cheap Thrills as an 11-year-old, right after it opened.
“My family always bought things secondhand, but when I walked into Cheap Thrills — the original location on Block Street — that first time, I was in love. Experienced Denim had also just opened, so every time we came to town, those two stores were our favorite places,” she recalled.
Since 1997, Cheap Thrills has drawn shoppers to 120 S. East Ave. just off the square; the store is brimming with every type of clothing, footwear, accessories, and outerwear imaginable from every decade of the past century. The store's clientele is not limited to locals, either; people travel to Fayetteville from as far away as New York City to shop at Cheap Thrills, the "jewel" of Northwest Arkansas' retail scene.
From the entrance, a visitor might first notice 1940s-era cardigan sweaters, mint-condition 1950s bowling shirts, and fur pillbox hats from the ’60s — or they might be bowled over by the enormous selection of jeans from each of the last 5 decades.
Thousands upon thousands of dresses, tops, and bottoms, organized by era; rows of gently worn shoes and boots in styles ranging from Pollyanna to RuPaul; cat-eye glasses, fur mittens, and jewelry pieces from the Edwardian and Art Deco styles to 1960s chokers and vintage ’70s mood rings...
The store is overflowing with history in the form of apparel; Allendorf meets with individual sellers every hour, all day long, three days a week. Last year, Cheap Thrills paid out $350,000 for vintage clothing and accessories brought in by approximately 1,000 individuals — about 40% of whom have made a business out “picking,” or traveling around looking for vintage finds to sell to stores like hers, she said.
Allendorf says Cheap Thrills played a big role in her own life as a young adult, discovering how to match her outward appearance to her character and personality, building her style alongside her self-esteem — and bucking mass retail and fast fashion trends in the process.
It’s perhaps the biggest intangible benefit of vintage clothing: Countless teenagers and adults come in for the first time a little unsure about themselves, about what they’re looking for, about their “style identity,” if you will — and at Cheap Thrills, they will be encouraged and assisted in figuring out how to look and feel great in whatever vintage pieces best suit their personality and lifestyle.
“We give our customers the freedom to grow into their own style and to find unique items that nobody else is going to be wearing, and that’s empowering.”
7 Reasons to Buy Vintage
1. Empower your creativity
2. Get higher quality per dollar spent
3. Create your own style
4. Own one-of-a-kind fashion pieces
5. Wear a piece of history
6. Reduce pollution
7. Send less to the landfill