Thrifty Beaches about to open giant new SLO shop — and owner is ‘banking everything’ on it
Adam Kemp is aware that some people think his latest business plan is a little, well, crazy.
After all, how many other small businesses usually move into prominent, not to mention massive, storefronts in downtown San Luis Obispo only a few months after opening their first location?
But Kemp — the co-owner of vintage shop Thrifty Beaches, which is moving into the former Beverly’s Fabrics and Crafts space on Higuera Street — isn’t wanting to play it safe.
He wants to try something bold.
“I can’t think of one person that told me to actually do this,” he told The Tribune shortly after announcing his shop’s expansion. “A lot of business owners were telling me, you know, you’re crazy. I don’t want to see you bankrupt. I don’t want to see you lose your other store. Nobody’s moving into spaces that big right now.”
“I just heard every excuse there is,” he said with what seems to be characteristic nonchalance.
So rather than wait around, Kemp is nearly finished with setting up what will soon be Thrifty Beaches’ headquarters — a 26,350-square-foot Mecca for vintage goods, a spot where you can sell your pre-loved clothes, shop from the racks and bins of curated clothing and even browse a unique selection of vintage furniture, art and other home goods.
“I’m kind of banking everything on it,” Kemp said of the decision.
What is Thrifty Beaches?
Kemp is no stranger to the naysayers.
When the Cal Poly graduate student and wrestler first began exploring the idea of opening a physical storefront for his online vintage curated goods shop, he was also told it was unlikely to work, he told The Tribune in March.
Flash forward five months later and that small storefront on 1019 Broad St. next to Old World Rugs routinely has lines out its doors filled with customers waiting for the chance to check out everything the vintage store has to offer.
From the racks of vintage T-shirts, denim jackets, dresses and crewneck sweaters to the $10 bins in the back, most everything in the shop is sourced by Kemp and his girlfriend Maria Trott. Trott is co-owner of the business.
The shop also features secondhand items sold to the store by customers — a feature that will be expanded with the addition of the new Higuera Street location.
“I just saw so many people just giving their clothes away for free,” Kemp said. “And I thought to myself, like, these people should be paid for their clothes, because they bought their clothes at full price. So I thought to myself, I need to get a much bigger space to house all the clothes that are coming from the community, and I need to build up enough money to buy the garments from the community.”
So that’s exactly what he’s spent the last few months doing.
How SLO vintage shop snagged prime downtown space
At first Kemp was set on a different long-vacant spot in the downtown core: 1144 Chorro St.
That 24,500-square-foot location previously housed Sports Authority until it closed in 2012. Stretching back even further, the store was once home to locally owned businesses, Riley’s Department Store and Copeland Sports.
“I kept talking about it, kept saying, I really want to live in that space,” Kemp said with a laugh. “I actually started telling people I was moving into the space, just to get them excited.”
It wasn’t to be, however.
Kemp instead moved into the current Thrifty Beaches spot on Broad Street, and Cal Poly announced it plans to revitalize the Chorro Street property by moving its Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship and its downtown shop to the space.
Even after moving into the Broad Street spot, Kemp said he knew they would need a larger space if they hoped to fully achieve his original vision. And there was that big vacant Beverly’s spot he would walk by and peer into from time to time.
Beverly’s Fabric & Crafts closed its giant downtown store in 2020 as the business’ family ownership phased out its brick-and-mortar locations. The craft supplies business had operated in San Luis Obispo for nearly 50 years.
Kemp said when he initially looked at the listing for the space it was clearly “not doable at all” — but he decided to make a call to the leasing agent anyway just to see if they would be interested in his idea.
“He thought it would be a good idea,” Kemp said. “So I reached out to some people in the city and just tried to get them to put a good word in for me to the landlord. And they did.”
Kemp then put in an offer on the space and lo and behold, it was accepted.
“It was a stressful process,” Kemp said. “But now I feel pretty happy to be in the space, because I feel like even if it doesn’t work out, I mean it gives us a really cool three, four or five months of something unique.”
What will new Thrifty Beaches headquarters offer?
Signs went up on the space in late August, and work has been ongoing to transform the store into something like “a Target for vintage,” Kemp said.
Some of that work included putting racks on the walls to display clothing and adding fitting rooms for customers to be able to try on items. Kemp and Trott were also working to add art installations throughout the space and bring in more furniture.
In total, Kemp estimated they had about 5,000 pounds of clothing in the space as it was being prepared for opening. Much of that could be seen stacked in neat rows on the floor through the store’s large windows as the work was ongoing.
The clothing for sale will include a wide variety of goods sourced from Los Angeles, San Francisco and even as far away as Japan.
Kemp said the entire upper level of the store will be dedicated to resale, where people can come and sell their garments, while the lower level will be more like a showroom.
For those wanting to sell their clothes, he said the general range is for the shop to buy items at around 30% market value. They are particularly interested in vintage and designer items, though they buy a whole range of men’s and women’s clothing.
By providing a bigger space for San Luis Obispo customers to go to sell their used items, Kemp said he hoped he could help people “appreciate clothing more.”
“They don’t have to give their stuff away for free to Goodwill,” he said. “I think that giving something away for free that you paid $80, $40, $60 for it — we have to stop doing that thing.”
When will new business open in downtown SLO?
When speaking with The Tribune in late August, Kemp anticipated having the new store open by the time Cal Poly students return to school later in September.
In a post on its Instagram page Sunday, the business announced the new headquarters would open Sept. 14 at 11 a.m.
Hours for the new location were not provided.
In the meantime, Kemp anticipated keeping the Broad Street location open for the near future as well, though he noted because of its lack of air conditioning, they might close it when the weather is too hot and reopen when it is cooler.
In all, Kemp said he’s excited with all the possibilities the new location presents.
“I just know that if it does work, and is something really cool and something that SLO really cherishes, then it’ll really move the needle forward,” he said. “We’re just trying to create a really cool space where people can come and shop.”
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