Shoppers line up outside downtown SLO thrift store for Black Friday ‘treasure hunt’
Shoppers celebrating Black Friday in downtown San Luis Obispo came together to find deals, treasures and spend time with loved ones.
Local stores offered a variety of deals, including boutique Lulu Luxe offering 30% off the entire store from 10 to 11 a.m., buy one get one 50% off and a 60% off sale. Nearby Ambiance had 40% off items, while if a customer spent $75 at Blackwater, they got a free tote. If they spent $200, they got a $40 gift card.
While the deals brought some customers out, for mother-daughter duo Rachel and Terry Henry, the day was about spending time with each other without kids or husbands.
“Mom’s my favorite person to shop with,” Terry Henry told The Tribune.
Her mother jokingly added: “We’re just taking advantage of the fact that we’re together and someone else has the kids.”
Rachel Henry lives in Atascadero while her daughter lives in Santa Barbara, but she said downtown San Luis Obispo is one of their favorite places to shop.
“It’s better than Santa Barbara, in my opinion,” Rachel Henry said. “Even though the shops are similar, these are better kept and cleaner. The staff is happier, it’s just a joy to shop in SLO.”
For Arroyo Grande native Sonya Olivas, Black Friday shopping is a tradition for her daughters.
“We kind of wait all year-round to get our fun things. It’s more of a family thing for us.” she said. “The girls get what they want, we get to spend time together. It’s like a pre-Christmas present before Christmas. We want to make it something special.”
The family’s biggest score was at Barnes and Noble, where they found some new board games they were excited to play, they said.
While there weren’t as many shoppers as years past the morning of Black Friday, one store in particular had people lined up: Thrifty Beaches.
Dozens line up to shop at new downtown SLO thrift store
George Basulto, who was around 10th in line to get into Thrifty Beaches on Friday morning, told The Tribune he drove 30 minutes from Santa Maria specifically to shop the store right when it opened at 10 a.m.
He said he saw on Instagram the store had expensive vintage items hidden in $10 bins that he was excited to find. He was hoping to find some unique items for himself, and also for his family.
The key item he was looking for: Carhartt in its “Realtree” pattern. The store had jackets and a pair of overalls hidden in the bins posted on its Instagram.
Tatum Berhrens, who was visiting SLO from Los Angeles for Thanksgiving, said her cousins told her about the finds at Thrifty Beaches so “we got our a-- up this morning and were like, ‘Let’s get in line.’”
She said she was excited to shop at the store because she could potentially find items other vintage sellers would sell for three-times the price, and vintage shopping is always a surprise.
“I think that you can get one-of-a-kind pieces and it’s not like the things you can get in these other stores that are all the same,” she said.
For Thrifty Beaches owners Maria Trott and Adam Kemp, on their first Black Friday they wanted to create an exciting experience for customers.
They had 25% off the entire store, plus $20 vouchers hidden throughout the store and expensive “treasures” hidden in $10 bins. Free totes and Thrifty Beaches merch were also gifted to the first five people in line.
“It’s a true treasure hunt,” Trott told The Tribune. “We hide things. We hide jackets inside of other jackets. If we put stuff in bins, we mix it and put it in the bottom.”
She said for Black Friday, they split the bins in two separate locations in the store and made the $20 vouchers reminiscent of an “Easter egg hunt” with some taped inside hangers and spread evenly throughout the store.
“It’s making it as hard as possible just to make the prize even more worth it,” she said.
Kemp said for Black Friday, he personally let go of some of his prized vintage pieces to add into the $10 bins. He said his hope for the day was to bless some people, because the SLO community has blessed him and Trott.
“I just like making shopping fun,” Kemp said. “Yes, it’s a business so we have to make money, but shopping should be fun. We want to do things in an unconventional way.”
This story was originally published November 29, 2024 at 12:13 PM.
