On April 2, the Phoenix Sustainability Initiative (PSI) launched “reSTORE,” the first ever on-campus thrift store, as a pilot program for spring quarter. On Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays from 1–5 p.m., UChicago community members can head to the basement of Stuart Hall and shop their collection.

The initiative comes after a successful three-day pop-up thrift shop PSI ran in collaboration with MODA magazine in March 2022. A 140-person line formed outside Reynolds Club, and the thrift shop sold 1,441 articles of clothing and raised $4,808 for a local environmental justice organization, People for Community Recovery. They are now back and here to stay, at least for spring quarter.

reSTORE is spearheaded by PSI’s Campus Waste Reduction project group, which “work[s] with campus organizations, residence life, and off-campus students to increase sustainability awareness, support waste reduction and diversion, and increase reusable options.” The group has recently led other projects such as a reusable mug discount in all student cafes and a transition to compostable cutlery and bags in Hutchinson Commons, Maroon Market, Midway Market, and cafes operated by UChicago Dining.

Third-year and Campus Waste Reduction co-project lead Will Harding spoke with The Maroon about the motivation behind starting up reSTORE.

“The pop-up thrift store last year really outperformed our expectations. We had a ton of people walking around, buying these clothes we collected, and engaging with the educational materials we had at the event,” he said. “We had evidence to show the demand from students and that it was a fun, interesting project that really invigorated the community, so why not try and make it a longer-term thing?”

According to Vice President of PSI and Campus Waste Reduction Board Advisor Lucas Berard, who is a second-year in the College, the main goals of reSTORE are to integrate sustainability into UChicago by diverting clothing waste from landfills, providing easy access to secondhand clothing, and supporting local environmental organizations as a nonprofit program.

“There aren’t any nonprofit thrift stores nearby, so it’s hard to donate your items when you need to, and a lot of people here don’t have cars. You aren’t going to get on the Red Line with a big bag of clothes to go donate it,” Berard said. “We know that we need to reduce our consumption. And one of the best ways to reduce consumption while still being fashionable and artistic is to continue to share clothing with others and donate your clothes to buy someone else’s old clothes—it’s more fun that way.”

Beyond the environmental aspect, thrifting has seen a rise in popularity as a way of finding unique pieces and discovering personal style.

Fourth-year and co-project lead Isabella Bonito spoke to this motivation behind reSTORE.

“When the pandemic hit my first year, there was just so much clothing in the trash—two of my favorite pairs of jeans ended up being things I found in the [residence hall] trash room,” she said. “I’m really passionate about secondhand shopping in general, not just from an environmental standpoint, but just personally. It’s been a huge means of me finding my own expression.”

reSTORE features both a curated and non-curated clothing section along with a “dollar rack” and shoe and hat collection. Second-year and reSTORE stylist Novak Chernesky explained more about the clothing choices.

“The goal of the curated section is to bring people in and have a good centerpiece to the store, but I think we have something for everyone. We’re kind of thinking about seasons right now, but we also have business casual and going-out clothes,” Chernesky said. “We’re going to be rolling things out over the course of the quarter so that there’s always something interesting to look at right in the center.”

First-year and reSTORE interior designer Annie Yang carefully planned the interior design of the store. White ceiling drapes, student artwork, a couch upholstered in red velvet, and styled mannequins are all brought together under warm yellow lighting. According to Yang, all the decor was thrifted or handmade by the interior design team who worked on transforming the space.

“The central organizing principle of our entire design was thinking about how we can be sustainable and use as many secondhand materials as possible. We also worked with what was already existing in the space,” she said.

Fourth-year student and reSTORE interior designer Katherine Maschka Hitchcock added, “We were sort of describing [the aesthetic] as clean, transitional, but sort of eclectic. And then we just brainstormed a bunch of wacky ideas that we didn’t know whether or not they would work.”

She described some of the transformations made to the space: “The couch was already there, but we removed the cushions and found a weird old comforter in the thrift store…I ripped off the fabric and upholstered it using Velcro. Even the lighting too, I actually got stage lighting filters and put them over all the lights on the ceiling to change the tones in the space because it was really fluorescent.”

The process of creating reSTORE has not been without its challenges, however. Relying solely on clothing donations from the UChicago community, reSTORE has faced a lack of diversity in clothing selection. Most of the clothing that they have collected consists of women’s clothing with limited sizing options.

“We do have a lot of stuff and still need a lot more because on top of the fact that everything is sold so quickly with the curated section, it’s been hard to get men’s clothing and diverse sizes. I think it would be really ideal if we could set up a donation bin in a more public place off campus,” Bonito said. “I’m hoping that in some way we can tie this in to helping Hyde Park residents have somewhere to donate clothes.”

The Campus Waste Reduction team hopes that the success of this project will translate into reSTORE becoming a permanent part of the UChicago campus. They are also planning to create a space to add educational components to teach people why thrifting matters.

“I felt like doing a project like this would really help to engage the wider UChicago community in sustainability initiatives and in the work that PSI was doing. By incorporating fashion and the really kind-of enjoyable experience for everyone that is getting new clothes and having sort of an artistic component to the project, we felt like it could really engage a lot of people in the work [with sustainability] we were doing,” Harding said.

Berard also shared his thoughts on the future of reSTORE. “Our end goal is to have a student-run thrift store similar to the student-run cafes. I feel like so many students find the student-run cafes to be a great outlet to go study and have fun with friends, and we also want to get in on that same aspect,” he said. “We want it to be a space where you can study, have fun, and also learn more about sustainability. It’d be great to have a hub for thrifting but also possible events like a sewing class further down the line.”

PSI will continue to have clothing drop-off locations at Cobb Cafe, Hillel Coffee Nook, Cathey Dining Commons, Woodlawn Dining Commons, and Baker Dining Commons. They are also working on installing a permanent metal donation bin in Reynolds.

“I think it’ll be exciting for people to have something affordable here on campus to buy things that don’t come at an environmental cost. Hopefully it makes people slow down and think about their consumption practices… but also just enjoy the music, art, and the shopping experience,” Bonito said.