Uptown Cheapskate is preparing to open at 315 W. Broad St. in the Arts District. (Jack Jacobs photo)
A national thrift store chain is expanding its local presence with its first spot in the city limits.
Uptown Cheapskate is planning to open a store in the long-vacant former Ledbury store at 315 W. Broad St. in the Arts District. Behind the new location is Maggie Mereand, the local franchisee who has two other Uptown Cheapskate outposts in Chesterfield County.
Mereand is aiming to start selling clothes at the Broad Street space before Christmas. Last week, the location opened to people looking to offload clothes, which the thrift store is buying to stock up ahead of its grand opening.
Mereand set her sights on the city to be closer to college students and other nearby residents, groups she said are prime customers for thrift stores.
“I knew there was an untapped market here,” she said.
Mereand, 46, said Uptown Cheapskate markets itself to teenagers and young adults and sets itself apart from other thrift stores by offering higher-end clothing and having more organized sales floors.
“I feel that Uptown brings upscale to resale. We’re very diligent about checking our items’ condition. We try to buy the best of the best. I would definitely say the way Uptown organizes and displays clothing is super simple. There’s none of that thrift-store anxiety of, ‘Where should I begin?’”
Uptown buys and sells clothing and accessories for men and women. The stores pitch themselves as destinations for discounted Coach, Levi’s, Anthropologie and Zara products, among other brands.
The Broad Street storefront is about 3,000 square feet, and Mereand also leases a similarly sized basement in the same building to hold inventory. She said the hunt for the right city storefront was challenging and that the basement was a perk that attracted her to the storefront that local menswear company Ledbury exited in late 2022.
“It seemed like everything would be too big or too small and this one worked out. I looked at four other properties before I landed on this one,” she said.
Mereand said her newest location is noteworthy because it is located in a city’s downtown, whereas Uptown locations are largely in suburban retail centers.
“They’re watching closely to see if this store is successful,” Mereand said of Uptown’s corporate office. “Just because we don’t have a parking lot doesn’t mean we can’t buy and sell clothes.”
Mereand opened her first Uptown location at 1403 Huguenot Road near Chesterfield Towne Center in 2018. Her second opened near Brandermill at 4513 Commonwealth Centre Parkway in 2022. There are two other Uptown stores in Short Pump and Mechanicsville under different franchisee ownership.
The Utah-based chain has more than 130 locations in multiple states, according to its website. It opened its first store in the late 2000s in Salt Lake City.
Uptown Cheapskate is preparing to open at 315 W. Broad St. in the Arts District. (Jack Jacobs photo)
A national thrift store chain is expanding its local presence with its first spot in the city limits.
Uptown Cheapskate is planning to open a store in the long-vacant former Ledbury store at 315 W. Broad St. in the Arts District. Behind the new location is Maggie Mereand, the local franchisee who has two other Uptown Cheapskate outposts in Chesterfield County.
Mereand is aiming to start selling clothes at the Broad Street space before Christmas. Last week, the location opened to people looking to offload clothes, which the thrift store is buying to stock up ahead of its grand opening.
Mereand set her sights on the city to be closer to college students and other nearby residents, groups she said are prime customers for thrift stores.
“I knew there was an untapped market here,” she said.
Mereand, 46, said Uptown Cheapskate markets itself to teenagers and young adults and sets itself apart from other thrift stores by offering higher-end clothing and having more organized sales floors.
“I feel that Uptown brings upscale to resale. We’re very diligent about checking our items’ condition. We try to buy the best of the best. I would definitely say the way Uptown organizes and displays clothing is super simple. There’s none of that thrift-store anxiety of, ‘Where should I begin?’”
Uptown buys and sells clothing and accessories for men and women. The stores pitch themselves as destinations for discounted Coach, Levi’s, Anthropologie and Zara products, among other brands.
The Broad Street storefront is about 3,000 square feet, and Mereand also leases a similarly sized basement in the same building to hold inventory. She said the hunt for the right city storefront was challenging and that the basement was a perk that attracted her to the storefront that local menswear company Ledbury exited in late 2022.
“It seemed like everything would be too big or too small and this one worked out. I looked at four other properties before I landed on this one,” she said.
Mereand said her newest location is noteworthy because it is located in a city’s downtown, whereas Uptown locations are largely in suburban retail centers.
“They’re watching closely to see if this store is successful,” Mereand said of Uptown’s corporate office. “Just because we don’t have a parking lot doesn’t mean we can’t buy and sell clothes.”
Mereand opened her first Uptown location at 1403 Huguenot Road near Chesterfield Towne Center in 2018. Her second opened near Brandermill at 4513 Commonwealth Centre Parkway in 2022. There are two other Uptown stores in Short Pump and Mechanicsville under different franchisee ownership.
The Utah-based chain has more than 130 locations in multiple states, according to its website. It opened its first store in the late 2000s in Salt Lake City.
Will definitely check it out!
It’s always funny to me when retail site selectors refer to the urban environment as an ‘untapped market’ as though there aren’t other businesses in the area doing the exact same thing. To be fair, they’re not wrong in that there is a sort of anxiety by retailers when locating to a city because they’ve been so conditioned into looking at upscale suburban or edge-city style malls when it comes to retail space. But really the future of retail is in dense, walkable urban centers.
My thoughts exactly. I appreciate seeing retail investment here downtown, but it’s not exactly a groundbreaking achievement when you have stalwarts like Rumors and Blue Bones a stone’s throw up the street that have been local, organic trendsetters in this field.
I know there’s a sizeable clientele for these shops but I can’t see selling used clothing pays the rent in some of these high rent districts.
From what I’ve observed, curation, branding, and good ol’ fashioned customer service are key. I would argue these are the reasons Ashby, Clementine, and Clover have successfully plied this trade in Carytown for so many years.
I remember Ledbury announcing they would have a new retail location when they announced this closure. Is that plan still on hold?
Since I’ve never been in an Uptown Cheapskate, I don’t know if they subscribe to what is evidently a current “woke “ trend in consignment and thrift shops to no longer label their clothing by gender. It steams me that Goodwill doesn’t have men’s shirts and meh’s pants. They merely offer tops and bottoms. It’s up to the customer to decide the gender any particular item was designed for. When I shop for a good bargain I’m not overly anxious to play the game will these pants look better on me or my wife. Or am I just too unenlightened… Read more »
I have two suggestions for you – Duluth Trading Co. and Cabela’s.
Yeah,I understand your concern, I’d rather not my tops and bottoms smell like moth balls.