Over the past few years, thrifting’s popularity has exploded. Teenagers’ desire for worn-in Carhartt jackets, Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts to cut the shoulders off of and oversized vintage jeans has led them to spend countless hours digging through $5 bins and searching through the maze-like back rooms of thrift stores. Thrift stores that, as this demand increased, feel less and less like thrift stores.
Prices increased and stores became crowded. When walking into a new thrift store, there was no longer a guarantee of transport to a musty world of clothes looking for a new home. Reasonably priced, incredible jackets became rarer and $50 pairs of jeans became abundant.
Happily, however, there is a store that is holding strong to the spirit of what thrifting is. That store is Shirtzenpantz.
Shirtzenpantz is truly doing its own thing.
Shirtzenpantz’s original location is a short walk from Ida B. Wells High School, located at 6343 SW Capitol Hwy in Hillsdale. Upon first walking in, it seems merely to be a good thrift store. However, more of its true charms reveal themselves the longer you spend in the store.
There are free (and toothsome) cookies on Fridays, and a darts challenge that can win lucky shoppers store credit.
Owen Gail, co-founder with his twin brother, says that these features of the store “definitely bring people back, and I think [make] their experience really unique.” They certainly help to set Shirtzenpantz apart from the competition.
In addition to these challenges and rewards, Shirtzenpantz has another draw—it is home to an online celebrity. The celebrity in question is a rock, named “Christosphere,” who has become Instagram famous for being kicked from a jagged triangle into a sphere. Shirtzenpantz founders kicked “Christosphere” every day, passing by many Oregon landmarks. The Shirtzenpantz’s Instagram account boasts 258,000 followers, gaining many from “Christosphere’s” journey.
The new location, in St. Johns, seems similar to the original at first. Gail says, “When you walk into the St. John’s location, you look at a space that’s pretty similar to the Hillsdale spot, but then if you go through the back door, there’s a whole house full of treasure, mostly house goods and a big, nice backyard.”
The backyard has very reasonably priced pumpkins (presumably not secondhand), as well as chairs and a cornhole setup, with more racks of clothes.
The house is full of odds and ends, from a horse saddle to some oldies records. Its basement also contains the mark of any good thrift store $5 bins. Jazz plays throughout the whole location, as it does in Hillsdale.
The new location, 7400 N Lombard St, is situated in a picturesque neighborhood and directly next to a food cart pod. “St. John’s didn’t really have anything like this, so we thought it was a good hole in the market and we’d be able to create a really unique space, with both the shop and the house space,” says Gail. “It’s been a lot of work having two stores in such different areas in the city. I try to stop by both every day.”
In addition to clothes, if you look for it, you can find a secret art exhibit in the St. John’s location. The medium is quilts, made by the founding twins’ grandmother. They feature salmon, and the whole exhibit has a very calming effect on the viewer, while still making a subtle statement on the situation in Oregon’s rivers where salmon migratory routes have been blocked by hydroelectric dams.
In terms of thriftable clothes, Shirtzenpantz excels at pants. Denim is usually around $20 and there are racks of pants that are easy to sift through. There are also plenty of hats, army jackets and vests.
Shirtzenpantz, at either location, is more than a thrift store. It is an experience. It is a story to tell your friends about after you visit. And it is doing an impressive job keeping thrifting in Portland, Oregon interesting.
