Stealing grandparents’ style in an attempt to “cop it” and “wash it” to “go and get some compliments” seems to be on some college students’ radar, as Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ 2012 hit song “Thrift Shop” has been blasting from speakers everywhere. While thrift shopping has gained recent popularity on the radio, many students adopted thrift store shopping as a lifestyle long before the song hit No. 1. 

James “Jimmy” Turano, junior in LAS, has been living by the thrift store code since he was a sophomore in high school.

“I went through a really long Abercrombie and Hollister phase, and then this girl broke up with me,” Turano said. “I was done with superficialness of high school, and my parents were sick of buying me clothes too.”

That’s when he discovered the genius of buying clothes from thrift stores. Turano likes to shop for both practical clothing items, like flannel button-ups, as well as atypical fashion statements like 5XL PLAY-DOH T-shirts. He was doing this long before the hit song.

As Turano put it, “Mackelmore swagger-jacked me.”

Noelle Africh’s favorite finds tend to be sweaters. The sophomore in LAS loves to find a big sweater that is reminiscent of something Bill Cosby would have worn. Africh coined the term ‘goodwill hunting’ to describe her thrift shopping experiences.

Africh and Turano both find themselves wearing at least one thrift store item for almost every outfit; sometimes their entire look is made of thrift store apparel. Africh has used this hobby to help save her some major cash — she thinks she saves up to $2,000 a year by not buying expensive or designer clothes.

As for Turano, he thinks the motto of thrift store shoppers is “not caring what people think about you, like at all.” 

For him, the whole process almost turns into a fashion show, especially on nights that he goes out.

“Hawaiian shirts are huge, wolf shirts are huge, grandpa/grandma gear is huge, really cool noodies (hoodies without hoods) are huge. If you are trying to dress up, a flannel is cool,” Turano said. “Just being absurd. Finding costumes, finding outfits, dresses, who knows? Whatever goofy item you can find, just roll with it.”

Sarah Hudson, owner of Dandelion Vintage & Used, sees major benefits in shopping at thrift stores because of their originality in clothing items. The clothes you find at the downtown Champaign thrift store will most likely not be anywhere else, she said.

“There is something about shopping vintage, where you are the only one in the room who is going to be wearing it,” Hudson said. “Instead of going to a ‘cool’ store, spending lots of money, getting dressed up and — Oh! Walking in the room, there are two other girls or guys wearing that. With vintage, you aren’t going to have to worry about that.”

Africh thinks everyone should give thrift shopping a chance. She had some advice for beginners.

“Don’t be scared of the mess. I think people are turned off by how disorganized thrift stores are or the smell,” Afrish said. “You have to have a lot of energy, be into it and have the right mood to find something good.”

And just like everything in life, there are good days and bad days with thrifting. 

“You have to realize that some days you aren’t going to find as much, and other days you are going to hit the jackpot and find everything you need,” she said. “Be positive.”

Haley can be reached at [email protected].