Something Borrowed, Something Blue

When I moved to Memphis four decades ago, one of its main attractions was the high per capita ratio of thrift stores. And, unlike so many funky charms from back then, thrifting, vintage, and reselling businesses remain a powerful presence in the Bluff City to this day. Beyond the shops themselves, there’s also a compelling sense of community among fellow thrifters as we excitedly compare our latest finds, be they time-worn jewelry pieces, electric guitars, or oddball T-shirts. Sometimes, we just remember what was. Ah, to have that shirt I sported in the ’90s, featuring Uncle Sam waving a revolver with the words “Burn My Flag. Go ahead, make my day!” scrawled in red, white, and blue.

Nowadays, of course, clothes that were right off the rack back then are collectible, and that’s part of the beauty of vintage wear: Everything (once) new is old again. Indeed, taking in the nostalgia and retro chic aura surrounding those back-of-closet items can be a way of marking our path through life — and time itself. I’m not alone in feeling this way: All of us at the Flyer are fans of the secondhand, the forgotten, the once-reviled, now trendy threads and trinkets of bygone days. We’ve each found our own ways into that universe — here are a few of them. — Alex Greene

Flashback, The Vintage Department Store

I have a flashback every time I visit Flashback, the beautifully curated vintage shop founded by Millett Vance at 2304 Central Avenue, as it was one of my first shopping destinations after moving to Memphis. I wanted a skinny tie, and Flashback was about the only place I could find such a thing back then. When I stop by there now, I mention it to Vance. “I remember buying a tie here in the ’80s!” 

“Oh yeah?” she chimes in. “I bet you were looking for a skinny one.”  

Vance knows her customers well, and that may be the key to her shop’s longevity. “I’ve just always bought what was available to me,” she says. “As the years go by, stuff from the ’80s becomes available, and then a few more years go by and it’s the ’90s. And it’s not just that it becomes available. You kind of figure out what people want from that period. They don’t want everything. So, I mean, there’s ugly ’80s and there’s ugly ’50s, and you’ve just got to figure out what people really want.”

She also knows her products well, which, given the wide range of furnishings, decorative doo-dads, and clothing available, speaks volumes about her eclectic eye. “I buy all the merchandise,” she notes, and it’s clear that she enjoys the process, often carried out with her longtime partner, Gene Rossetti. 

“What we do is, we have a big van, and we take two- or three-day trips, going on different routes that we’ve been shopping for a number of years, and we have all our camping stuff packed,” Vance explains. “So we stay at state parks and go anywhere that they sell anything used. Towns as big as Memphis get picked over a lot, but medium-sized towns, like Hot Springs or Jonesboro, Arkansas, or Paris, Tennessee, those kinds of places are where you wouldn’t expect to find anything like this, but when I do find it, I’m able to afford it.”

But her searches go beyond affordability. Those out-of-the-way towns are more likely to have pristine goods. “Everything’s in perfect shape,” says Vance. “We clean everything. My partner Gene, he repairs everything. He was an engineer in a previous life. So we’re the only junk store with an engineer on staff! All the cigarette lighters work, all the lights and lamps work, the furniture’s in good shape, and all the little things like jewelry or music boxes, we get those working.” 

That fact alone makes Flashback a kind of Neverland. The travails of time seem defanged as you browse through ashtrays (do they even make those anymore?), records, denim jeans, or state-themed glassware that might as well be factory-fresh. Ah ha! And here’s that Nebraska tumbler I always needed! — Alex Greene

Outphits Showroom

A trip to the Outphits Showroom is a treat, especially for those who are obsessed over any 2000s-era rom-com heroine’s closet. Owner Sophia Coovert and I are mutuals on social media, meaning I get glimpses of her newest finds prior to stepping into the fashion maven’s world.

Once in the showrooms, the pieces on display are like artifacts of myths and legends — things you’d never expect to see up close and personal as a woman in the South. As I walk with Coovert and her dog Lucky to her signature lip-shaped couch, I can’t contain my excitement. I let her know the piece I’ve been itching to see: the cardboard cutout of Britney Spears in a “Got Milk?” ad from the early aughts.

Coovert lets me know that she’s safe upstairs and waiting to be reassembled after traveling with her to a recent vintage market. I’m even more astounded when I see the exact top Spears wore in the ad for sale on a hanger.

A lot has changed since I last spoke with the 23-year-old business owner. In 2025, she was preparing her former suite for Outphits’ Black Friday Sale. That event not only gave customers the opportunity to peruse the racks without the appointment-necessary caveat, but also served as her moving sale.

Now, we chat in what was then only a dream — a loft-style space for her vintage and Y2K-focused showroom. Mannequins wearing John Paul Gaultier accessories are juxtaposed with racks overflowing with pieces from Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Morgan, Ed Hardy, and others. The new space has allowed her to have more events such as bin sales, expand her team, grow her website, and even offer rentals. Coovert says this growth has been “amazing,” and has given her the opportunity to see what Outphits truly means for her customers. “I’ve had people tell me they hold Outphits to a specific standard,” Coovert says. “I’m very specific about what I source for the showroom. Everything in here is in pretty amazing quality and condition.”

She’s transparent when it comes to pricing, saying the price tags are adjusted to reflect any stains or imperfections. She’s also proud to be able to bring special brands that can be hard to find in Memphis. “That’s what creates that trust because when [customers] come in, they learn so much and they see so many things they haven’t seen before,” Coovert says. “I’m dropping these unique, amazing brands weekly. That kind of establishes the relationship to where they’re kind of looking forward to [what I’m going to have next].”

Coovert loves to educate her customers on fashion history and the context in which garments were made. She’s also happy that her items give customers affordable alternatives to fast-fashion pieces. “A lot more girls are waking up to the fact that the clothing they are pushing out to us is horrible,” Coovert says. “It’s gonna get progressively worse, which is scary, but that’s why this stuff is gonna become more valuable.”

Those interested in viewing the Outphits showroom can book an appointment via Instagram @0utphits or through the Outphits website: 0utphits.com.  — Kailynn Johnson

Bad Timing

Bad Timing just moved to its third location in less than a decade. The reason is the rapid growth of the business, says Christian Colbert. “Bad Timing initially started over by Crosstown Concourse, which a lot of people are unfamiliar with. Back in the day, they were just doing vintage T-shirts and CDs, stuff like that. I was a younger kid — I’m 23 now, so I was maybe 16, 17 then — and I heard about the store, went in, started shopping vintage. I was just being young, trying to make my own style and that kind of thing.” 

Owner Nick Riley and former co-owner Nate Packard took Colbert under their wing. “I was selling sneakers on my own at the time, and that’s when I kind of introduced the concept to them, like, ‘Yo, you might be able to sell a sneaker, too.’ After building that relationship over a few months, they trusted me enough to have me on board. We started moving sneakers as well as vintage clothing, and things just accelerated, man. Within six months, we were on Highland Street, and we just kept climbing.” 

Bad Timing is still getting settled in the new location at 626 Minor Road in the University of Memphis area. Walking in the front door, the first thing you notice is the striking mural of Young Dolph, which takes up half the south wall of the store. The rest of the wall space is taken up with sneakers of all vintages. “Sneakers are big business,” says Colbert. “It’s transitioned from Jordans into collaboration sneakers and designer sneakers. Obviously, since Virgil Abloh’s passing, his collaboration with Off-White Nike, that’s always gonna be top of the pole, but also newer releases. Back in the day, when we were on Highland, a new Jordan 3 would come out, and we would get as many pairs as we could, and they would all sell the same day. Nowadays, for example, the True Blue 3s that came out a month ago, we’ll get them in, but they don’t move nearly as quickly as they used to. People are definitely looking for the premiere level of sneakers”

Colbert says that the racks of vintage T-shirts still sell well; anything from the 1990s in Memphis Tigers blue goes out the door particularly fast. When the store first opened, Riley kept the racks stocked by digging through bins and scouring thrift stores and antiques markets. But now the volume of merch flowing through the store is too great for just one person to keep up.

Watches are the latest addition to Bad Timing’s inventory. “I love watches. I always have,” Colbert says. “I would have people come in and routinely, they’d be like, ‘Man, that’s a nice watch.’ Okay, if four or five people a week are coming into the store and noticing what I have on my wrist, they’re probably willing to shop watches as well. And so, we started at a very minimal price point with G-SHOCKs, trying to see if anybody would shop in that $60 to $100 range for watches. I believe in the first run we had about 40 of them, and they sold out in two days.” — Chris McCoy

Time to Waste Vintage

Sami and James Reed — the married duo behind Time to Waste Vintage — started shopping at thrift stores as kids “because we were poor, and that’s what you do,” Sami says. But over the past couple of years, they’ve turned their love of thrifting into a business. James focuses on the hunt, while Sami runs logistics and social media and sews vintage materials into new clothing. 

It started as a side hustle but has quickly grown. “It’s now [James’] full-time job,” Sami says. “He spends every day out in the field, as we call it, sourcing and visiting all of the different thrift stores. His specialty is vintage T-shirts, the more rare and obscure the better. I like true vintage, 1940s through 1970s.”

They also source items from private buyouts, sometimes beginning with James complimenting a stranger’s outfit. “He will walk up to anybody and say, ‘Hey, I like your shirt, got more of those at home?’” she says. “And that’s literally how he ends up in so many people’s closets.”

They also dig for treasure in the Goodwill bins, called The Bargain Barn or simply The Barn, on Stage Road in Bartlett. There, one can find items that didn’t sell on Goodwill racks or those that were never sorted for store distribution at all. The bin merchandise sells by the pound. While you might have to dodge dirty diapers and other trash while scrounging, Sami says, “That’s where you can get the best value and where your biggest flips can come from. Sometimes you find new [items] with tags, like lululemon or On Cloud shoes.”

And then there are grail scores. “We have a Def Jam jacket that you only could get if you worked there during a specific era,” Sami says. “I guess it was an employee gift.”

Another great find: an original Nightmare on Elm Street VHS box set. “He picked one up at the bins the other day, listed it, and sold it within an hour for $200.”

Time to Waste’s social media (102k followers on Facebook and more than 54k on Instagram) has taken off as much, if not more, for Sami’s sewing adventures. Earlier this year, she got some vintage fabric at an estate sale and “made a dress kind of by accident. I wasn’t using a pattern,” she says. “I don’t like patterns, I go on vibes.” She filmed herself trying the dress on for the first time, and both the dress and the video were a hit on socials, bringing many new followers and people asking for how-tos. “Turns out a lot of people who are neurospicy don’t like written instructions, they want to see somebody show them with a cute piece of paper,” she says.

While it has become a nice source of income, it isn’t just about money for the Reeds. “Making your own dreams come true instead of somebody else’s feels nice. … And we have enough clothing on this planet already for the next six generations, so anything we can do to keep the old stuff here and encourage people to make less new stuff is always good.”

Find Time to Waste Vintage at timetowastevintage.com, on social media, live-selling on Whatnot, on resale apps like Depop and Poshmark, and at local pop-ups, including Tako’s Secondhand’s gala and fashion show on Friday, September 25th, at 240 Madison Avenue. — Shara Clark

The Thrift Store Couple

I met Cooper Driver, 17, and Ava Williams, 19, at Antique Warehouse, which houses Vintage Wearables by Martha, at 2563 Summer Avenue. Just about everything they were wearing was vintage or secondhand. They use “thrift” as a verb as well as a noun. Driver had on a 1980s US Naval Academy T-shirt, Sherwin-Williams work pants that he dyed green, a pair of vintage brown loafers, and his aunt’s pendant on a chain around his neck. Williams wore secondhand Birkenstocks, bootcut blue jeans, a black flowing top over a cardigan sweater, and a brown leather bag.

The couple, who have been dating for a year and a half, search for clothing and accessories at vintage and thrift stores together. Though I’ve also done my fair share of vintage clothes buying, like old cowboy boots and Harris Tweed jackets, they began ticking off names of places I didn’t know existed. So I suggested following them around to see what they came up with at their favorite spots.

We visited Blue Suede Vintage at 486 North Hollywood Street. Williams immediately went to a vintage purse rack and picked up an early 2000s Coach brand handbag. Driver tried on what he believed was a 1970s work jacket. “The length is too short,” he said. “I have long arms.” He usually wears metal bangles if sleeves are too short.

Meanwhile, Williams anguished — but still kept her cool — over the Coach purse, which was priced at $88. She liked “how it’s saggy,” she said. “I like saggier bags, big bulky bags. It’s more stylish in my opinion. But I have plenty of bags.” She took everything out of her purse, which she bought for “three or four dollars” at Salvation Army, and put it in the Coach bag to see how it looked with stuff in it. “It looks awkward if it’s not full,” she said.

When Driver asked how long the purse has been at the vintage shop, the sales clerk said she “just put them up like two weeks ago.” This is a warning sign for vintage shoppers to hurry up and buy what they like before somebody else does.

Williams bought the purse. “It’s really cute,” she said. “And I have the money.”

Driver liked the jacket with the short sleeves, but didn’t buy it. “I’ve got to marinate on the idea. Maybe next time.” But, he said, “I might get these earrings right here. They’re sterling silver.”

Other stops included Retro Grade at 517 South Highland Street. There are lots of tennis shoes there. Williams tried on a worn Marithé + François Girbaud blue jean jacket, but he didn’t buy it. He did buy a 1950s French work coat at Second Kiss Vintage inside Minglewood Hall at 1559 Madison Avenue. It had some small holes in it, which Driver, who knows how to sew, said he’d mend.

Williams bought a pair of peace sign earrings. “I just got a little peace sign on my arm as my first tattoo,” she said. They checked out at a counter where a bumper sticker read, “On My Way to the Thrift Store.”

Kelly Mullis, Second Kiss Vintage’s owner, likes to see people discover great finds. “This stuff needs to go to a new home and have a whole other life and be loved again,” she says.

“And I get excited when the kids — I say the kids, but especially younger people — come in and are excited about taking something home,” she says. “I’m usually like, ‘You can have it. Just go.’ It’s awesome.” — Michael Donahue