Tag Archives: thrift

Recycle and reuse? New thrift shop lined up as Lifelong to say goodbye to Broadway store

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(image: CHS)

Lifelong, the Seattle nonprofit dedicated to helping those living with HIV, is shutting down its thrift division. A change on Broadway is coming but the old Lifelong Thrift Shop looks like it is being set for some vintage recycling with a new thrift entity lined up for the space.

The nonprofit said it is closing its thrift division in a Monday announcement. “We hope to carry on in the same space with a new name, unaffiliated with Lifelong and will be sharing details online and in our windows as they are finalized,” the announcement reads.

Details on the timing of the change have not yet been announced. The Broadway store was Lifelong’s only retail location.

Business license filings show a new entity lined up for the 312 Broadway E address. The new thrift shop project includes current Lifelong Thrift director Tamara Asakawa, according to the filing.

Lifelong Thrift opened in the space in early 2015. Prior to that, the store was part of the Red Light Vintage family. The new Lifelong Thrift combined the spaces left empty by the departure of the much-loved Red Light and its sibling boutique. At 12,500 square feet and two levels, it was almost three times the size of the thrift’s former E Union location.

Capitol Hill vintage, meanwhile, remains an important part of the neighborhood’s retail mix. Though the Capitol Hill Value Village was long ago torn down to make way for an 11th Ave office space development, vintage shops large and small continue to do the area including the Late Night Vintage Market that landed on E Pike in 2022. The Capitol Hill Goodwill remains active on Belmont Ave despite mixed-use plans that now span back five years.

We’ll know more about the new shop’s plans for Broadway soon.

Lifelong, meanwhile, will continue its work and organizing efforts including the annual AIDS Walk.

Learn more at lifelong.org.

Sad about Value Village? Here are 12 other Capitol Hill vintage and thrift shops

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(Images: Lifelong Thrift)

When Capitol Hill’s Value Village succumbs to “certain business conditions” and closes its doors Saturday after 20 years on 11th Ave, you can be sad for a little bit. Then go shopping — thrifting is, indeed, part of your Capitol Hill heritage.

Below, you’ll find 10 12 thrift and vintage shops across Capitol Hill. All were still open and had not lost their leases as of this posting! (Added two more: Everyday Music and Twice Sold!)

We almost certainly left something worthy off the list — let us know.

Meanwhile, nearly 40 employees will either move to work at other local Value Village locations or are looking for new jobs. Stop by and buy them a beer when the store closes for good at 6 PM Saturday night.

  • Lifelong Thrift, 312 Broadway E (CHS)
  • Out of the Close Thrift, 1016 E Pike (CHS)
  • Goodwill, 115 Belmont Ave E (CHS)
  • Take 2, 430 15th Ave E
  • Pretty Parlor, 119 Summit Ave E (CHS)
  • Revival, 233 Broadway E (CHS)
  • Crossroads Trading Co., 325 Broadway E (CHS)
  • Le Frock, 613 E Pike (CHS)
  • No Parking, 1102 E Pike (We need to write about these folks, no?)
  • Spin Cycle, 321 Broadway E (CHS)
  • Everyday Music, 1520 10th Ave (CHS)
  • Twice Sold Tales, 1833 Harvard Ave (CHS)

Also, in the Central District, you can check out Two Big Blondes at 2501 S Jackson.

Lifelong Thrift brings vintage Capitol Hill to new Broadway store

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Lifelong Thrift's Tamara Asakawa (Image: CHS)

Lifelong Thrift’s Tamara Asakawa (Image: CHS)

The old sign will stay -- kind of. Watch for a LIFELONG update later this spring (Image: CHS)

The old sign will stay — kind of. Watch for a LIFELONG update later this spring (Image: CHS)

It fits like a hand in a glove. A second-hand glove. Lifelong Thrift is set to open on Broadway Wednesday morning bringing a most Capitol Hill next chapter to the former space home to Red Light Vintage.

“I feel like we’re a part of the old Capitol Hill,” Thrift’s director Tamara Asakawa told CHS Tuesday as she and her crew of 10 employees and a dozen or so volunteers put the finishing touches on the gigantic new home for the store.

The new Lifelong Thrift combines the spaces left empty by the departure of the much-loved Red Light and its sibling boutique Aprie and at 12,500 square feet and two levels will be almost three times the size of the thrift’s former E Union location.

In November, CHS reported that the prospect of higher rent combined with lower than needed sales was forcing the ownership of Red Light, acknowledged as the Hill’s oldest vintage clothing store, to leave Broadway. Lifelong Thrift was slated for an earlier opening but a complication over a move-in date caused a costly delay for the nonprofit. Asakawa said the pluck of her crew and volunteers helped keep things on track even with the added cost and work of dealing with storage and waiting for the spaces to open up for the buildout to begin. Changes inside are few — in fact, you’ll see many remnants of Red Light left behind. But you’ll also find an opened up space that better connects the two wings of the shop. Continue reading →

Lifelong Thrift will replace Red Light on Broadway

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Inside the E Union store

Inside the E Union store (Image: Lifelong Thrift)

(Image: Lifelong Thrift)

(Image: Lifelong Thrift)

Be cool, Macklemore — You’ll still have a thrift shop on Broadway. CHS has learned Lifelong Thrift will take over the space slated to be left empty by Red Light Vintage’s exit from Broadway early next year.

“We are so excited about this move and what it means for the community,” said Tamara Asakawa, Lifelong Thrift’s executive director in a statement planned to be sent to media Wednesday afternoon. “We will now have so much more room to sell which will allow us to help more people. And that’s an amazing thing.”

At 12,500 square feet, the new Lifelong Thrift will be almost three times the size of the current E Union location.

Continue reading →

Happy customer appreciation day — Love, Lifelong

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1795351_10152001017449624_1205808660_oYes, the neighborhood is getting its very own Capitol Hill Goodwill. But there is already plenty of vintage love to go around. Some basic old “cheap stuff” love, too. Friday is E Union’s Lifelong Thrift Store annual customer appreciation sale:

Everything will be at least 50% off! It’s our thanks to you for doing good just by shopping. Your purchases support Lifelong’s work delivering services to people living with chronic serious illness. Thank You! http://www.llaa.org/lifelongthrift

Maybe you can find something to wear to Lifelong’s Gay Bingo fundraiser Saturday in Fremont.

Goodwill to open Capitol Hill store this spring

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The former home of Half Price Books is the future home of Goodwill

The former home of Half Price Books is the future home of Goodwill

He's excited

He’s very excited

CHS has learned that the grandaddy of thrift shopping is coming to Capitol Hill. Seattle Goodwill is planning to open a Capitol Hill store in the former home of Half Price Books that has stood vacant since the discount retailer shuttered the location last year.

“We would love to be on Capitol Hill,” a spokesperson for the nonprofit retailer tells CHS about the project. “It really is a neighborhood that appreciates the recycle, repurpose, reuse values.” Continue reading →