The hands of the clock on the old National Bank tick steadily on the corner of Holly and Cornwall. Sunlight catches on tall windows, and the echo of a bygone era lingers in the brick and bronze. Behind the building’s grand facade, what was once a vault for cash and coin is now housing vintage denim, retro jackets and racks of curated thrift.
Worn Again Thrift relocated to the historic National Bank Building, 101 E. Holly St, in the interest of upsizing its store capacity. The vintage store opened its doors to the public on Saturday, April 19.
Miles Harlow, owner and founder of Worn Again Thrift, said the store had outgrown their previous space.
“We have a lot more clothes that we want to share,” Harlow said. “We want to offer more. Instead of 10 pairs of pants in each size, we have 40 pairs of pants in even more sizes and styles.”
The new location has twice the space as the previous location, with big, wide aisles and more space for accessibility, according to Harlow. The bank building boasts tall ceilings and a nostalgic charm.
“The first notion of [moving] was probably two years ago,” Harlow said. “We've been mentally preparing, and this was just the right space. It's so much more exciting to be in a historical building that is unique, a bank and has vaults. For us, that just made the hard work worth it.”
The ‘mostly vintage’ store has been up and running since 2021, when Harlow bought the first store on the corner of State and E. Champion St. Ever since, they’ve been expanding their selections.
“It felt like we just couldn't keep up,” Harlow said. “Our hope is just to stay ahead and start with more items than we've ever had before.”
Harlow began officially working on moving into the building this past January, fulfilling a lifelong dream.
To get the building ready, he hired locals to help revamp the store — including Mandy Turner, a painter, who stenciled graphics on the windows.
“[Harlow] is supporting a ton of local artists,” Turner said. “He's gotten all these people together to just keep it super, super local and community-based.”
They don’t plan on bigger price tags to match the larger store. Instead, they will offer a variety of high and low-end clothes to support new demands.
Worn Again sources a portion of their clothes from the public. They offer cash for approximately 25% of what they will sell the items for, or double the cash offer for in-store credit, according to their website.
“The tastemakers there give the shop a much more fashionable vibe compared to Value Village or the bins,” Ish Zaveri, sophomore at Western Washington University said. “Once a month, I’ll go check them out. They have a good selection compared to other stores.”
Worn Again’s previous location will act as storage until the lease runs out in September.
“It was sad at first when we were talking about moving because I have such lore and memories of the old space when it was just me behind the register. It was an entirely different era,” Natalie Mote, a Worn Again Thrift store manager said. “Leaving that era behind is a bit bittersweet, but it's also really satisfying and proud.”
Josh Maritz (he/him) is a city news reporter for The Front this quarter. He is a third-year environmental journalism student at Western with a minor in economics. In his free time, he enjoys going for long trail runs and listening to '90s grunge. You can reach him at joshmaritz.thefront@gmail.com.
