Janna Maris stands inside Zabház, a curated secondhand clothing and home goods store, in downtown Grand Rapids on Friday, Oct. 1, 2022. (Photo by Rose White | MLive)

Janna Maris remembers spending her childhood hunting for clothes, toys and trinkets at the thrift shop. Her grandmother would hand Maris and each of her cousins a $5 bill, and whoever came back with the most clothes won.

“I’ve been thrifting my entire life,” she said.

Now 26, Maris turned thrifting into a business when she opened Zabház, a curated secondhand clothing and home goods store, in downtown Grand Rapids two months ago. And she’s not the only one.

Secondhand shops have been popping up across Michigan as resale shopping becomes more popular.

For Cherina Johnson, it’s about a passion for thrifting.

As the owner of Upstairs Resale Shop in Saginaw, she loves the thrill of finding treasures, unique goods and even luxury clothing items sold at a fraction of the cost. Johnson, 52, bought the four-decade old business from its original owner four years ago and now runs pop-up sales at area markets.

“The secondhand market isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but I think there has been more momentum than the big box stores,” she said.

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The $160 billion resale market grew by 15% last year — the highest growth rate in the industry’s history — according to an annual “recommerce” report from OfferUp, an online secondhand marketplace. At that rate, the market, which includes all resale items like car parts, electronics and apparel, is expected to grow five times faster than overall retail, reaching $289 billion by 2027.

Last fall, she started stockpiling items and hosted her first pop-up sale at a local coffee shop. Maris sold half her inventory at another pop-up six months later, then opened the shop in August.

“I thought I was going to still be doing pop-ups out of my little 700-square-foot apartment and hauling stuff to coffee shops. Because of how popular this is, it created the ability for me to start my own business,” she said.

At Zabház, a cat named Jin wanders around the store and often lays under a brass shelf soaking up the sunshine streaming through the front window. The shop is located on a busy downtown Grand Rapids street where three other resale stores have launched in the past year.

Just two blocks north, Tom Short, 43, opened Decaydence after seeing Division Avenue turn into a mini mecca for secondhand stores. Five vendors sell at the boutique where vintage concert posters from Queen, The Beatles and Madonna are plastered on a wall and shelves of colorful 90s toys draw in customers.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to own my own shop, and I was finally able to do it,” Short said.

Secondhand stores pop up across Michigan

With 272 million Americans now buying or selling secondhand, OfferUp attributes the rise of resale to pandemic-related supply chain shortages and shifting consumer trends like shopping sustainably.

“We’re in the middle of this thing that’s happening,” Maris said. “We didn’t even try to be. We’re not even following a trend; it’s just that we’re doing what we love to do.”

But these stores are opening at the right time.

Thrifting has taken off in recent years as the fashion industry reckons with its environmental impact. Fast fashion brands like Shein, H&M and Zara have faced the brunt of this backlash as demonstrated by one TikTok user making clothes out of all the plastic packaging Shein sends to shoppers.

It’s estimated the fashion industry is responsible for 4% of the global greenhouse gas emissions — the same amount as France, Germany and the United Kingdom combined — a report from analytics firm McKinsey found. Plus, roughly 85% of clothing and textiles thrown away in the United States end up in landfills.

Sustainability is what prompted Anika Johnson, 30, to leave the corporate fashion world for the secondhand one.

After working at Banana Republic, Zara and Nordstrom styling company Trunk Club, Johnson saw firsthand how much waste was being produced. So, she launched an online resale business four years ago and opened two Kalamazoo retail stores — Great Lakes Thrift and the Kalamazoo Fashion House — in 2020.

“We’ve noticed a lot of younger shoppers, like high schoolers and even middle schoolers because they’ve seen on TikTok shopping vintage or shopping secondhand and the importance of living a sustainable life,” she said.

Related: Dégagé Ministries to open thrift store and artisan market, for ‘unique’ shopping experience

For Gen Z and Millennials, 62% say they look for an item secondhand before buying it new, a report from online marketplace ThredUp found. And four times as many consumers said they shop for secondhand fashion rather than new “sustainable” fashion.

Big brands like Levi’s, Nike, Lululemon and Madewell have hopped onto this consumer trend by launching their own resale platforms.

“It’s like a never-ending market,” Maris said. “People love to shop, but people also love to shop sustainably. And that’s what we’re moving toward.”

Despite the gains, Anika Johnson believes there’s still a shor way to go.

Secondhand clothing was a $35 billion industry last year compared to fast fashion’s $91 billion. Half of fast fashion shoppers believe its harming the environment, according to ThredUp, but nearly three-quarters of them continue to buy it because it’s cheap and convenient.

“If you think about mainstream America, there’s still so many shoppers that could potentially be vintage and secondhand shoppers. Either they haven’t been exposed to it, or they haven’t necessarily been educated on why they should be secondhand and vintage shoppers,” Anika Johnson said.

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Beyond sustainability, Michigan secondhand shop owners say customers are often looking for one-of-a-kind items that have stood the test of time. For Short, he hopes Decaydence sparks nostalgia for customers who often exclaim things like “my grandmother had this!”

“I like to see people connect to something rather than buying something just because they think it’s cool,” he said.

These stores are also reviving retail in Michigan downtowns.

In Grand Rapids, the four new shops hosted a “clothing crawl” last month bringing foot traffic to a seven-block stretch of Division Avenue. Both of Anika Johnson’s stores are located on the Kalamazoo Mall, the first pedestrian mall in the United States. Nearly a dozen antique shops are packed into downtown Ypsilanti. And vintage businesses are also setting up shop in smaller communities like Middleville.

“Tapping into essentially an untapped market really allowed us to flourish,” Anika Johnson said. “That’s kind of what’s happening all across the state. There seems to vintage stores popping up in communities that have never had a vintage clothing store, or it’s been awhile since they had one.”

Many of these new stores offer a curated inventory, often handpicked from thrift shop bins, estate sales or vintage wholesalers. But Johnson encourages everyone try secondhand shopping, checking out anything from nonprofit thrift stores to local consignment shops.

“Just try it,” she said. “Go to an estate sale, go to your local Goodwill and just see what you find.”

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