Upshift

This place is AMAZING. The concept is unique, affordable, and fun, making it the perfect way to recycle your old clothes and still leave with something new! The employees are warm and inviting; they are always up for talking style with you. The atmosphere is laid back and eclectic. I strongly suggest this place to anyone who enjoys the thrills of bargain shopping!

Man, I love Upshift. If you like trawling thrift stores for hidden treasure, you probably will too. Conversely, if you don’t enjoy thrifting/don’t have the patience for trawling through a lot of stuff to find those diamonds in the rough, you may not be satisfied here.
How it works: you bring in a bag of clothes (and shoes, jewelry, bags, accessories) that you *would have donated to a thrift shop anyway,* and for $ 20 (sometimes less) you re-​fill your bag with anything in the store, which is stocked entirely with other locals’ donations. I’ve been about half a dozen times since the store opened, and never had a trip where I didn’t find some combination of things to make this more than worthwhile. Some favorite finds include Madewell jeans, sweet vintage dresses and belts, Orthoheel sandals, Anthropologie and J Crew sweaters, and Badgers swag.
Something I really like is that you can go through the racks and set things aside, which they will hold for you for up to a week; since there’s so much turnover, if you come back days later, you will find even more. I did this once when I didn’t find enough to fill my bag on the first try. You don’t have to pay in advance, either, when you’re doing it this way.
A few other pluses:
— Because the turnover rate is very high, there’s always tons of new stuff
— $ 20 for a bag of clothes is already lower than even most thrift store prices, but they also often run specials for $ 10 or $ 15 rather than $ 20– check their blog/​facbook
— Owner is very friendly & sweet
— They post curated outfits and eye-​catching new items on their blog and fb page. It’s silly, but I really like when my donated items show up there. My clothes are famous!
There are a few drawbacks, though. If you don’t like looking through everything, you’ll be frustrated. Lots of the stuff won’t be your size, style, etc. The store is very small and crowded, which can get irritating if there are more than, like, 2 people in there– though I believe they are moving in the next few months, so that should be taken care of pretty soon? A few other drawbacks:
— As you would expect, quality is hit-​or-​miss; lots of cheap tween clothing (F21, Kohl’s brands) and outdated/​old lady stuff (90s businesswear).
— THE RACKS. ARGH. They use bars hanging from the ceiling on chains, which they swing wildly when you look through them. Plus they’re overstuffed, so things fall off the ends of the racks. They absolutely need to get new racks when they move.

Love the concept of swapping clothes: so eco-​friendly. A friend does a party there every time the season changes (4 times a year) and the owner charges $ 10 per person instead of the usual $ 20. Every time we have gone, my daughter and I have found a bagful of clothes. With no prices, I don’t even bother trying things on. If they don’t fit, I save them to donate next time I’m there. The owner Lindsay and the other women who staff the store couldn’t be more helpful and help create a festive vibe. While some people have mentioned that semi-​random organization of the merchandise by color, I’ve found it’s also organized by size within each color scheme. Store staff are happy to help you take clothes off mannequins or reach items that are displayed high up. I can almost never find pants that fit, and have found my favorite 2 pairs there. Also have gotten belts, dresses, jackets: lots of work items, as well as costume-​type stuff for themed parties. For those used to shopping retail, just a reminder that you can tell many items have been in storage and have a slight musty smell. I just wash everything before I wear them and no problems.

20 bucks gets you as much clothing and accessories as you can shove in a bag. Franzia box wine is there for you to sip while you shop. Great, simple concept, executed well… depending on who is staffing the shop. The owners are lovely, but there is one young woman there when I visited recently who was quite rude and had the music way too loud. I will avoid visiting if she is working.

I love resale/​thrift stores and I love cleaning out my closets. That being said I love the idea of Upshift. I do most of my shopping at 2^nd hand stores and was excited to check this place out. Their clothing exchange concept sounds really cool and the pictures of their merchandise on Facebook looked cool. I walked in with 2 bags of clothing and walked out with nothing. Major disappointment, but I know customers are at the mercy of what’s in stock and it changes daily. Got a store credit and plan on checking it out again soon.
There were a few things that made shopping a little bit difficult though. The clothes are arranged by color so you have dig through everything thing to find your size. Also seasons are all mixed together so you will find sweaters hanging with tank tops or skirts mixed with pants. The clothes were also crammed on the racks making it hard to sort through and they also swung back and forth, which was a little bit dizzying. A lot of things were hidden too, like shoes on the floor under hanging clothes or stacks of shirts folded on a low a shelf not in eye’s view. I know space is limited, but would be more shopper friendly if things were arranged by size and color along with summer clothes in one spot and winter clothes in another. In some ways it felt like shopping in a nicely decorated dig and save outlet.
Bottom line, really neat store, just plan on allowing enough time to look through everything.

The concept of this store is really cool. You bring in a bag of clothes (or if you only have a few items, you are welcome to bring those in too) and pay $ 20. Then, you get to fill up you bag with anything you want from the store. You get however much you bring. Upshift does not buy any product from outside vendor; all the merchandise in their store is from their customers. The store itself is very small and cramped. The clothes are very loosely organized by color and size. There are two changing rooms and not really a good way to tell if someone is using them or not. On the first Thursday of every month, they do a 2 for 1 special where if you bring a friend, she can get in for free (or you each pay $ 10). They do also purport to offer free Franzia to shoppers, although I did not partake.
The selection is about on par with what you would find at Goodwill or St. Vinny’s. If you bring in clothing/​accessories and don’t find anything that day or don’t have time to shop, they will give you a credit that you can use on a future date. Worth checking out at least once. Buy local!

Okay, seriously, Upshift is THE coolest. Reasons why this is my (and will be your) new obsession:
–You can feel good about donating your clothes PLUS you come home with a bunch of new clothes, for way less $$ than you could get them anywhere else. It feels like magic. It also feels a bit like stealing. This business model is the bomb.
–Sustainability and all the good feelin’s associated with it! Seriously, this shop (like any resale shop) offers such a wonderful way to reuse resources that are still totally usable.
–Unlike other shops that let you sell your clothing, Upshift won’t pick over or reject items that may be out of fashion or not up-​to-​par; instead, they will donate those items and still let you fill your bag back up as long as you’ve paid the flat $ 20 fee.
–Free wiiiiiiiiine (on weekends)
–No prices = no endless debating over what’s «worth it» and what’s not — indecisive shoppers, rejoice :)
–Ridiculously friendly and helpful staff
–You can avoid giving your hard-​earned money to big corporations who employ citizens of third-​world countries to make their cheap clothing! End rant. But seriously, why not just use the clothing that’s already out there and needs a good home?
I could see where the inventory might feel a bit limited for some people, and some of the clothing was a BIT worn. HOWEVER: I ended up with 7 items of clothing that I was very happy with, for a total of TEN DOLLARS, since it was one of their special Sunday discount events!
I’m so surprised I don’t hear more about this place — I highly recommend it :)