New thrift shop opened yesterday in Nottingham Lace Market to give unique clothing a new sustainable life.
The owners of brand ‘Ragyard’, couple Nick and Josie, whom are both clothes designer, found Nottingham to be the number one location outside London, the best in regards to ‘rag trade’ vintage stores.
The couple’s first thrift store opened yesterday (February 2 2022).
They own three more stores across the country, one Ragyard in Portobello Road, London, one in Brighton and a socksmith – another one of their brands – in Brighton.
Paul Hartley, 49, assistant manager of the store said: “Yesterday was beyond expectations, it was just crazy! It didn’t stop from the moment we opened till the moment we closed.
“We closed the store and it was still getting rattled at 5 till 6 . When we were trying to get out.”
Yesterday there were around 220 people through the door and 196 transactions.
Today (February 3) during the morning, there were about 60 people and 52 transactions, meaning that the shop has an amazing balance between number of customers and sales.
The thrift shop opened with sustainability at the forefront, as an opportunity to save clothes from the usual infernos, burnings and landfills, where production stock goes into after warehouses.
As wholesalers, the production in the rag trade sometimes certain suppliers do not want the products, therefore there are a lot of samples and test pieces that end up going back to the brand warehouse in Leicester, which accumulates over the years.
What is the solution for a new life for all of those clothes you may ask? An outlet. And what better place than Nottingham?
The shop was meant to have opened earlier, however they couldn’t get the permits from the Nottinghamshire City Council for the work needed outside the store, as well as causing some problems with the internet.
There were a few stumbling blocks along the way, but the shop is now open and ready to conquer the hearts of shoppers in Nottingham.
The clothes and accessories have a unique selling price, as instead of a specific price for each item, the clothes are included in a single price or a multi-buy price.
For example, one top is £5, but if you buy three tops the price will be £10.
There is a wide variety of products, from dresses, tops, sweatshirts, trousers, to hats and bags.
“The more simplistic you make it the more you sell”, added Mr. Hartley.
Paul, who has worked in retail for 24 years now, has just joined the Ragyard outlet team after working in construction for the previous two years.
At least 90% of the store products are brand-new and 20 to 30% are one of a kind that you will never find again as they are test pieces that never went into production.
Most of the dresses and shirts are all test-pieces, so there’s an opportunity to have the most unique look for a price that will perfectly fit in your budget.
The only vintage or second hand pieces the shop sells include Levi jeans, although some are brand-new with the tags still on, and some Adidas vintage jackets.
By the end of February, the shop will be opening a Ragyard vintage store on the upper floor.
It will not be a multi-buy, but still 70% off original retail price. All the new products for the upstairs floor will be coming from the brand’s other shops in Portobello Road, Brighton and their office in London.
The expectations for the thrift store and soon to be also a vintage store, is to take over nicely and get through their current stock as right now the shop only has 5% of the warehouse stock.
After the clothes in store and their stock is sold, another lorry comes with more clothes to fascinate the people in Nottingham with unique pieces of clothing and its unbeatable multi-buy prices.
The shop is open Monday-Saturday from 9 am until 5.30 pm and Sundays from 10 am until 4 pm.
