SLO Thrift, a new secondhand shop on Higuera Street, officially joined the city’s growing resale scene on Jan. 16.
Spencer Somma now owns SLO Thrift. The store operates out of a space that previously housed another thrift store, Hope Chest. Which closed following bankruptcy proceedings connected to its parent company, Wilshire Hospice. Somma and his family were not affiliated with Wilshire Hospice or Hope Chest; they were the landlords of the building previously occupied by that business.
After graduating from San Luis Obispo High School, Somma completed his prerequisites for nursing school through Pacific College, pursuing a more traditional path, but the classroom never felt quite right for him.
“School didn’t really feel like my thing,” Somma said. “When the opportunity came up to open my own store, it felt kind of like a calling.”
That calling developed into becoming a business owner in his early 20s. SLO Thrift blends sustainability, community and charity into its mission.
The shop partners with the Make-A-Wish Foundation through Somma’s own nonprofit, the SLO Thrift Foundation.
“A percentage of what we make at SLO Thrift will be going into the SLO Thrift Foundation and 100% of that will be donated to Make-A-Wish,” Somma said. “I just want people to feel good. Whether you’re buying or donating, you’re helping a good cause.”
Sustainability, he added, will be built into how the shop handles what it cannot sell. Damaged items that still have wearable life will be diverted to Goodwill’s textile recycling program instead of going in the trash.
“If it’s literal trash… because we’ve had that happen before, we’ll just throw it away,” Somma said. “But if it’s just something with a rip or a stain on it then we’ll donate it to goodwill, there they’ll recycle it if no one ends up buying it.”
On opening day, the shop buzzed with more than just customers. Family and friends greeted patrons, worked the register and sorted clothes. Among these was Jocelyn Bennett, a muralist close to Sommas’ family for nearly 50 years.
Bennett is responsible for the store’s visual identity; the painted exterior, the interior detailing and the bold 1970s palette that wraps around the building.
“In general I just love making things look fantastic,” Bennett said.
Her process for designing the unique storefront was surprisingly analytical.
“I plugged into the computer, what are the top things that sell at a thrift store? And it gave me things like glasses, clothes, hats, you know that sort of stuff,” Bennett said. “So that’s what you see painted on the outside of the store.”
Bennett has painted for clients like Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and Angel Stadium in Anaheim. She currently lives in Connecticut but plans to move to San Luis Obispo soon to be closer to the Sommas and their tight-knit circle of family and friends.
Somma knows better than most that opening a business at his age is rarely a solo project. He credits his parents for supporting him as he launched the business.
“It’s been nice to have my parents help me out since, you know, they’ve owned a business before,” Somma said. “But they all kind of joke that they want to be fired.”
Now independently owned and operated, SLO Thrift marks a new chapter for the Higuera Street location.
For more information on SLO Thrift hours of operation, location or mission statement visit https://slothrift.com/
This article was corrected to clarify that Somma and his parents had no affiliation with Hope Chest beyond owning the building it occupied.