Recycling Culture: Moving Forward by Looking Back
An Alternative Business Model Brings Collective Chic to Cheers Vintage
Words & imAges by scott lAnsdowne
The walls of Cheers Vintage Collective are crammed with one-of-a-kind art pieces, novelty mirrors, taxidermy, and old movie posters. It’s the kind of shop where hunting for the perfect item is half the reward. Cheers is Victoria’s newest vintage shop, which has taken over the old Lyle’s Place location on Yates Street. Cheers is the combined effort of six local vintage dealers who pooled their resources to open as a collective in June 2022.
In a city that’s expensive to inhabit, let alone run a business in, the appeal of a collective as an operational model is obvious: it helps the ownership team share expenses, access a larger market, and share labour resources to ease the burden on each owner.
Frankie Joh, whose brand Frank Me Down comprises a lot of “corsets and Y2K gear,” finds the collective model a perfect way to achieve a work-life balance. “It enables me to spend more time with family,” she says. Moreover, the collective arrangement gives its members an open channel to share their victories in. “Even if I don’t sell anything personally, the shop can still have a good day,” she says. “And when one person has a good day, we all think that’s great, because that’s what we’re all working toward.”
Co-owners Tori Johnson and Szandi Szabo ran a smaller vintage shop on the 800 block of Fort with Frankie before opening Cheers. Tori is candid about how she got started in vintage: “I was basically just a hoarder,” she laughs. “Then I organized a little pop-up and never looked back.”
On the question of the collective structure, Tori is unequivocal: “I love it. It allows us to take care of one another, and I don’t think I would do this on my own. Also, if an item comes in and it’s not really your thing, you know your partners well enough to say if they might be interested.” Her brand, Highway Kind, focuses on Western wear and features lots of denim, wool, cowboy boots, and “uncle fashion,” such as bolo ties and vests.
Szandi owns Csinos Vintage (pronounced chEE-nOHsh), a Hungarian word that denotes “fashionable” but implies a lot more: “It means you’re looking and feeling good, like yourself, but the most confident, creative, and cool version of yourself. I was trying to figure out what to call my shop, and ended up choosing a word from my heritage that no one can pronounce!”
Prior to opening her shop in its prior location, Szandi travelled around Hawaii buying up items, and launched her brand based out of her sunroom at home in Victoria, focusing on ’80s and ’90s party and street style. It’s now five years later, and she hasn’t looked back. “It was natural for me to move into vintage at the time, and it’s been booming ever since.”
Mady Jones of Crybaby Vintage (and Bonkers Nail salon, operating in the rear of the Cheers space), started selling online in 2016. She says that Cheers and its collective model is essential to her involvement in the local vintage scene.
“The support of a collective is critical to the ability to maintain a physical space in the community, which is so much more exciting than just selling to strangers online.”
As for the perennial appeal of vintage, the Cheers collective–completed by Madison Howland of That Girl’s Rack and Kelsey Webb of Star Vintage–maintain that it involves a lot more than just stylish older clothes. There are a number of important social elements to choosing vintage as well, which the collective is quick to articulate: fast fashion doesn’t allow much room for individual expression, not to mention that, with its high discard rate packing landfills, it’s a major contributor to the climate crisis.
“It’s also pretty special when someone asks for help, but doesn’t know exactly what they’re searching for,” says Szandi. “For them to ask ‘Can you make me look good?’—if you’re able to make it work for them . . . this space is very rewarding for that, and people leave happy.”
How we engage with our clothing choices is for many a serious question of how we present our sense of culture and taste. Because fashion trends move cyclically, old things will always come back into style.
“Old clothes were just made better,” Tori asserts. “So if these items lasted this long, why shouldn’t they keep going?” There is no reason that a well-crafted jacket or pair of pants from 40 years ago shouldn’t continue its long life. Mady observes that “the quality of construction and materials were way better in the last century . . . I get psyched about curating vintage because I can help swag out my peers, and together we can pretend we’re living in a different era.”
The presentation condition of their sale pieces is a crucial part of retail vintage clothing, and the Cheers team works to wash and mend the articles they curate, a cost that must be taken into account when pricing clothes for sale. But the owners feel that it’s worthwhile, for the privilege of stewarding these items to their new owners and for the chance to participate in their history. “If you’re buying a little party dress,” Frankie observes, “who knows what its story is? How many parties it’s been to over the years? And now it’s your time, it’s your party.”
Unlike the massive production volumes of fast fashion, every vintage item is one of a kind. The folks from Cheers travel around North America looking for the unique clothes they know will inspire the street fashion of Victoria.
They may team up with “pickers,” folks in other regions who keep an eye peeled for items that will complement the brands and styles offered within the shop.
However, vintage shops are not immune to supply-chain logistics, despite the unique nature of their products. This is only one of many challenges: “Clothes in the past were often just made in different sizes,” says Frankie, “so we make it a priority to have items available for all bodies.”
“And genders,” adds Szandi. “We are often asked if there’s a men’s section. There isn’t, per se, but we have many subsections with more masculine options, so just ask!”
One of the hallmarks of vintage is that its creativity can accommodate varying budgets, so the team works hard to stock items across all price points. “If you walk in with $200, we can find something you’ll like,” she says. “Alternatively, if you’ve got $20 to spend, you’ll also be satisfied.”
Szandi concludes that a huge draw to vintage is its capacity to “recycle culture. Nothing ever goes out of style forever.” The curators of Cheers are revealing how the cycles of fashion continue to remain relevant and exciting into 2023, and promise that anyone who steps through their doors on Yates Street will find something that speaks to them. After celebrating their first half-year in business, Cheers Vintage believes that continuing to look to the past will help them—and you—to move forward with confidence and style.
