Welcome to my newest segment here on Girl Got Glitter: Hometown Hip! In these segments (which I home to make a regular thing), I will talk about a local thing, usually a store or boutique, but maybe even restaurants, or attractions! For the inaugural post, I bring you one of my favorite thrifty fashion stores: Uptown Cheapskate! This is a store that we have in Maryland but they have locations all across the country with new locations being added all the time!
You might be familiar with the idea behind Uptown Cheapskate: a thrift stores/ consignment store that specializes in current trends, and choice brands. Think, Plato’s Closet (which I discussed here) before but hipper and a step above in brand selection; Hello, mountains of J.Crew! I often take clothes here to sell or “swap” as they like to call it here, and the stock up on J.Crew for rock bottom prices. They carry other brands like The Gap, H&M, Forever21, Old Navy, Target, etc. but I feel like I always gravitate towards J.Crew even when I don’t know it’s J.Crew; what can I say, the aesthetic speaks to me, haha. Most items will be around a certain set price for a category of clothing type. For example, skirts are usually between $9.99-$12.99. Sometimes the really nice brands will be higher, or if an item still has the original store tags, but for the most part you can shop without having to ever worry about the price. I find this refreshing, because I had falling in love with something in the mall only to realize it’s way out of my price range! Other than purses and some shoes, you pretty much don’t have to worry about the price! And even with purses, they tend to keep the designer and high end bags in an area separate from the rest.
Here is a picture of the area where they tend to place the high end bags. Plenty of brands like Coach here!
Here is an example of some pricey shoes. Check out those Jeffery Campbells! I don’t love Lita’s but if I did, I would probably buy those glittery red ones! Can we saw awesome edgy Dorthy of Oz Halloween costume??!!
That picture also reminds me… Uptown Cheapskate has a wonderful social media presence! I follow their Facebook, and they post something daily, and almost always will have either an outfit or bag of the day of items that just came in, or outfits that are totally wearable! You can even ask them the size, price, and brand through a comment on the picture and they will comment within a few hours usually. Even better, you can ask for them to hold an item for you for 24 hours with no commitment to buy, so if you fall in love with something you can have first dibs if you want!
In a similar vein they have these outfit windows in the store too. You can even buy the things right off the mannequin, unlike at the mall! One of my favorite purchases from Uptown Cheapskate ever was done this way: My ruffle Ralph Lauren Plaid Top featured here!
What I also like about Uptown Cheapskate is that they offer new items! These are items that they buy just for the store and are usually very on trend. I would compare the quality and style to something like Dailylook!
This is one of the new dresses they had when I was there. So perfect for a transition Spring to Summer dress!
And here is one of the new shirts they had. So on trend!
And this one too! Definitely a hit with the high school and college aged girls I am sure!
Another great thing they have is a LOT of designer jeans!
Isn’t this rack a beauty? Miles and miles of jeans! Ok, not literally miles, but there are a lot! I love the J.Crewn Matchstick jean, but at over $100 I have never bought them. But for under $15-$20 at Uptown Cheapskate? Sold! I now own three pairs!
So when I was shopping around I totally had polka dots on the brain…
Love this yellow one from American Eagle. How fun, right?
But I took some gems back into the dressing room.
Like, how about this Michael Kors dress! What a beauty!!!!! And was only about $22 if I remember correctly! What a steal!
And this fun coral stripped dress that was one of their new items!
I went home with a few other items that I didn’t picture here, oops, but I am sure they will show up in future OOTD posts so keep your eyes peeled!
So, what do you think? Like this “Hometown Hip” segment? Would you shop here? Is there one near you? Maybe a similar local place? Comment below and let me know your favorite thrifty fashion spot!
Cory Anotado says
May 1, 2013 at 11:33 AMHuzzah.
Elizabeth Rice says
May 1, 2013 at 4:55 PMYay! Gotta love CommentLuv 🙂
Debra says
May 30, 2013 at 9:12 AMGreat post! I like this segment E. 🙂 You should definately continue this theme. And I am SO interested in visiting this store now. Thanks for the introduction love!
Debra
Elizabeth Rice says
May 30, 2013 at 9:21 AMThanks for the feedback! 🙂 will definitely be doing more Hometown Hip posts in the future. Let me know when you are thinking of going so I can get you a 20% off your first purchase coupon 🙂