WEST TOWN — A coalition of vintage resellers offering a wide range of styles and sizes of secondhand clothing have teamed up to open a store and workshop in West Town.
Pep Club Vintage brings together six vintage brands at 749 N. Ashland Ave., formerly the longtime home of Schwartz Eye Care just south of Chicago Avenue.
The collective business will feature a shop where resellers will showcase their wares and a studio where they can mend and mark up merchandise, take photos for online sales and more.
Pep Club is the brainchild of co-founders Nicolette Schwartz and Hannah Linsky, who have worked in vintage shops and other retail roles. The duo came up with the idea for a collaborative space last year as a way to give themselves and other small vintage sellers they admire a retail outlet they may not be otherwise be able to afford, they said.
Joining Schwartz’s Rejoyce Vintage and Linsky’s GoGo Goods at Pep Club are Matti Gick of Thick Chick Vintage, Bradley Lann of Redemption 1987, Mary Adely of Intergalactic Thrift and Cloe Doherty of Cloina.
“It’s part retail space, part creative studio. So that side over there’s the shop, vintage store. This side is like a collective, almost co-working space, creative studio with the tools to take photos and list pieces online. We’ve got sewing supplies for mending and upcycling pieces,” Linsky said.
Pep Club is hosting its grand opening 4-7 p.m. Saturday, which coincides with the West Town Chamber of Commerce’s Sip & Shop event throughout the neighborhood.
For the co-founders, the store is a way to create a place dedicated to creativity and discovery they say they haven’t quite found elsewhere in Chicago.
“If we can make you buy something secondhand rather than going to Shein or Target, then that’s a win for us,” Schwartz said. “And making sure that somebody leaves with something that they actually care about and will remember where they got it, remember the quality.”
Linsky and Schwartz met and became friends while working at another local vintage shop, and each launched their own reselling brands. The duo thought about opening their own space together, but they weren’t sure how it could happen, they said.
The idea of a collaborative store started becoming reality after they were offered the chance to hold a vintage market in September at LivingRoom Realty — right around the corner from their new shop. Schwartz and Linsky invited other future Pep Club members and used the event as a sort of testing ground to see how things gelled, they said.
“More than it was a success in sales, even though it was a pretty busy weekend, it was just like a success in pieces starting to fit together,” Linsky said.
They got a lease at their current spot, which had been vacant since Schwartz Eye Care closed last year, and are putting the final touches on the storefront this week ahead of the opening.
Pep Club’s brands will carry a variety of styles and fits, from men’s streetwear to plus-size options, bags, jewelry and much more, the founders said.
“We all bring our own kind of aesthetic and brand and point of view through our different collections. That’s kind of why we picked the group that we did,” Linsky said. “I think there’s a little bit for every customer, which is also something I think we weren’t seeing in Chicago, was a space where anyone could come and find something that was in their style or in their price point or exciting to them.”
Linsky and Schwartz hope to recreate the feeling of a vintage market — which have exploded in popularity across Chicago in recent years — without having to travel, set up and take down merchandise all the time. They’re also launching a centralized website each reseller can use as their own online platform, they said.
“This is creating a space where we are essentially always a market,” Schwartz said. “And then giving them the platform of a website, which a lot of us I don’t think would be able to afford on our own, but, again, collectively, we get to share that and be able to ship, be able to reach people outside of the U.S., in different states.”
The emphasis on inclusion and positivity is apparent even in the Pep Club name and branding, which Linsky and Schwartz said they chose to evoke a “personal cheerleader” type of vibe.
“We wanted to make sure everyone felt included,” Schwartz said.
Pep Club is the latest vintage store to pop up in the larger West Town area, although many recent additions like Carefully Picked, River Otter and Dial M For Modern focus on furniture instead of clothing.
And another similarly collaborative venture, the Chicago Artisan Co-op, opened this month a few blocks away at the MoHop FabLab, 1659 W. Chicago Ave.
Linsky and Schwartz said they’re looking forward to contributing to the vintage scene in West Town and the larger city.
“I feel very strongly that Chicago is a fashion city. And I think more so than ever it’s becoming a vintage fashion city,” Linsky said. “In my opinion, the future of fashion is secondhand in one way or another, so I love that that industry is growing here and I think we’re both excited to be a part of it.”
Pep Club Vintage will be open noon-6 p.m. Thursday-Friday and Mondays and noon-8 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.
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