Shopping – C-VILLE Weekly

Charlottesville was eco-conscious before being eco-conscious was cool. That could explain the myriad of secondhand and sustainability-focused shops around town, some of which have been fixtures in the community for decades. Why, though, have even more of these stores popped up in the last year?

An abundance of factors contributes to the need for such shops to exist. One of them is just that—abundance. The mission of many of these places is to prevent surplus items from reaching the trash, and put them in the hands of people who can breathe new life into them.

The Scrappy Elephant, for example, is a creative reuse center focused on “keeping art and craft materials out of the landfill, and then getting those back to the community at as low cost as possible so that more people can afford to make art,” says owner Sarah Sweet. The store operates almost exclusively on donated supplies from the community, some of which are brand new. In August alone, The Scrappy Elephant kept more than 2,500 pounds of art and craft materials from the landfill.

There’s also consumer demand. The resale market grew twice as fast as the wider retail market in 2021, according to the 2022 Recommerce Report by OfferUp, an online resale marketplace. That demand is certainly felt locally, given the surge of resale and consignment offerings.

Linnea Revak has owned Darling, a curated consignment clothing shop, for nearly a decade, and opened Dashing, its companion, this year. “It’s exciting to see more people in town who are passionate about secondhand and making swaps in their life and being more eco-conscious,” she says. “It’s going to help all of us to have more options.”

“I think there’s plenty of room out there for all of us,” Revak adds. “There’s so much clothing that needs to stay out of a landfill.” She’s right about that. The U.S. produces 16 million tons of textile waste per year. Thanks to shops like Darling x Dashing, clothing items don’t have to end up as waste. So far in 2022, Darling x Dashing alone has given a second chance to nearly 12,000 individual items.

Refill Renew Charlottesville owner Mandy Drumheller keeps costs low by charging her shoppers only for consumable products—and not the packaging. Her goal, she says, is to eliminate as much single-us plastic as possible. Alex Theriault (right), owner of Dogwood Refillery, echoes that sentiment, and says she wants to help “people make conscious decisions.” Photos: Eze Amos.

Clothing isn’t the thing being purchased secondhand. About 76 percent of goods are in categories like furniture and home items, sporting and outdoor equipment, and more, per the OfferUp report. That demand allows shops like The Scrappy Elephant, High Tor Gear Exchange, Circa, and others to blossom.

A significant reason shoppers turn to sustainable options is their budget. Ninety-three percent of Americans shopping secondhand are motivated by inflation, according to OfferUp.

While there is an assumption that going green is more expensive, shopping sustainably—either by purchasing items secondhand or visiting a refillery—reduces consumer costs. Refilleries keep costs low by purchasing from suppliers in bulk, and shoppers only pay for the consumable products rather than the packaging. “We’ve price-compared some of our most popular products,” says Mandy Drumheller, owner of Refill Renew Charlottesville. “We have gone toe-to-toe with Costco, matching their prices by the ounce.”

“The more we put our money toward investing in our future, the more it’s going to reduce costs down the line because we’re going to start seeing more of these options popping up,” says Dogwood Refillery owner Alex Theriault.

The Scrappy Elephant’s Sarah Sweet resells donated art and craft supplies, in hopes of keeping them out of the landfill and getting them to the community at a low cost. Photo: Tristan Williams.

Cost savings isn’t the only reason Charlottesvillians are making sustainable shopping choices. With massive meteorological events becoming the norm, the effects of the climate crisis can no longer be ignored, and reducing the use of plastics is a decision that has never been easier in Charlottesville, thanks to refilleries. Like textiles, plastics account for a massive portion of our waste, with only about 6 percent of plastic getting recycled. Landfills received 27 million tons of plastic in 2018, according to the EPA, and it’s believed that number has only risen in the past few years.

“When you think about one plastic bottle that you use for, say, shampoo is going to be around for our great-great-grandchildren, that’s senseless,” says Drumheller. “Our goal is to help more households find an easy way to eliminate as much single-use plastic as we can.” In about six months, Refill Renew Charlottesville saved more than 40,000 bottles from the landfill by offering refills of household products.

To encourage and educate the community, many of these stores host special events. They open their doors for workshops or product swaps, and use their social platforms. “I’ve had so many people say, ‘I’ve started sewing, I’ve started knitting, I’ve started painting again, I’ve become a creative person because of this store,’” says Sweet. Adds Theriault: “My core value is about the community and helping people make conscious decisions.”

Sweet, who worked as an art teacher prior to opening The Scrappy Elephant, says that after visiting a creative reuse center in Nashville, she felt called to open one at home. “I’ve always been very conscious of my carbon footprint, but when I had my daughter, I became paranoid about what was happening with our planet,” she says. “I was looking for something more that I could do to have a greater impact on the future, for her and all our kiddos.”

Theriault left her corporate career to pursue her passion for sustainability. “Some people don’t think they can really make a change as an individual. I quit my job to do something at an individual level. I like seeing that little snowball effect happening,” she says.

“There’s so much opportunity for you to make changes whether it’s shopping secondhand, consigning clothes, going to a refillery to see what swaps you can make that feel attainable, affordable, and sustainable right now,” says Revak. “Just start somewhere.” In fact, you can start by considering how you might be able to creatively reuse this newspaper when you’re done reading it.

In store

What follows is a list of local secondhand and eco-conscious shops, where you can find everything from bicycles and books to couches and coats. Happy shopping!