Vintage has been coming back in significant ways over the past decade. Sustainable fashion has been a hot trend in the media with increasing concerns regarding climate change. Shopping secondhand not only saves money but helps the environment.
In the vein of appealing to the growing desire for vintage fashion, Iowa City resident Macy Krall owns a second-hand store, 223 Vintage Co., located in West Branch. Its sister store, 223 Baby Co. located on Dubuque Street in downtown Iowa City, is a one-stop shop for baby decorations, clothing, and toys.
Thrift stores and vintage shops are making their comeback as people rediscover the excitement of second-hand shopping. The thrift store market in the U.S. has grown at a 4.7 percent rate annually over the last five years and is expected to increase globally by 127 percent by 2026. On average, up to 18 percent of Americans shop at thrift stores.
Krall said she has been thrifting and hunting vintage since she was a teenager. Her love of second-hand stores stayed with her through the years until she decided to pursue 223 Vintage Co., which she said was a long time coming.
Krall has worked in many career fields, such as photography, health care, and most recently, business. While working in these fields, she continued thrifting and collecting vintage items to keep or resell.
Her longtime idea of opening a vintage shop became a reality after her husband found a storefront in West Branch. They found their current storefront in January 2020 — just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic — and officially opened in March 2020. Krall shared the timeline of the store opening and how COVID threw her plans off balance.
“When we opened, we had heard about this virus, but things weren’t shutting down yet. During this time, we started doing plant sales on Instagram, and that’s how we would get by. My landlord didn’t give me a break, so I had to still pay my rent while we were closed,” she said.
When 223 Vintage Co. reopened, the vintage baby section began taking up significant store space. Krall didn’t like this and started brainstorming ideas. She was approached by Shop Iowa City and told that there was an available shop downtown. Krall started renting this second storefront the same day she walked through it, and it became what is now known as 223 Baby Co.
When hiring for her stores, Krall was looking for employees she could trust. Amanda Campbell, a manager at both 223 Vintage and 223 Baby, was living above St. Burch Tavern at the time, just down the street from 223 Baby Co.
“I walked by, and I heard they were hiring. I directly messaged the store’s Instagram account and got an interview with Macy,” Campbell said. “I got hired, and I was the first employee ever hired for the baby store. Over the years, we’ve grown so much. I think we are up to five staff members. I became the manager of 223 Baby and started doing displays at the vintage store around 2023.”
University of Iowa business student Maria Volkman has worked at the store for over a year and said she enjoys the special moments with customers.
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“My favorite thing [about working at the baby store] is helping people pick out things for monumental reasons like having a baby. I just love the atmosphere and interacting with the customers and the babies,” she said.
223 Baby and 223 Vintage have a very different selection of items when it comes to inventory. When Krall looks for vintage stock to be sold at the store, she is willing to travel far for the best items.
“I rarely shop at thrift stores. I do a lot of estate sales and auctions. I try to have a wide variety of items from all different periods. I recently went to an estate sale, and the lady had a whole strawberry collection, and I bought it all. I like that you don’t know what you’re going to find when you walk in [to the store],” Krall said.
Owning a small business that turns your passion into a reality is a dream for any store owner. Krall said there’s a lot to love when it comes to her job.
“I’ve hired a lot of staff that I trust to run the stores, so I can do more things like going to markets, barcoding, and those extra unseen items. I am not usually at the register at the vintage store, but I’m there almost every day. I love the thrill of sourcing [items]. Every week in the store, you don’t know what’s new until you come in on Fridays and Saturdays. I just love it. Vintage will never go out of style,” she said.
Krall’s employees also praise her leadership and generosity regarding scheduling, time off, and compensation.
“I love working for a small business in general. The person you’re working for actually cares about you,” Campbell said. “Macy works very hard with me to make sure my goals are being met. I would’ve never started my own business without her help. She’s been really good about pay, too, making sure I feel adequately paid, which I think is kind of rare in corporate America.”
Volkman agreed, applauding Krall’s treatment of the employees.
“Macy is the best,” Volkman said. “She’s really good about scheduling and getting us college students the hours we need … That can be really difficult sometimes.”