Sammy Jane Hughes, left, and Robert Hall, aka Slobby Robby, pose with Mac the dog inside the Super Thrift store front, 404 N. Fourth Ave.
Tucson’s vintage boutique Generation Cool is about to get even cooler.
Owner Robert Hall, or “Slobby Robby,” as he is known, announced in January via Facebook that on its 12th anniversary, Generation Cool is saying goodbye. But — while the brick and mortar shop at 404 N. Fourth Ave. will no longer be known as Generation Cool — its '80’s and '90’s vintage clothes and kicks aren’t going anywhere.
Hall is transforming the space into a vintage collective, and welcoming 12 new sellers into the re-named Super Thrift.
The vendors who will set up shops alongside Generation Cool include Bintage Wear, Blew Yew, Imprinted Vintage, Kiko World, Mashuga Shop, Moxiegirls2000, Plain Jane, Lovezy, SonoranDigs, Retro Heap, Sonora Pickers and WYA Vintage.
“Being able to bring them all into one space is super fun because you get the feel of a boutique, mixed with the diversity of a market,” Hall said in an interview last week. “We have vendors that range from girly pop Y2K, to classic women's vintage, to designer and jewelry, all the way to video games and VHS tapes and non-digital, analog media. And we have crazy guys like me who have curated men's vintage.”
'Slobby's World' and more
Hall began his career in second-hand, vintage fashion as a reseller on eBay in the early 2000s.
“I started off as a collector, actually. I was a big sneaker and toy and jersey collector. And then the more time I spent on eBay, I sort of started getting an affinity for reselling,” he said.
In 2010, he started doing pop-ups under the name Generation Cool, referring to the 1980s and '90s, which he says harken back to his childhood. The brand stuck, and three years later, Generation Cool opened its doors on Fourth Avenue.
The shop grew in popularity, becoming known for custom sneakers and customized clothing, and even landing its own feature show, "Slobby's World," on Netflix.
“From Day One, our mission statement was to provide unique clothing to the Tucson community,” Hall said. “We became really sort of a pillar of the vintage scene in Arizona.”
Recently, though, Hall said he felt the need for a change.
“Generation Cool sort of entered this phase of being a one man show, just me alone, and I was starting to realize that I wasn't able to do a lot of Slobby Robby type stuff — the collaborations and the traveling,” he said. “On the flip side, the shop also wasn't able to exist as Generation Cool, on its own, with only one person.”
Hall said he saw an opportunity to evolve Generation Cool into something new and create a community, bringing together a collective of curators.
Super Thrift, 404 N. Fourth Ave., will have 13 vendors.
Has to evolve in buyers' market
While interest in vintage clothing has continued to grow, Hall said that in recent years, selling it has transitioned from being a sellers' market into a buyers' market, where buyers now have many more options to choose from.
“You have to be ready to be on your toes and keep it moving and evolve,” he said.
His hope is that combining so many different kinds of fashion and vintage items under one roof, and offering a more diverse selection of items, will appeal more to the modern buyer.
Yulisa Olvera, owner of Bintage Wear, is one of the sellers who will take up residence at Super Thrift. She has been reselling secondhand and vintage items in Tucson for several years, curating primarily women’s clothing styles from the 2000s.
“The vintage community is growing, and it's more inclusive with females, with more clothes for different genders,” she said. “Before that, it was older T-shirts and older stuff like that. They were not as inclusive.”
Reaching the 'U of A party girl'
Olvera said she is looking forward to expanding her business, reaching a larger audience, and curating a fashion niche for clientele that will be new to her: the U of A party girl.
“I always want to do more like Y2K with those sparkles, and all the cute purses, cute little mini skirts, cute tops,” Olvera said. “I thought it would be super cool for me to add.”
Ericka Zazueta, owner of Moxiegirls2000, sets up her new shopping space inside Super Thrift, 404 N. Fourth Ave.
Sammy Jane Hughes, owner of Plain Jane, said she has been thrifting for almost as long as she can remember.
“I was the odd one out of my group of friends,” she said. “I was like 15, and my friend was like, ‘ew, you're buying some, huge, dirty clothes,’ but I was the only one of my group of friends that was wearing designer Gucci and Valentino, because I found it at the thrift store.”
Hughes has been selling vintage clothes for close to 10 years, specializing in designer and luxury items. She said she's been traveling back and forth to Tucson from Montreal, Canada for about 7 years.
The draw of vintage these days, Hughes said, has to do with the quality of the items, as well as the novelty.
“People are tired of buying a piece of clothing at H&M, and just being able to wear it one time,” she said. “And also the unique aspects of vintage clothing. You get to wear something that you cannot find anywhere anymore.”
Both she and Olvera said they are excited to be part of a community of people passionate about vintage.
“I'm 36 so I have a particular view of fashion, so then bringing more young people to the vintage fashion scene, and seeing what they have on their rack and what they're selling is just very interesting,” Hughes said. “It makes me relearn what's a new trend, and what's trending.”
Hughes would love for Super Thrift to be successful enough that they can expand and bring in more vendors.
Finds for $5 and $10
In addition to hand-selected vintage items, Hall said the shop will also feature $10 thrift racks and $5 bins.
A scene at North Fourth Avenue's Super Thrift, where the original vendor, Generation Cool, is all about the '80s and '90s.
“We like to pride ourselves on saying that we're cheaper than Goodwill,” he said. “We probably have better stuff.”
As for Generation Cool, Hall said his inventory will still take up the entire back portion of the space.
While the downsizing means Hall will only be able to stock about one quarter of the stuff he normally would have out, he said that simply means what he does stock is going to be “the best of the best.”
“If somebody from Texas or California makes a road trip with their kids, and they want to see Generation Cool, and they want to get some Slobby Robby merch, some Generation Cool merch, it's going to be right there at the back,” he said. “They’ll still get the experience.”
Hall said he hopes the vintage market will continue to thrive as it has for decades, and that Super Thrift paves the way for a new era of sellers.
“I think this concept of vintage really does last forever,” he said.
He said he always envisioned passing his store on to someone younger, but he’s realized maybe it's about passing the baton to a collective of younger people.
“Maybe it's just passing on the torch to the community.”
