Welcome to college: the socially preapproved time to define yourself! Lucky for you, you’ve landed in Seattle where you can execute your identity construction in one of the city’s many thrift emporiums and well-stocked vintage shops.
University District
Here’s how to blow an afternoon trawling the Ave (what locals call University Way), the city’s best stretch of affordable secondhand clothes:
Start at Valley of Roses (4748 University Way NE), a calm hippie oasis with racks of silk pajama tops, military jackets, and gorgeous hand-tooled leather bags. Grab a pot of locally made lip balm for $4. A few doors down, Lucky Vintage (4742 University Way NE, luckyvintageseattle.com) has a happy Americana vibe, with cowboy boots and racks of big skirts, plaid button-ups, and ugly-cool sweaters.
The enormous Red Light (4560 University Way NE, redlightvintage.com) is a vintage institution in Seattle and has abundant and adventurous clothes, as well as Halloween essentials—wigs, decorative eyelashes, and fishnet stockings. Sale merch is in the back.