Meet Juliana DiGennaro | Owner of Salvage Secondhand Shoppe

We had the good fortune of connecting with Juliana DiGennaro and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Juliana, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Growing up I knew I wanted to be in the fashion realm somehow. I enjoyed modeling and fashion design most during that time. This persuaded me to take on Fashion Design for college, so I attended the University of North Texas for a year. When the pandemic shut everything down, I had only taken the basics of the Fashion Design program like drawing and design. I didn’t have the chance to experience what I would call the “fun” part of the program, like pattern-making, introduction to sewing or fashion illustration. Because of this, I didn’t find my “passion” for my major and I decided that I didn’t want to go back to school. Along with fashion design, I started to really fall in love with thrifting and sustainable fashion. After high school, my body started changing drastically and the clothing that I found thrifting no longer fit me. I was devastated. I didn’t want to just redonate the pieces I loved, so I tried listing them on Depop. I pursued that for a while selling clothing of my own and pieces that I thrifted, but that didn’t really go anywhere. I knew I wanted to try selling in person somehow, but didn’t know where to start. When I moved to Denton, I discovered the Denton Mini Mall, which is an antique mall filled with consignment vendors selling all kinds of stuff. A friend of mine saw that they had an open space and suggested I apply to be a vendor, so I did. For the first month, it went really well to my surprise since we were in the basement of the antique mall. We started vending one month before the nationwide shutdown, so when everything started reopening we noticed that business just wasn’t the same as before. I started giving up because I knew it could have been something great, but COVID messed it all up. In December of 2020, I saw that the long-lived Circa 77 Vintage was closing down and I went to shop their closing sales. I spoke with the owner and told her how I had always wanted to open a store of my own someday and she suggested that I give it a shot. I was very apprehensive, but I knew if I wanted to I would have to act fast because this was a prime location in Downtown Denton and this opportunity wouldn’t happen again for a while. I contacted the landlord as a kid who didn’t know a single things about running a business, but I showed her that I believed in this idea and she took a chance on me. Now I’m here more than a year and a half later and I can’t express how grateful I am that she did.

What should our readers know about your business?
Salvage is a curated secondhand clothing store that focuses on sustainable living, building community and creating a safe space for everyone.

How we prioritize sustainable living:
Obviously shopping secondhand is sustainable in itself as you are giving a new purpose to something that would have otherwise been thrown away. We incentivize sustainability by offering tote bags that customers can purchase and receive 10% off their purchase every time they bring them back to shop. This encourages the use of reusable bags instead of single-use products. We, also, carry sustainable brands like BAGGU and Public Goods.

How we prioritize building community:
One thing we really love about our business is that we feature local artists and small businesses in our store. We have a shelving system called our “Small Wall” that allows small businesses and creators to see what it’s like to sell their products in a brick and mortar location. Selling online can be discouraging because customers have so many sellers to choose from and it’s easier to forget about something you added to cart than it is to hold something in your hand and put it back. When our vendors see their items selling faster in-store compared to online, it gives them confidence in their business. It shows them that they are worth it and to keep going. The same way that the Mini Mall gave me confidence to open up my storefront. Not only do we have the Small Wall, but we have an art gallery that the community can utilize for free. This helps the artists to get their artwork out into the community, but it also helps us to fill up our space with beautiful artwork that is forever changing. Lastly, we like to have people, typically customers of our’s, model for us. We want to give everyone and anyone the opportunity to be in a stylish and fun photoshoot, not just professional models.

How we prioritize creating a safe space:
We always want people to come into our store and feel comfortable, never judged. We try our absolute best to be gender and size inclusive. Our clothing is not separate into stereotypical “men’s” and “women’s” clothing. It is all mixed together because clothing doesn’t have gender and you can wear whatever you want as long as it makes you feel beautiful. We know how hard it can be on your mental health to try on something that is “your size,” but doesn’t fit, so all of our garments are measured. This is done to ensure that customers are able to find something that actually fits rather than basing it off of the size on the garment tag. We, also keep measuring tapes in the dressing rooms in case customers are unaware of their measurements.

Links to our consignment application, art gallery application and modeling application are all linked on our website under the “Work With Us” tab.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Some of my favorite places to visit in Denton are:

Vinyl Lounge – a groovy cocktail bar with 70’s style decor and tunes playing from vinyl records.

LSA (Lone Star Attitude) – a fun two-story burger joint on the Denton Square with a great atmosphere.

Free Play Arcade – a huge arcade that has an old-school feel where you pay on entry and get to play all the games your heart desires.

Beth Marie’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream – the sweetest ice cream parlor on the Denton Square that features some of the best homemade ice creams I’ve ever had.

Recycled Books – an incredibly massive three-story bookstore that has not only books, but DVD’s, CD’s, vinyl records, VHS tapes, gaming console games, and so much more.

Atomic Candy – a retro candy shop with the coolest and craziest candies you’ve ever seen; another Denton Square staple

Di Abruzzo – the cutest quaint Italian market with the best sandwiches and homemade pasta.

So many specialty stores like Dime Handmade, Sleeping Lizzards, Thistle Creative Reuse, Bewitched Denton, The Storm Witch, True Leaf Studio, The Brown Thumb and Salted Sanctuary Soap.

And of course all of the curated secondhand/vintage clothing stores – Les Muses Vintage, Vagabond Vintage, and The Vintage Lizard.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to dedicated this shoutout to my husband, my family, and the Denton community.

My husband is so supportive and always gives 110% to help me get where I need to be in my business although he has a full-time job of his own. Without him, I don’t think this would be possible.

I love that my family, especially my sister and my dad, is behind me at all times. They help however they can and are always ready to support me with the mental load that running a business has on someone.

Lastly, I am incredibly grateful of the Denton community. They have accepted me with open arms from the very beginning. They continue to show me love everyday. They are the reason that I keep going, I couldn’t do this without their support.

Website: www.salvageshoppe.com

Instagram: @salvageshoppe

Facebook: @salvagesecondhandshoppe

Image Credits
The picture of me in front of the wall with the big recycle sign was taken by Desteny Edwards.