Meet Trailblazer Andrea Salazar and Mónica Lopez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Salazar and Mónica Lopez.

Andrea and Mónica, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In 2015, we moved to Tucson from Mexico City and discovered how tough it can be to find interesting work in a new city without a professional network to rely on. We had worked a 9-5 corporate job for several years and when faced with the idea of starting back at the bottom of the corporate ladder- we decided to try something different. With fantasies of being our own boss and having a flexible schedule, we decided to take part-time jobs that would allow us to start working on a side business.

After some research about businesses that could be done remotely and had a low start-up cost, Andrea came up with the idea of flipping vintage stuff online, so we started selling whatever hard goods we found interesting and unique. Within a few months, we realized storage and the shipping of these things wasn’t as easy as we thought, so we decided to switch to vintage clothes and were pleased to find that not only were they easier to handle but also more fun to source.

Our first online store was on eBay for a couple of years and eventually, we decided to move all of our listings to Etsy, a more modern and curated platform. E-commerce is amazing because you can be selling while you’re sleeping! It’s really fun to wake up to a sale or be interrupted throughout your day by the glorious Ka-Ching (sounds that plays when you sell an item).

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There are a lot of balls in the air when you are running your own business: marketing, sales, inventory management, photography, social media, sourcing, taxes, etc. It can be overwhelming when you start out and are trying to learn how to do everything at the same time.

We always had the mentality of let’s do this for fun, to make a little extra money and to learn about operating a small business, and because of that, every sale feels like a bonus. If your goal is to make this a full-time living, you definitely need to put in a full-time effort. Are you the type of person who can work for 3-5 hours on your own idea without the threat of a supervisor looming nearby? Yeah? Great. No? Find ways to hold yourself accountable.

Specifically, in e-commerce, returns can be a struggle. They always seem to come when you are not expecting them and since you live and die by the reviews on the platform- keeping customers happy is a big deal. Our goal is to treat every customer with respect and the utmost courtesy, even when they are returning an item or being less than nice, but not to let anyone pull the wool over our eyes.

If you are curious about doing something like this- our advice would be to just jump in, you’ll learn as you go and mistakes can teach a lot more than successes. Just try to stay lean when you’re starting out and only invest in new tools or gear as cashflow allows. Also, keep in mind that the fun part (sourcing clothes and selling) is only around 30% of the workload. The rest is listing, photographing, shipping, cleaning clothes and book keeping- not quite as fun. Rely on forums and blogs when you have questions or issues. Just google “X issue on Y platform.”

Last but not least, TAXES. Don’t let ’em, sneak up on you.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Bizarro Vintage Shop – what should we know?
As our shop name makes reference to, we like to focus on bizarre like vintage clothes that are weird, eye-catching, vibrantly colored or with eccentric patterns. Anything that harkens back to decades past or bygone eras. Anything funky or nostalgic. We keep our sourcing fun rather than worry about labels or current trends.

We do our best to ignore gender norms and traditional styling, so many of our clothes are catalogued as unisex. We believe in dapper women and beautiful boys, elegant denim and dressed down silk. There are no rules, well, just one- Wear the costume that makes your soul sing.

One thing we really enjoy is the low waste part of secondhand clothing and encouraging others to give these garments a second chance in life. There is a way to enjoy fashion and self-expression without feeling guilty about the appallingly wasteful fashion industry.

We are very proud of what we have achieved in the last three years, mostly what we have learned about entrepreneurship and e-commerce. People underestimate how difficult it can be to sustain a side business year after year, especially when it’s not making you buckets of cash. But the best feeling is when you hear the joyful sound of a sale made, and see that some other person in Brooklyn or Canada or Brazil or wherever liked that same garment that caught your eye and made you happy.

We know there is still a long way to go and a lot to learn- but we feel great about our fledgling business and the joy it bring us.

Finding a mentor and building a network are often cited in studies as a major factor impacting one’s success. Do you have any advice or lessons to share regarding finding a mentor or networking in general?
Online networking is a big deal now. Find the forums, blogs, and communities where your “online colleagues” congregate and become a part of the discussion. Reddit is a big one for me, I’m subscribed and active on everything from the “chihuahua” subreddit to the “thrift store” haul subreddit. These places are ripe with good, actionable information. Learn how to use search functions and get to reading. Or watching or listening, podcasts are also fantastic for learning and you can consume them passively.

A good tip that is more specific to vintage reselling- find a store you admire on Etsy or Posh or Mercari or wherever and study the way they photograph and describe items, look at their shop policies, read their reviews and learn what the store gets right and emulate or improve on that.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bizarrovintageshop.com
• Email: hello@bizarrovintageshop.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/bizarrovintageshop/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/Bizarrovintageshop/

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