High school students open thrift store at Container Park in downtown Las Vegas

Two high school students on Thursday opened a thrift store with an altruistic twist in Las Vegas’ Downtown Container Park.

The incoming seniors at Garfield High School in Seattle, Julia Reguera, 16, and Ava Zech, 17, said they did not want to wait until they were out of college with a degree to embark on such a project, they “wanted to enjoy fashion and also give back to the community, so we thought, ‘Let’s have a fashion-forward thrift store.’”

It is not quite the visibly worn 1970s shirt and beat up pair of shoes kind of thrift store. The pieces in Hand Me Ups are carefully chosen by the entrepreneurs based on brand and a ‘Would I wear that?’ criteria. They have received clothes from Ralph Lauren, J Crew, Topshop, and American Apparel among other stores from their classmates and other donors they found via social media. The young women are residing in Las Vegas for the summer and are working on setting up bins around downtown Las Vegas to collect more items.

As far as the cost, it ranges anywhere from $3 to $25. But the prices will always fall on an odd number since Julia despises even numbers. She also believes that when her clients pay for their clothes, they ought to know where their money is going.

Hence, the girls are working with multiple charities and 45 percent of the proceeds will go to these. Once the customer pays, they will be able to pick between the Environmental Defense Fund, Rape Crisis Center, Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation, and others.

The Container Park, located at 707 Fremont St. with a giant fire-shooting praying mantis at the entrance, is an open-air shopping center with a mix of retail stores, restaurants and entertainment. They offer short-term leases for start-ups, facilitating rent for entry-level establishments. Current tenants include Art Box, Cheffini’s Hot Dogs, Lucky Little Chapel. It also offers live entertainment.

Julia and Ava were lucky to have one of the 38 business spots donated to them by the park with the opportunity of opening next summer as well. They believe their luck was due to the kindness behind their business.

Even though they have been working on this charity-driven thrift store for a year they have faced a lot of doubt when it comes to running a business; some people did not believe that two high school students would be able to handle it. When it came to the licenses and the bank account specific to the store, they had to use their parent’s names because of their ages.

“Getting recognition for what we are doing and being taken seriously is definitely difficult,” Ava said. “We are hoping to prove everyone wrong.”

Contact Tatiana Villamil at lvillamil@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0264. Follow @7atianaV on Twitter.