Thrifty Beaches’ vintage market brings over 60 vendors to SLO

Jarod Mangaoang and his girlfriend Tia Fernandez traveled from Los Angeles to sell Y2K clothes at the Thrifty Beaches Vintage Market on Jan. 24 and Jan. 25. Mangaoang’s favorite part of the market was meeting all the vendors across California.

“Stuff like this is possible to do, especially here in kind of a smaller town like SLO, it’s possible to have an indoor flea market,” Mangaoang said.

The vintage market featured over 60 vendors on two floors. The vendors ranged from vintage clothing, mid-century modern furniture, jewelry and books. Gato Pescado, a pop-up coffee cart, was also present.

This was the first time Thrifty Beaches had hosted a market and plans to again in the future.

“I was really feeling relief,” Thrifty Beaches owner Adam Kemp said. “All my life, I bit off more than I can chew so when I ended up swallowing it and being able to chew it, it was more so relief than euphoria.” 

 Kemp said San Luis Obispo came out and supported him like they always do. He wants the city to have more foot traffic and be more popular and appreciated.

“It’s a beautiful city, and I think that it needs more fun things for young people to do, and the cool thing about a market like that is it’s very sustainable, it’s really good and it is a healthy, happy activity for young people to do,” Kemp said.

Kemp posted a notice on his Instagram story to recruit vendors. He got over 100 interested vendors and chose just over 60.

“I value this stuff and I know vintage is the future,” Kemp said.