THRIFTY STICK EXPANDS TO AURORA WITH TS2

There are pockets of shopping areas in Denver, aside from the soul-sucking reconditioned vibe of a mall. For those in the know, one pocket of shopping glee exists in the southern area of Broadway that offers the unique, creative, and different items rarely found on 16th Street. As you're rolling down Broadway's Antique Row, a large, streetwise sign stands out near the corner of Florida, pulsating with every color of the rainbow and the letters "Thrifty Stick".

This shop caters to the skater, snow, and street wear crowd looking for a particular deck, pant, or shoe that fits their ride 'n' roll lifestyle. Thrifty Stick's founder and owner, Kendra Rostvedt, came up with the idea as most entrepreneurs do - seeing an opportunity to fulfill a need. While she was ringing up sales at BC Surf and Sport at the Tivoli, she often took calls from people looking for used snowboards. And knowing people selling used snowboards, she began the buying and selling process by setting up her own shop, "I started packing my apartment with used snowboards and vintage clothing," Kendra explains. By simple word of mouth, people came knocking at her door.

This meant she had a viable business. Part of becoming official included naming her company. During her BC days, she and BC's manager would pass the down times at the store by seeing who could create the most distinct food combinations, "My old manager, Conner, and I used to think of these gross foods by putting words together… like chocolate mayonnaise. We were thinking one day of the name for the shop and he was saying 'thrifty, thrifty something...stick!' since boards are often called sticks. So he came up with it - Thrifty Stick."

The next step was funding, " I started with some money that my parents put away for me for college. They told me I could use it for college or my business. But it was a very small amount. It was nothing compared to what it would take me to start this now."

After 8 months of running her home-based business, it was time for Kendra to make her public appearance. She spotting a "For Lease" sign while driving down Broadway and snagged the store. After a lot of elbow grease, including replacing the carpets and throwing up new paint, Kendra was established and official in her own commercial space.

Thrifty Stick's inventory continued to come from other thrift stores, garage sales, and those who knew she bought and sold hard goods. But her fate and inventory would change both personally and professionally when Bryan Dehanven strolled into the store. Bryan was a skateboarder, involved in that community, and worked for Conspiracy Skateboards in Denver. After they're relationship changed from seller and buyer to girlfriend and boyfriend, "He got me to start carrying skateboards. Then he and his buddies would come in and buy them."

Word of mouth continued to impact Thrifty Stick's growth, in addition to Kendra's focus on catering to her customers' desires, "Everything that's in here is because some of my customer's ask for it, and my orders are based on that. We do a lot of special orders." The skate brands her savvy shoppers ask for include Zero, Toy Machine, Independent, and Spitfire.

Thrifty Stick's buyers of men's and women's clothing lines includes attending surf, snow, and skate tradeshows like ASR and SIA. But most of the clothing lines Kendra carried at the beginning she carries today, with the exception of those brands that have gradually become more mainstream over the years, like DC Shoes, "You see them in the mall and they'll be in Payless before you know it. We are trying to get more niche. We don't want what everybody else has. Like the old school Vans, we've always carried them all the way through when no one else was."

Although most of what hangs on the racks is geared for the boys, she wants to continue to offer streetwise fashions for her female customers. Watching the trends within the industry and within particular lines themselves allows her to provide those unique pieces and stay niche. "Roxy is one of those brands that has been around for a while and have typically catered to a younger set. But in the last year, they've made their line so much bigger. Everybody else sticks with the real safe stuff, but [Roxy] is getting more fashion forward and doing [stuff] like cowboy shirts, and they're rad. For the fall, I have a big order in for them."

As with any business, Kendra began to set her sights on the bigger picture. This included expanding her business to a second location. "Bryan actually came with the expansion," Kendra says with a smile as she gazes at her now husband, who is methodically hanging clothes and moving things around the store. "When we were engaged and talked about getting married, this store was just too small for the both of us. But it was my heart and my soul that I started. We decided that we would use the money that we could have gotten for our wedding and use it towards opening another store."

My thoughts immediately went back to an ironic conversation I had with Bryan while covering the Punk Rock Bowling Tournament this last January. While we were shooting the breeze, I asked him how the wedding plans were coming along. He seemed overwhelmed with the situation, and having been through the cake/flowers/caterer/wedding dress hell myself, I suggested they just go to Vegas, elope, and just be done with it all. At the time, he looked very perplexed with my suggestions. So I figured he just thought I was being a bit insensitive so I dropped the topic. It turned out that he was just shocked, and thought, "she knew about us going to Vegas! But I didn't say anything. It was the next day that we left to get married," Bryan recalls, laughing.

"We were trying so hard not to tell anybody," Kendra adds, that although they couldn't get Elvis at the drive-thru, "it was so fun and spontaneous. It was just us and we didn't have to worry about anything or anyone."

Coming back as a married couple, they jumped into the huge task of opening a new store, TS2 in Aurora, that would now be Bryan's baby to run. Having grown up in Aurora, Kendra knew the market and how much the area is growing, "Aurora has 2 million people in it and Denver has 5 million. [Aurora's] huge. The only competition is Brother's Boards. I knew they had the whole market. Plus, there was a skate park opening there too. So it was perfect timing."

Before securing their location on Illiff, across the street from the new Wheel Park, they waited to see if Brother's Boards was going to move in there, "because there's a four-mile rule in this industry. If you're within four miles of another store, some [clothing] companies can't sell to you." But Brother never moved in, so TS2 became the new skate kids on the block.

To get the word out on their new digs, Kendra and Bryan started with their customer mailing list and handing out flyers in their original store. "Now most of our customers from Aurora now shop over there," Kendra beams. They also got a street team together, recruiting kids to hand out flyers to their friends in exchange for some TS2 t-shirts. Going back to the timing-is-everything business practice, "We timed the Grand Opening of the store with the Grand Opening of the skate park," which took place this past May with daytime skate demos at the park and nighttime punk rock shows at local bars.

Kendra states that although Aurora is a lot more controlled than Denver, the Thrifty Stick/TS2 team is still trying to get more involved with the local community by providing skate clinics for their customers at Wheels Park, in addition to other skate parks like Clement Park in Littleton. Getting Bryan to handle lessons for the boys was a given. As important was Kendra's creation of a program for the gals. For $30 - $40 for a couple of hours, Kendra will teach her girls how to get the basics down. If they want to step up their skills, they can move on to more advanced lessons. In June they trained 20-30 girls between the ages of 14-25.

"We're trying to focus more on girls skate clinics. We have quite a few girls signed up, and I'm pretty excited about that. The kids skate clinics that the city has going on, Brother's Boards is doing that, which is a good thing because somebody is doing it."

For Kendra and Bryan, the focus on youth and community doesn't stop there, "We're trying to help inner-city kids through the Kids At Risk/At Risk Youth programs, and getting companies to donate boards for them to use and learn off of," Kendra says with optimism.

The original Thrifty Stick store in Denver is located at 1464 South Broadway near Florida, 303.282.8972. The new TS2 in Aurora is located at 15220 East Illiff Avenue, Unit F, 303.755.3600. Both stores are open Monday thru Saturday, 11am - 7pm, and Sundays 12pm-5pm.

-Kim Owens, kim@kaffeinebuzz.com