Farmer School student opens new vintage clothing store in Uptown
An FSB student and his business partner have taken their business to a new level by opening a storefront location in Oxford.
Farmer School student opens new vintage clothing store in Uptown
Less than a week after classes began at the Farmer School of Business, one of its students opened the doors of a new vintage clothing store in Uptown Oxford.
“This is kind of the perfect demographic for it. I mean, 19,000 students come and then they're all right here. This is such a good street to be on, too, because kids are walking by all day and going to class, going to have fun, grabbing food,” sophomore supply chain operations and management major Caleb Chorley said.
Flow State Vintage is the creation of a business partnership between Chorley and Ethan Stewart, both of whom have been in the vintage clothing business for some time, though Stewart has been doing it longer. “I would buy off clothes him sometimes, when it was hard for me to get products while I was in school,” Chorley said.
“We both like the clothing and finding nice stuff and finding the right stuff for people, “ he said. “We like making people happy, finding cool stuff, and then they appreciate it too.”
Chorley operated his business last year via popup shops, often at fraternity and sorority events. “What I did on campus last year got a really good reaction from everybody, and it did well financially,” he said.
Last week, the pair opened the shop in the High Street space previously occupied by Future Great Comics -- next to Oxford Opticians, across the street from Kofenya. Chorley and Stewart are the only employees right now. The pair are responsible for sourcing and pricing each item and making sure they get washed before going out on the floor for sale, in addition to actually running the store.
“It's a lot. I came straight from class today. I set up my schedule so that I have 8 am classes and then two days a week I get done at 11:25, head up here, and then the other two days, I get done at 1 and then I come up here,” Chorley said. “Ethan opens at 12, then we ride the day out. I'm off on Fridays. And then we’re open on the weekends.”
Chorley said he’s glad to be taking business classes these days. “It's definitely nice that I can connect some of the class stuff directly into the business, the sense of me learning stuff and then bringing it straight here,” he said. “It's basically like a good business class, a hands-on business class.”
And while it’s all a lot of work, Chorley said that so far, it’s been worth it. “This is so much fun. The majority of people who come in appreciate what we're doing, and it’s something a little different that's come to Oxford,” he said. “We love this spot because the foot traffic is amazing, but additionally, we already have people traveling here to find it.”