Upstate Retro Clothing

Jon Schwartz has been thrifting clothes since his mom would drop him off at Goodwill with ten dollars in his pocket as a child. “It started out of necessity. Over the years it became a hobby,” Schwartz recalls. 

Last month, Schwartz’s lifetime of collecting vintage clothing culminated in a brick-and-mortar shop on 49 Front Street in Ballston Spa. Upstate Retro Clothing specializes in curating 80s and 90s streetwear and accessories. 

Shwartz’s reselling journey started around 15 years ago when he found a box of band t-shirts at a garage sale. “For my 4-dollar investment, I ended up selling one for 25, another for 40. It kind of evolved from there.”

Over time, Shwartz’s eBay store began to generate more and more revenue, but not enough to sway him from his full-time Job. 

After graduating from Oneonta in 2009, Schwartz moved to Milton and got a job at a local logistics company. He worked there for 13 years, but over time, competing viewpoints over the direction of the company resulted in Schwartz leaving. He started a new position in Voorheesville but grew increasingly dissatisfied with the long commute taking time away from his family. 

This was right around the time Schwartz linked up with Noah Chani, the owner of Grateful Threads, a similar vintage clothing store in Saratoga. 

Three years ago, Chani and Mariah, owner of Mariahfield – a local upstylist, started the Second Sunday Market. From May through October, on the second Sunday of every month, local vendors set up shop in Congress Park. 

This introduced Schwartz to the value of a physical place to sell his pieces. “When someone touches a garment, they create a connection. It’s not the same as when you’re looking through a listing on eBay. There’s a connection that’s made; there’s a conversation that’s had,” Shwartz said. 

In the three years of attending the Second Sunday Market, Shwartz’s collection ballooned from around 500 pieces to over 7,000 pieces and quickly engulfed his basement.

In a search for storage space, Schwartz stumbled upon his now business location at 49 Front Street. The space was very segmented before Schwartz moved in, but the owner allowed Schwartz to remodel the space. Within three months, Schwartz knocked down some walls, resurfaced the floor, and moved his clothes to shelves.  

He now works full-time for his business since its opening on May 21st.  

Upstate Retro Clothing is open Wednesday through Saturday 11 a.m. through 6 p.m.