WILMINGTON, N.C. — Gabbie Gritton graduated from UNC Wilmington just three months ago, and she already works for herself. She puts the "bus" in "business" with her pop-up shop, Secondhand Gritts.
What You Need To Know
- Secondhand Gritts is a pop-up shop created by Gabbie Gritton that sells used clothes and goods
- The shop is based out of a bus Gritton bought after graduation
- Gritton plans on turning the bus into a portable tiny home and taking it across the country — selling her goods along the way
“Secondhand Gritts is a store — well I don’t have a storefront — it is a pop-up mobile with a bus that I sell secondhand clothes and things in, kind of supporting slow fashion,” Gritton said. “Supporting things like sustainable fashion, showing people that you can go and buy things for $3 that are great.”
It’s something she’s always been passionate about.
“I have always thrift shopped, since middle school, high school. I’ve loved it, like it’s always something that I’ve enjoyed doing. It’s like meditation for me,” Gritton sid. “And then as I got older, I kind of realized, like, this is something that is important, it’s something that has meaning. It’s more than just I’m finding clothes for cheap prices.”
Now, Gritton is turning her love for fashion into a tool for spreading sustainability, starting in people's closets.
“I think sustainability is something that’s become more talked about recently, and I think that’s something that is extremely important to talk about, especially with clothing and fast fashion being so prominent every day and being pushed down our throats almost,” Gritton said. “I think that this, like showing people that this is a possible thing that you can do every single day, and it’s affordable, and it’s cute, and you get unique clothing. It’s just, I don’t know. It’s something that I’m very proud to do.”
That passion for sustainability has spread beyond her pop-up and into her everyday life. Gritton and her bus — appropriately named Miss Bus — are heading west.
“I’m gonna go and travel the country in this bus, and I’m building her out to be livable,” Gritton said. “There’s markets all over for like local people selling art, clothes, whatever, so I’m looking into that. We’ll see what happens.”
Wherever her bus or her business takes her, she’s grateful for the lessons she’s learned and will learn along the way.
“I don’t know if my end goal is to even really open a shop front. I think that this is something that’s like helped me make some extra money, but it’s also been a fun thing,” Gritton said. “I’ve met so many people and like grown a lot from it, and grown a lot from it from owning a small business in a bus.”
Although Gritton plans on hitting the road soon, you can still catch her at local artisan markets around Wilmington. Just keep an eye out for the bright blue and green bus.
