University Vintage owners Shane and Jared Perlin celebrated one year of customer success since opening a brick-and-mortar store in Ann Arbor. In the storefront, U-M items are sold that go back as far as the early 1900s.
In 2017, University of Michigan undergrad Shane Perlin found himself with a surplus of vintage University apparel. He began a small-time business opportunity, reselling the items online and through pop-ups across different sororities on campus.
Shane, a former business major at the University, said he began an Instagram account to promote the business, contacting his younger brother Jared, a management student who attended Michigan State, to do much of the same with MSU apparel, selling items through Facebook groups and private trunk shows.
“We grew up going to the thrift store…But it was not until college that I realized there was a market for this,” Shane said. “I was selling in the U-M student Facebook groups. I would meet up with people at the library and exchange items. I started university vintage with a friend in college using Instagram and a website. But it wasn’t until we started doing private trunk shows at sororities that we would move products. That is when I realized there is a thirst for this.”
According to Shane, his reselling business had near-immediate success. Following his graduation in 2020, he and his brother’s Instagram store, with both running accounts for their respective Universities, would eventually be moved into a single account for U-M, with Jared finding his way to becoming a fellow Wolverine, attending the University as a Graduate student, allowing the brothers to run the vintage pop-up store together in Ann Arbor.
RELATED: Shop Local, Real Vintage at A2vintage
“We were doing pop-up shops at the bars on campus like Blue Leprechaun, Cantina, Garage Bar. We were getting hour-long lines, and that’s when Jared said “I think there is something here,” Shane said. “It’s something I always wanted to do. I did not think it was feasible. We looked at the numbers, created a business plan, and opened in the fall of 2023 with the brick and mortar in Ann Arbor. It was about a year of planning.”
Their location, the basement of 324 S State St, in Ann Arbor, maintained the same U-M vintage focus while sourcing items through buy, sell, trade, and offer cash or store credit.
“It began at the thrift store where we thrifted for ourselves eight to ten years ago,” Shane said. “From knowing the space existed to officially opening was less than 50 days.”
“Our dream for that last year was to open the store,” Jared said. “To see everybody who either followed us or told their friends on that first day, just like the constant traffic. It felt like it was worth it, showing that the ideas were proof that we thought were true.”
Since opening, the West Bloomfield natives said their success has remained a learning experience, emphasizing customer feedback in improving the shopping experience.
“A lot of it is customer feedback. It is us listening and watching customers shop. That has informed us of how to evolve and change the store,” Shane said. “Every shopping experience for an individual is different. Commentary has helped us. There is a reason that multiple people are saying the same thing. What does that mean for us, and how do we act upon it.”
After officially passing the one-year on Sept. 7, Jared said their goal is to find their way to the street level, making their brick-and-mortar storefront a highlight among the State Street businesses.
“Being street-level would be great. Over the next year, we will continue to fine-tune what we do here and make sure it IS the best possible experience.” Shane says, “We want to move upstairs at some point to a street-level location. It is expensive in Ann Arbor, but we were able to do pretty well downstairs. We think we can make it upstairs.”
If you’re interested in visiting University Vintage, their store hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun, Wed, Thurs and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Fri-Sat. For more information, visit their website at universityvintage.com.
Antonio Cooper is a freelance journalist from Detroit, Michigan. His coverage of music festivals and interviews with local celebrities appeared in The E-Current Magazine, The Detroit Metro Times, XXL Magazine, RichMagDigital, The Ann Arbor Observer, and Pop Magazine.
