This town thrifts hard. Between the college students hunting for vintage denim, the professors looking for mid-century furniture, and everyone else who’d rather not pay full price for a perfectly good jacket, Ann Arbor has built one of the best secondhand shopping scenes in Michigan.
The range here is what makes it interesting. You’ve got high-end vintage boutiques where every piece is hand-picked and steamed, and you’ve got warehouse-style thrift shops where you’re digging through bins with both hands. Both are worth your time – it just depends on what kind of day you’re having.
The Getup Vintage
The Getup is Ann Arbor’s original vintage clothing shop, and it’s still the one to beat. Located at 210 S. Fourth Ave. in the middle of downtown, owner Dayne Hartshorn has been hand-selecting vintage clothing since 2005. The store started on State Street, moved to a bigger space, and has only gotten better with each iteration.
The stock runs from the 1950s through the 1990s – think broken-in leather jackets, concert tees that haven’t been reprinted, vintage Levi’s sorted by wash and decade, silk blouses, and statement pieces that would cost four times as much at a Brooklyn vintage shop. Nothing in here is random. Every piece got picked for a reason.
The vibe is relaxed – no pressure, good music playing, and staff who know their inventory well enough to pull options for you if you describe what you’re looking for. Prices are fair for curated vintage. You’re paying for somebody else’s eye, and Dayne’s eye is very good.
Dear Golden Vintage
Dear Golden is the store for people who want their vintage older and more romantic. This Fourth Avenue shop specializes in pieces from the 1920s through the 1980s – Victorian lace blouses, silk slips, wool coats with real structure, and the kind of dresses you’d wear to a wedding where you want everyone to ask where you found that.
Owner Elaine started selling on Etsy in 2008 and built a following before opening the physical shop. The curation shows. Everything in here has been cleaned, repaired if needed, and displayed like it matters. The store itself is small and beautifully arranged – furnishings sourced from secondhand shops, racks spaced far enough apart that you can actually browse without bumping elbows.
Dear Golden is more boutique than thrift, and the prices reflect the curation. But if you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind piece that’ll last another fifty years, this is where you find it.
Ragstock
Ragstock at 337 E. Liberty St. is the chaotic good of Ann Arbor vintage shopping. The store mixes genuine vintage finds with new retro-styled clothing, costumes, and novelty items, so the browsing experience is unpredictable in the best way.
Downstairs is where the vintage lives – racks of denim, flannels, band tees, and military surplus sorted roughly by type. Upstairs leans more costume and seasonal, especially around Halloween when half of campus seems to shop here. The prices are student-friendly, which is why Ragstock has survived on Liberty Street for years while other stores have come and gone.
The fun of Ragstock is the randomness. You might find an amazing 1970s corduroy blazer sandwiched between a Hawaiian shirt and a faux-fur coat. That’s the deal. Come with patience and low expectations, and you’ll almost always leave with something good.
Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop
Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop is the community thrift store that locals protect like a secret – even though it’s right there on South Industrial Highway at 2280 S. Industrial. The entire operation is volunteer-run, and every dollar goes to Ann Arbor Public Schools.
The selection rotates constantly – clothing, furniture, housewares, books, electronics, toys, seasonal items. Quality varies because it’s all donated, but the volunteers sort aggressively and the pricing is genuinely cheap. We’re talking dollar racks, five-dollar jeans, furniture priced to move.
The rhythm here matters. Regulars know to come early in the week when new stock hits the floor, and again late in the week when prices drop further. Saturday mornings are busy. The parking lot fills up fast, but turns over quickly too.
Treasure Mart
Treasure Mart on Detroit Street near Kerrytown Market & Shops was a Kerrytown landmark for decades – a sprawling consignment shop stuffed with furniture, housewares, art, books, and the kind of random household items that make secondhand shopping addictive. Lamps you didn’t know you needed. A set of mid-century bar glasses for three dollars. A coat rack shaped like a tree.
The store was family-owned for over fifty years, and generations of Ann Arbor residents furnished their first apartments from its shelves. The building was sold in 2021, and the store’s future has been uncertain since. Check before you visit to confirm it’s still operating – but if it is, it’s worth every minute of a long, wandering browse.
The Salvation Army Family Store
The Salvation Army Family Store on State Street, across from the University golf course, is the big-box thrift option in Ann Arbor. The store is large, the stock is deep, and the prices are low. Clothing, furniture, housewares, books, toys, sports equipment – if someone in Washtenaw County donated it, it probably ended up here.
This is a dig store. You’re not going to find a curated display or mood lighting. What you will find is volume, which means the odds of scoring something great are high if you’re willing to flip through every rack. The furniture section is particularly strong – couches, tables, dressers, bookshelves, all priced well below what you’d pay at a consignment shop.
Best strategy: go on a weekday morning when the aisles are empty and new donations have been processed. Weekend afternoons are a zoo.
Kiwanis Thrift Sale
The Kiwanis Thrift Sale is an Ann Arbor institution, but it’s not a permanent store. It runs as periodic sales – usually announced on their website and social media – and when the doors open, people line up before the start time. This is not an exaggeration. There is often a line.
The appeal is the volume and the prices. The Kiwanis Club collects donations year-round, warehouses everything, and then sells it off at events where nothing is priced to make a profit. Clothing, books, furniture, kitchen stuff, toys, records, sporting goods. It moves fast, so come early, bring bags, and be ready to make quick decisions.
Proceeds support Kiwanis community programs. If you time your visit right, this is the best dollar-for-dollar thrift experience in the area.
Ann Arbor Thrift Shop
The Ann Arbor Thrift Shop on Washtenaw Ave. is the quiet one on this list – no social media presence, no flashy signage, just a steady stream of good secondhand finds run by an all-volunteer staff of women who’ve been doing this for years. Proceeds go to community grants.
The stock leans toward clothing, books, and antiques, with a rotating selection that keeps regulars coming back weekly. Prices are low, the volunteers are friendly, and the store has that particular calm energy that only happens when nobody’s trying to be trendy.
How to Do It
A solid Ann Arbor thrift crawl starts downtown at The Getup and Dear Golden on Fourth Ave., walks east to Ragstock on Liberty, then drives south to the PTO Thrift Shop on Industrial. That’s curated vintage, chaotic vintage, and deep-discount thrift in one afternoon.
For vintage furniture and housewares specifically, focus on the PTO Thrift Shop and Salvation Army. For clothing, start with The Getup and work your way out from there. While you’re downtown, Rock Paper Scissors on Main Street and Found in Kerrytown are both worth a stop for gifts and home goods. For antiques, Arcadian Antiques is another option. And The Thrift Depot and Value World Thrift round out the bigger-box secondhand options in the area. For the full list of shops and stores in Ann Arbor, check miannarbor.com.
