Thrift store chain Uptown Cheapskate lands in former Ledbury storefront downtown

Uptown Cheapskate is preparing to open at 315 W. Broad St. in the Arts District. (Jack Jacobs photo)

A national thrift store chain is expanding its local presence with its first spot in the city limits.

Uptown Cheapskate is planning to open a store in the long-vacant former Ledbury store at 315 W. Broad St. in the Arts District. Behind the new location is Maggie Mereand, the local franchisee who has two other Uptown Cheapskate outposts in Chesterfield County.

Mereand is aiming to start selling clothes at the Broad Street space before Christmas. Last week, the location opened to people looking to offload clothes, which the thrift store is buying to stock up ahead of its grand opening.

Mereand set her sights on the city to be closer to college students and other nearby residents, groups she said are prime customers for thrift stores.

“I knew there was an untapped market here,” she said.

Mereand, 46, said Uptown Cheapskate markets itself to teenagers and young adults and sets itself apart from other thrift stores by offering higher-end clothing and having more organized sales floors.

“I feel that Uptown brings upscale to resale. We’re very diligent about checking our items’ condition. We try to buy the best of the best. I would definitely say the way Uptown organizes and displays clothing is super simple. There’s none of that thrift-store anxiety of, ‘Where should I begin?’”

Uptown buys and sells clothing and accessories for men and women. The stores pitch themselves as destinations for discounted Coach, Levi’s, Anthropologie and Zara products, among other brands.

The Broad Street storefront is about 3,000 square feet, and Mereand also leases a similarly sized basement in the same building to hold inventory. She said the hunt for the right city storefront was challenging and that the basement was a perk that attracted her to the storefront that local menswear company Ledbury exited in late 2022.

“It seemed like everything would be too big or too small and this one worked out. I looked at four other properties before I landed on this one,” she said.

Mereand said her newest location is noteworthy because it is located in a city’s downtown, whereas Uptown locations are largely in suburban retail centers.

“They’re watching closely to see if this store is successful,” Mereand said of Uptown’s corporate office. “Just because we don’t have a parking lot doesn’t mean we can’t buy and sell clothes.”

Mereand opened her first Uptown location at 1403 Huguenot Road near Chesterfield Towne Center in 2018. Her second opened near Brandermill at 4513 Commonwealth Centre Parkway in 2022. There are two other Uptown stores in Short Pump and Mechanicsville under different franchisee ownership.

The Utah-based chain has more than 130 locations in multiple states, according to its website. It opened its first store in the late 2000s in Salt Lake City.

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