On March 27th, 2024, Heyday Vintage Collective opened its doors to the Evanston community. Located in Downtown Evanston on Davis Street, bringing a colorful selection of curated vintage items to the city, Heyday is now nearing its second year of business
Everything began with seven vendors and a dream. When the owner of Heyday Vintage, Shane Kelly, saw an opportunity in Evanston to create a store selling unique vintage clothing, he decided he didn’t want to do it alone.
“[Kelly] looked around and saw that there wasn’t really anything like what we’re doing here in Evanston,” noted Steve Kane, a vendor for Heyday under the label “Superior Street.” “Andersonville in Chicago is probably the closest area where there are vintage stores that are similar to what we do.”
Kelly was right when he observed there wasn’t anything like Heyday in Evanston, and residents were intrigued by this unique addition to the city.
“I started shopping at Heyday because there were no vintage clothing stores in the Evanston area that were accessible to me by walking,” stated junior Finn Donnelly. “My mom had also mentioned it to me the day it opened, and I took a sudden interest in it.”
Kelly already had his own store, Prison City Vintage, in Joliet, Illinois. This new store would combine the unique curation of different vendors who would each bring their own perspectives to Heyday. The vendors who answered Kelly’s call would all work together to become Heyday Vintage Collective.
At Heyday, you can browse through a variety of vintage items and clothing. There are colorful racks of all sorts of t-shirts, sweaters, tank tops, and jeans. You’ll find all sorts of funky patterns and designs, with lots of variety. Shoes, purses, belts, and all sorts of knick-knacks are also available for purchase. The vendors at Heyday try to keep most of their items truly vintage, with 80-90% being 20 years old or older, according to Kane.
To get their articles, the sellers at Heyday use various traditional methods, such as estate sales and home calls. Sometimes, people will also come to the store and show vendors some vintage pieces they’re interested in selling. There are many different ways to source, and each vendor does it differently.
“I’ve been thrift shopping since I was a teenager,” remarked Kane. “I always just loved the one-off, unique sort of things. I just like that level of scarcity, where it’s sort of like, I have this thing that does exist, maybe not one of one entirely, but you’re probably not going to be walking down the street and seeing somebody wearing it. You come here, you might not ever see some of these things again.”
Those special finds you can get at Heyday are what really make the experience so memorable for customers and employees alike.
“The clothing there is definitely different from other thrift stores,” said Freshman Lucia Cirulli. “I saw some really nice, real vintage stuff that didn’t have blown-up pricing just because it was vintage. There is also a huge variety of these things.”
The appeal of Heyday goes beyond just the variety they offer. The atmosphere of the store and the impact of shopping somewhere that sells previously owned clothing are other factors that interest customers.
“It’s like a breath of fresh air,” stated Cirulli. “The workers are so nice, and it’s a different shopping experience, more like a community than anything. It’s cool to know that buying through Heyday is supporting your community, and not supporting fast fashion and clothing waste. It’s a more sustainable way to shop, I think.”
Heyday has provided a fun new way to shop for clothing in Evanston, and its selection is always changing as vendors collect new clothing. Going forward, Kane hopes that more people will continue to discover Heyday, as it’s still in its early years of business.
“Every day that I work, someone new comes in and says, you know, I just found out about you guys, or I was just walking by and saw [the store],” mentioned Kane. “We still have a long way to go in terms of getting our name out there. I hope that people keep trickling in, people keep finding us, because it gets the word out about what we’re trying to do.”
