EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Jennifer Nava has always had a love for vintage goods.
Whether they are purses or jewelry, she loved the charm and beauty the items had.
Nava is the co-owner of Fun, Funky, Fab Vintage, a new thrift store that recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. Fun, Funky, Fab Vintage is located at 3900 Rosa Ave., above Old Sheepdog Brewery, in South-Central El Paso.
Prior to creating the store, Nava has been involved in the vintage-selling scene for over 15 years.
“I’ve been collecting since I was a teenager. When I was little, my mom would take me to garage sales, the swap and estate sales and I just grew up in that type of environment. I started liking vintage when I was little. I saw ‘Grease’ and I wanted to be Sandy, cause I liked her whole 50s vibe with the poodle skirt and I was very into fashion with my Barbies,” Nava said.
Fun, Funky, Fab Vintage has a variety of items, from clothing to knickknacks and even furniture, ranging from different eras of fashion and functionality. Nava says that there’s nothing similar to vintage in terms of quirkiness and quality.
“If you’re talking about jewelry, if you’re talking about fashion, housewares, the quality is just a lot higher. I like the aesthetic. I think that’s what happens with a lot of people. They just like that aesthetic. It’s unique from what’s popular now,” Nava said.
While working as a teacher for the El Paso Independent School District, Nava originally only collected vintage items as a hobby. After retiring and seeing her collection outgrow her storage, she thought it was time to open up her dream store.
“When I started collecting a lot of vintage jewelry, I said that I cannot wear all this jewelry. It’s just so pretty and gorgeous but some of them are not practical, not for everyday life. They’re very lucrative, so I thought, ‘Hey, I can make some money off of these.’ So that’s when I started thinking about selling,” Nava said.
Nava says that thrifting or vintage shopping has blown up.
“It’s gotten more popular, a lot more popular. Kids, 20- to 30- somethings have gotten, in Spanish se dice ‘agarra la onda (getting the hang of it)’ They’ve gotten aware of what it is to shop vintage and it’s just super popular now,” she said.
She also says that a good amount of her customers are people from younger generations, with most items older than her shoppers.
But she also loves the reactions older people have when they see some of the items too.
“The people that come in my shop the most, I say are like between 20 and 30. I also have people my age, or a little bit older say, ‘I remember when my grandma had this’ or ‘Mom had this.’ That’s always cool. I always like that part. It’s one of my favorite parts. People take a walk down memory lane,” Nava says.
“When they’re really young, I always like taking out like the special pieces and saying, ‘Hey look at what this does’ and they’re like, ‘Oh, my god’. They don’t make things like that anymore and that’s one of the main things, aside from the quality, that I like about finding vintage things is because they don’t make them anymore. I think that’s the big thing with all vintage collectors; you’ve find something and its like I’m not going to find another one of these,” Nava said.
With a year under her belt, Nava is enjoying her business but is also wanting to become more involved with the community.
“One of the things that I like is that we’re getting more involved with the community. We’re going to embark on a project with the EPCC students from the fashion program and the UTEP students from the fashion club, we’re still talking about it, but the plan is to have a fashion show by taking clothing that no one wants and making something new out of it,’ Nava said.
Nava is also expanding out her store layout, from playing movies with iconic stars such as Audrey Hepburn and Marylin Monroe, to adding a small reading nook for people to enjoy some of her old comics and books.
Fun, Funky, Fab Vintage is open on from 5 to 10 p.m. on Fridays, 2 to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and 2 to 6 p.m. on Sundays. If people want up any other time, Nava is open to inviting people privately to her store.
For more information on the store, you can visit their Instagram account @funfunkyfabvintage
