Feeling thrifty? Look no further than the basement of Pardee Hall, where Lafayette’s own campus thrift store, Pard to Pard, is now open permanently in a pay-what-you-can model.
The idea for a thrift store on campus first came about when an environmental science and studies capstone class began to discuss issues of conscious consumption and fast fashion.
“There were a few pop-up thrift stores … and in fall of 2019, [a] capstone class decided to envision how to transition from pop-up thrift stores to a permanent one so that the circularity of materials could be a cornerstone sustainability effort for the campus,” director of sustainability Delicia Nahman said.
“We had one [pop-up store] a month and ended up having seven pop-ups [from] 2022 to 2023,” sustainability outreach and engagement manager Samantha Smith said. “From there, we were like, ‘We want to make this permanent so it’s not just once a month, so that students can really, on a regular basis, get the things they need to live and thrive on campus.’”
The prospect of the thrift store becoming permanent meant there needed to be a location, along with a staffing structure.
“Discussions and engagements with various departments on campus and with better data collection, from our move-out process, were really able to identify how and where we could transition from pop-ups to a permanent store with a predetermined location and staffing,” Nahman said.
This past summer, Alanna Haldaman ‘25 became involved with the thrift store after getting hired as a reuse and redistribution fellow in the Office of Sustainability. After helping out with various sustainability projects at Lafayette, such as Green Move Out, her work turned to creating a permanent thrift store on campus.
“I had to start from scratch. We didn’t have that much,” Haldaman, now a student manager of Pard to Pard, said. “So, I had to create an inventory checkout system where we could track all of the items, and then the actual physical layout of the store [and] how we were going to manage it.”
In time, the thrift store was established, with a fixed location in the basement of Pardee Hall.
“We always had storage in the Pardee basement where we would store items for pop-up stores and basically we decided over the summer that we were going to make one of those storage rooms like an actual store,” Haldaman said.
Using a pay-what-you-can model, students can set the price for what they thrift based on what works for their budget. Haldaman has high hopes for the permanent thrift store’s effect on campus.
“I do hope that the thrift store takes off and more students begin to use it as a resource, but at the same time, I also hope that our donations decrease, because I think the idea of reusing our items instead of buying new ones every year is a lot more effective and sustainable and also [more] affordable than just donating them every year and buying new ones,” Haldaman said.
Those involved with making Pard to Pard a permanent fixture on campus are proud of what they have accomplished so far and hope to see students practice sustainability through thrifting.
“So, if you decide that you no longer need an item, donate it to us and then thrift for the things that you do need,” Smith said. “But think about that full cycle, reducing and reusing first, as those will have the highest impact.”
The thrift store is currently open on Wednesdays from 6-8 p.m. in Pardee 025.
