How to Name Your Thrift Shop

The name you choose for your thrift store is one of the most important decisions you will make as a new resale entrepreneur. It’s because your store name has the power to communicate your product line variety to your customers. 

Powerful names can greatly impact your store’s perception in shoppers’ minds.  I will help you come up with a catchy thrift store name to attract lots of shoppers to increase your sales.  

Come let’s get busy naming your resale store, consignment shop, online thrift boutique, and second-hand clothing business …

Step 1 – Determine The Unique Branding Position of Your Thrift Store

Before you can come up with a unique thrift store name you need to get clear on your branding position. What types of items are you offering? Who are your target customers? What makes your thrift store special and different?  

A strong branding position will attract paying customers to your establishment that will appreciate your store and tell their friends.  This will make your marketing easier because you will know what your unique benefits are. Come along as we develop your thrift store brand in two easy steps. 

Your Thrift Shop Difference vs Competitors

What “position” do you want to claim a stake in your customer’s minds as opposed to your competitors? 

Is your thrift store carry more items that are designer fashion, vintage clothing from the ’70s 80’s or 1880s, housewares from the ’50s, handbags, shoes fashion accessories, retro fashion jewelry, home furnishings, for kids, men or sports enthusiasts?   

How You Want Customers to Identify Your Thrift Shop

What qualities do you want your customers to be reminded of when your thrift store comes to mind? Are you the best thrift store for the most interesting vintage clothing, or the best prices on gently used kids’ clothes, or the widest selection of quality used dishes and home furnishings?  

Example of Thrift Store Position:

A large fully stocked thrift store located in a convenient location inn the suburbs near schools stocked with gently used children’s clothing and home furnishings for kids rooms, classrooms, and backyard sports. 

Please take a moment to think through these important questions and answer them by drafting your unique branding position as shown in the example above. 

Trust me having this statement will greatly assist you in the next step to naming your thrift store and brainstorming spot on store names that really communicate your store’s unique value to customers. 

Step 2 – Brainstorm Name Ideas for Your Thrift Store

Armed with your branding position statement (discussed above) you are now ready to come up with a list of good thrift store names using my pro brainstorming techniques below. Use some or all of the methods and create a long list of possible name ideas for your business. 

To create your most unique thrift store name, brainstorming is the first order of business.  The best place to start is inside your ideal client’s mind. Who are your target customers for your store’s items?  Are they millennials, professionals, executives, busy moms, singles, teenagers, children and families, college students, young professionals, stylish middle-aged women, or men?

Once you have your perfect customer in mind, figuratively step into their shoes. This is important because you want to evaluate your name options through their eyes for the best results.  Don’t fall into the trap of naive business owners who judge their thrift store name ideas using their own taste. You want to appeal to your customers, not to yourself. 

Example – You own a resale vintage shop and are 55 years old, however, your clients are primarily young Moms under 30. The names you like such as Designer Resale will not appeal to this much younger audience who will likely appreciate a cooler name for a children’s thrift shop such as Whipper Snappers or Babies Redone. 

Begin your brainstorming by listing words about your items such as clothing, fashion, apparel, designer, resale. Include adjectives that you want to use to describe your store’s philosophy such as sustainable, crafty, smart, chic.  

Play around with rhyming names or with words that all have the same starting letters such as Second See Saw or Thrift Triangle. These types of phrases are unique and easy to remember.

Then continue to the next step where we will review each of these naming ideas against the checklist below to determine which is the very best name for your new thrift store. 

Check out my full list of 24 ways to brainstorm business name ideas here 

Review Business Name Lists

Read lists of business name ideas such as these below from my blog to get inspiration for your best company name:

Fashion? what do I have

Combine Two Words for One Business Name

Blend personal names of two or more owners into an interesting compound business name. Learn the many ways to combine names for your business name in my article here. 

Name Your Company With Your Personal Name  

Some business owners elect to use their own personal name as their business name. Generally, I do not recommend naming your business after yourself – except in a few instances – read more in my article about naming a business after yourself here

FYI: Avoid using business owner initials as a business name. Some new entrepreneurs decide to use their initials as their company name. This is not a good idea, because names such as The TBD thrift store (Tom, Bill, and Dan) is boring, easy to forget, hard to spell, and pronounce. 

Together we can do much better. Keep reading to come up with your best thrift store name. 

Use Acronyms to Come Up Company Name

An acronym is different from a name made up of owner initials because it creates a new word. 

Some examples; IBM is an initial name (for International Business Machines) which is spoken as each letter separately – I -B- M.

An example acronym name is LEGO (short for Leg Godt – danish for “play well”) and is pronounced as one word.

Use this online tool to brainstorm some creative acronym business names.

Experiment with Wordplay and Funny Puns

Puns are jokes that exploit the different possible meanings of words – a play on words. They can make funny and catchy business names.

Some examples of thrift shop name puns;   Thrift Horse (like gift horse), Thrift Key (shift key), Paradigm Thrift.

Have fun and get business name inspiration with this free Pun Generator tool.

Try Rhymes for a Catchy Business Name

Using a rhyming name can make your brand more memorable such as StubHub and 7-Eleven. 

Business names that rhyme has a musical quality that helps them stand out in customers’ minds. I used this free online rhyme tool to come up with these names for thrift store companies:

Thrift Gift
Rift on Thrift
Thrift Drift
Swift Thrift

Continental Thrift

Utilize Descriptive Word Phrases for Thrift Store Names

Use keywords that describe your products and services and their benefits to create interesting and powerful thrift store company business names.

Begin with your business type -“thrift store”. Then create a list of related words such as;  bazaar, boutique, discount store, flea market, outlet, stand, store, cut-rate, co-op shop. 

Check out this free online related words tool

Combine these related words with other words such as; your location, name, or merchandise specialty. 

Here are some thrift store-related example of names:

Barter Basement

Trade Stand

Frugal Fashionistas

Penny Pinching Babes

>>Check out my full list of 24 pro ways to brainstorm business name ideas here 

Step 3 – Select Your Best Thrift Shop Name Checklist  

By following my recommended steps above you will have come up with a long list of good thrift store names. Next comes, the critical phase of evaluating your thrift store name ideas and selecting your perfect name. 

Use my pro checklist below of important criteria to help you make the best choice.

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