Uptown Cheapskate

Uptown Cheapskate is a U.S. resale fashion concept that buys and sells gently used apparel, shoes, and accessories, with a focus on teens, college students, and young adults looking for current styles at accessible price points. As of January 2025, the brand operates roughly 130 stores across the country, offering landlords and brokers a recognizable off-price soft-goods tenant with steady repeat traffic and appeal to younger and value-conscious shoppers.

Founded in 2008, Uptown Cheapskate was created as an alternative to traditional thrift and full-price specialty retail, giving customers a cleaner, more curated environment while still delivering meaningful savings versus typical mall pricing. From the outset, the concept has centered on a simple exchange: customers bring in gently used items, receive cash or store credit, and those items are then resold at a significant discount to original retail. Over time, this buy-sell model has resonated with both cost-conscious and sustainability-minded consumers who want recognizable brands and trend-right product without the feel of a warehouse or donation store.

A key milestone for the company was the shift from a small regional base to a national resale chain built primarily through franchising, which allowed Uptown Cheapskate to scale from a handful of early locations to more than one hundred stores across multiple states by the mid-2020s. Over roughly the last five years, the brand has continued to expand its footprint in suburban and secondary markets, focusing on growth-oriented trade areas where value fashion performs well and household incomes can support frequent discretionary visits. This period has also seen the concept deepen its presence near colleges and universities, reflecting strong demand from students and young adults for affordable, on-trend apparel.

Today, Uptown Cheapskate stores typically offer a consistent in-store experience: racks organized by category and style, buying counters near the front of the store, and visual merchandising that feels closer to a small specialty boutique than a traditional thrift operation. Locations rely on high inventory turn and frequent customer visits driven by constantly changing product, which makes daily and weekly foot traffic a central consideration in site planning. For landlords and developers, the chain often serves as a productive use for second-generation apparel boxes and an effective complement to discount fashion, soft-goods, and everyday-needs anchors in neighborhood, community, and power centers.

Growth continues to come mainly from franchised units, with the company actively recruiting new franchisees to open additional stores across multiple states in suburban trade areas, college-adjacent locations, and established centers with value fashion co-tenancy. This expansion posture, combined with a long-running resale concept and standardized store experience, gives the brand a level of credibility that can help support lease-up in both new developments and backfill situations. Certain granular details, such as exact corporate contacts or state-by-state store counts, should be confirmed directly with the company or through formal broker and franchise materials to support specific real estate decisions.