“We source everything at Bonejacked Vintage ourselves. There are some vintage shops that buy bundles online, but we found that we get better clothing by handpicking because bundles are a way for other businesses to offload things that aren’t selling. We also find that by curating everything, that people can see our vision, style, taste and our interests. People seem to gravitate toward that a lot more than just random stuff placed out on the racks. The one thing we didn't want to do was have a gatekeeping attitude about vintage and rarity. Vintage is for everyone, and our number one focus is to get the stuff back out into the world.
We also get quite a few things off the street that people bring in. Recently we had a whole series of concert shirts that came in, probably 40 or 50 of them from a gal named April. She had spent her life going to concerts and didn't have anybody to pass the shirts on to, so she brought in a box full because she wanted them to end up with people who were going to appreciate and love them. A lot of them even have the original concert stubs!
Anything that we can do to build on the story of the item helps, because that's what we're selling here. We know where all these pieces came from and every time somebody holds an item up, I have like two paragraphs worth of information about it. It's not just a shirt, it’s a story.
We’ve reached some other areas like Reese or Caro. The people from the Reese area said that they were watching YouTube videos on thrift hauls and typed it in search not expecting to be able to find something till Detroit, and then Bonejacked Vintage came up. They said, ‘I can't believe something like this exists here,’ which we hear a lot, too.
We really want people to experience the treasure hunt in a place where everything's curated, and they know what they’re getting is a quality piece that has been cleaned, maintained, and ready for a new home.
You come across such cool things and you want to share it with the world. It's also about the style and cut of the clothing along with the fashion of everything. You can’t recreate that. We love how multifaceted this business is: it’s about art and design, sustainability, discovery, and working for ourselves.
We also love how this business gets us into the community. We've had stand-up comedians, poetry events and shows on our little tiny stage here in the store. We also did a music festival called Deadstock. We held it in our backyard and billed it as a micro festival and it fit that perfectly. We had nine bands playing throughout the day. Grandpa Tony's was awesome—they sponsored the event and showed up and dished pizzas out of their van. Pretzel Prize showed up as well, LoLoBee’s Lounge, Chip was there. My family and Ben Champagne came out and were a huge help. We also had two DJs that kept things moving. We did it all on a shoestring budget, with absolutely no experience, but we put the idea out there and people hopped on it to support it.
It was an amazing event. We have to keep doing events like these to keep building that part of the community.
I’ve thought about why we do this here in Bay City and part of that is as simple as we couldn’t see Bonejacked Vintage existing anywhere else. It’s always been the goal to provide Bay City with a cool, unique shopping experience. I felt like the community was primed for it: we have Retro Attics, the antique stores, Electric Kitsch, etc. The pandemic also really showed us that family, friends, and people you like to be around are important.
I love Bay City and I can’t really put my finger on it. It's home and it's always been home. It was always in the cards to have a home base, even if we continued traveling, and we wanted it to be here. It's a beautiful place and it’s got the river, the downtown is great, the summer events are incredible. It's got a little bit of everything without feeling overwhelmed by the hugeness of a bigger city. It’s accessible without being overwhelming.”
– Angela Napolitano and Nicholas Deyarmond, Bonejacked Vintage Apparel
