Giving Clothing Nine Lives

Roxanne Sanchez has known for over a decade that she wanted to open a second-hand store.

“It wasn’t until about two and a half years ago that I got really serious about it to make Nine Lives a reality,” she said.

On September 5, that reality came true when she was able to cut the ribbon on West 7th’s newest nonprofit consignment shop, Nine Lives Thrift Store.

Located at 1165 West 7th, Nine Lives is a thrift store with a mission. Sanchez said she founded the store as a nonprofit because she wanted to be able to give back to her community.

“Folks can come in, typically women will come in from shelters,” Sanchez said. “Women can discreetly come in, show the appropriate paperwork and choose a few pieces of clothing.”

She said that, despite not knowing how she was initially listed on intake paperwork for some of the organizations she serves, it has been a good partnership, and she is looking to growing who the shop is able to serve, saying she is working on partnerships with Wildflyer Coffee, American Indian Resource Center and local sober houses.

“We’ve helped over 40 women since we’ve moved in here in June,” Sanchez said.

She said that, while they are a nonprofit and do accept cash and clothing donations, the vast majority of of their funding comes from selling clothes.

“We don’t have any outside money,” she said.

While the shop is a nonprofit serving the community, it is also a thrift store, with a large selection of vintage clothing at reasonable prices. Sanchez said they intentionally keep prices affordable to ensure everyone has the opportunity to buy their clothes.

“Two of the women who we’ve served have come back because our prices are low,” she said. 

Sanchez said the germ of the idea for Nine Lives started about a decade ago when she and her best friend, Caitlin Langer, were roommates. Langer was working in consignment and Sanchez was working in costuming. 

“We started dreaming and scheming about this 8 or 9 years ago while we were living together,” Sanchez said. “Kind of hating our jobs, just watching a lot of trashy TV, drinking wine with our four cats.”

She said they started making lists of likes and dislikes from other thrift stores and, with her mom’s help, came up with the name.

“We settled on the name before doing anything,” Sanchez said.

Then life got in the way. Sanchez moved to New Orleans to work on costuming in the film industry, Langer started a family.

During the Covid pandemic, Sanchez moved back to the Twin Cities and got more serious about opening her own store. She started working for a small business to learn the ropes and took a few business classes. Then she started setting plans in motion for her first sales in 2022.

“We emailed everyone we knew to collect clothes to have a garage sale,” she said.

Those garage sales were huge affairs, with live music, food, ice cream and more. 

“Even if you didn’t buy anything, there was something for you,” Sanchez said of those early sales.

She was able to take their profit from those first sales and reinvest them in the company, first buying hangers for future sales, then investing in local pop-up shows and finally finding a shared space along West 7th in 2023.

She said she was finally able to grow her business enough to open her own shop this year.

“We moved from 300 square feet to 1100 square feet. We didn’t move that much stuff, most of it was in our houses,” she said.

To celebrate the opening, Nine Lives is hosting a celebration this month. Their “(re)Grand Opening and Second-Handiversary” will be held on September 28 from from 4-8 p.m..

Sanchez said the event will have live music, walking tacos, games and a special on clothing.

“It will be really reminiscent of our yard sales,” she said.

Nine Lives (re)Grand Opening and Second-Handiversary

Nine Lives Thrift, 1165 West 7th

September 28, 4-8 pm.

@ninlivesmn on Facebook and Instagram