It started out as a trailer going around Utah selling vintage items. Now, Afterlife Vintage calls the building on 2219 South and 700 East a permanent home.
Jacqueline Whitmore opened the brick and mortar location in September and so far, she said, “We’re killin’ it!”
Whitmore moved from Phoenix, Arizona to Logan, Utah, where she started managing a thrift store. She called her moving experience “a total culture shock.” But that didn’t stop her from thriving in her career.
“I managed a thrift store called Somebody’s Attic,” she said. “I just started buying things, and all of the things that I bought were retro and vintage.”
She soon realized the amount of items she had accumulated was “way too much,” so a friend introduced her to flea markets and Etsy. After selling vintage items in the markets and online, she decided to buy a 1962 Shasta trailer, which she describes as a “canned ham.” She likes the trailer because it’s a vehicle that was used in the ‘50s and ‘60s and that fits in well with the culture of her shop. Whitmore named her mobile shop “Parchment and Pallet.”
“I used to make cards, and my husband made reclaimed furniture, so that’s how we came up with that name,” Whitmore said.
After traveling around Utah and doing pop-up events, Whitmore noticed her hobby was becoming profitable. This led her to establish a more permanent home for her store.
“We realized, ‘Whoa, we should have a shop,’ ” she said. “We found this place we’re in now, and it kind of just worked perfectly. We didn’t plan to open as soon as we did, but it just worked out.”
Whitmore sells retro kitchenware, vintage Pyrex, clothing and even taxidermy and entomology.
“We like creepy, but we like cute,” she said.
She tries to reach out to millennials by using Instagram and other social media. But she said she doesn’t really have a target customer-base. As an adamant Instagram user, however, Whitmore has gained a large number of followers, who shadowed her to her new shop.
“Afterlife is kind of a combination of things,” Whitmore said. “A lot of where we source stuff usually comes from peoples’ estates or finding things that give [customers] a new life.”
Though her husband assists her with the shop, Whitmore owns and manages Afterlife Vintage. She is at the store Tuesday through Saturday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m., greeting customers and making sales. Those long hours working retail, in addition to the work she puts in behind the scenes, don’t show on Whitmore. Her happiness and positivity is obvious to everyone who sets foot in Afterlife Vintage.
“It’s just a super cool place,” Whitmore said. “We try to be reasonably priced for college kids, just for them to own a piece of American history.”
Her attitude radiates her pride in Afterlife Vintage, and it is easy to tell she wants others to take part in the vintage culture. Pop in next time you are in Sugarhouse, and make something old new again.