The thrift store known as Pink Elephant has been in Missoula for a little while now. It is a locally owned business that sells vintage clothes and specializes in Levi jeans. While they seem to mainly focus on womens clothing they also have a selection for men as well. They are located at 301 N Higgins Ave, but they are soon opening a new location where the old Subaru repair shop was.
Owner Anthony Montoya is very excited to open the new location. Montoya would like to open the new location to cater more to the local environment. “So now having free parking, not being downtown, I think we’ll start to see more of the locals and the community around here is super rad,” Montoya said. He hopes that the new location will have more of a local feel.
Montoya thinks that reusing and thrifting clothing can be very beneficial. “We realized how much of an abundance of clothes there are in the world. We could stop making new clothes for years and we would be fine,” he said.
Montoya was very interested in thrifting and finding good vintage clothing brands before opening Pink Elephant and he believes that that was a main aspect in deciding to open a thrift store.
“The new Pink Elephant will be focusing more on the hard to find, USA made clothing and the more traditional vintage that we really like,” Montoya said. Because the location is smaller they will not be taking clothing that they don’t really want to sell. Montoya is very focused on making this location the best it can be.
Montoya wanted to keep the original feel of the old Subaru repair shop by keeping some style choices, like the cursive on the left and right of the main name. The only main appearance change on the outside is the turquoise on the main entrance. The inside isn’t yet finished but is going to include lots of racks of clothes and lots of decorations.
Montoya said that they are hoping to open around Christmas time, in time to celebrate their 3-year anniversary of owning the Pink Elephant on Dec. 18. Montoya stated that they are also going to have a 3-year anniversary party to celebrate their business and their loyal customers.
