Lucy knew she wanted to own a vintage shop from a young age. When shopping with her mom as a young teen, she exclaimed, "I want my own store one day." Lucy relished the fact that the store she visited with her mom had its own aesthetic, its own brand, its own vision. Everything was curated. Every piece was unique. Now, about a decade later, the vintage shop she always dreamed of is one of two successful businesses she has started.

 

Moby Thrift

Lucy first thought of her initial business, Moby Thrift, in college where she studied fashion merchandising. Lucy and her husband Drew opened the vintage shop with the primary goal of sustainability. They recognize they’re not perfect, but they try to reuse or repurpose as much as possible. Outside of finding vintage items to stock inventory, they also repurposed baseball cards as clothing tags.

 

As Moby Thrift gained popularity, Lucy and Drew naturally started thinking next steps and elevating their products. Adding a logo to the back of a shirt. Creating tags for their apparel. Customization! Introduced to the Cricut ecosystem through a “scrapbooking mom,” Lucy first borrowed a machine from a friend’s mom to customize products or add a personal touch to items. Lucy eventually purchased a machine from Facebook Marketplace. So, “even my Cricut is second-hand as well!”

 

Initially only an online endeavor with occasional pop-ups, Moby Thrift opened a storefront in the college town of Provo, Utah in the winter of 2020. It’s one of the first small curated vintage shops in the state.

 

 

Retroflect

The continued success of their vintage shop under Drew’s lead got Lucy yearning for something of her own. According to Lucy, quarantine was also “the perfect time to start my own thing because I was kind of bored, sitting at home.”

 

So, she started collecting mirrors. Lucy wanted to keep that sustainability wherever she could and uses as many secondhand mirrors and scraps of vinyl as she can.

 

Retroflect, Lucy’s second business, also occupies a small footprint in the Moby Thrift storefront but mostly sells products online. TikTok has especially been fruitful, pushing thousands of new followers to her Instagram via videos that have gone viral and providing a marketing platform that that sells out her products within minutes.

 

 

One-of-a-Kind

Aside from sustainability, individuality is also a key ingredient in Lucy’s secret sauce. Who doesn’t want to own something that is completely unique and one-of-kind?

 

Of course, customization plays into individuality. Lucy takes on 10-15 custom order requests per month. With her continued investment in Cricut products and other design tools, it’s become a seamless process. From flowers for a wife who just lost her husband to heartfelt messages handwritten for a friend who is feeling depressed, Lucy finds it “an honor” to be able to design and make these custom projects. “Cricut has been able to help all (my businesses) come to life,” says Lucy.

 

Hear Lucy’s story:

 

 

To learn more about customizing with your Cricut machine watch this video. Cricut products are now available in select Staples stores. Click here to find a location near you.