This New West End Vintage Shop Will Ease the Fashion Fears that Keep You Up at Night

Existential Thread Co. Owner Bridget Duggan at Little City Thrifty. Photo by BJ Mansuetti/Ampersand Creative Co.

When times are tough or uncertain, sometimes the best thing you can do is treat yourself to a little secondhand shopping.

“Like retail therapy, but it’s less harmful because it’s old stuff we’re saving and not fast fashion,” says Bridget Duggan, founder and owner of Existential Thread Co.

She knows the benefits all too well. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Duggan made the decision to shift gears (“for the twelfth time, so millennial of me,” she says with a laugh) from booking acts for Boston-based clubs like Bella Luna Restaurant and the Milky Way Lounge (RIP) to working in the vintage retail space.

“I had always loved hunting for treasures since I was a kid,” she explains.

She had often happily tagged along while her mother, a music professor by trade, scoured the racks for potential costumes, and by the time she hit high school, she was well versed in thrifting and experimenting with fashion.

As an adult, Duggan became more familiar with the business side of retail a bit later on. Prior to the pandemic pivot, she had helped a client host a vintage makers mart. The experience not only provided a behind-the-scenes look at how the industry operated, but also lit a spark of inspiration within her.

“I was like, ‘I could do this,’” she recalls.

Once Duggan relocated to Providence — a move she and her husband had been considering even before Covid —  she established Existential Thread Co. with the tagline of, “Mostly vintage supplies for coping with the burden of awareness.” (Fun fact: the logo was designed by Rhode Island artist Pete MacPhee of Swamp Yankee).

“I just really love word play. I love a dad joke,” she says. “But [the name] was really born of the pandemic and seeking solace and feeling nostalgic or being drawn to something even if you don’t know why. Just getting away from the day to day of the unknown.”

She opened an eBay account, scored some great pieces, and started selling her finds on Etsy and at various local pop-up markets. Along the way, she teamed up with her friend and founder of High Energy Vintage to found Small Mart — a monthly vendor market in Somerville, Massachusetts.

But, she’ll admit, regularly schlepping a growing inventory from place to place can be (understandably) exhausting. Meanwhile, spending the rest of her time working from home made her feel isolated from the surrounding community. So, she began mulling over the idea of opening a brick and mortar in the Creative Capital.

“My mom always joked when I was a little girl: ‘You need to have your own store!’” Duggan says. “She brought that up when I saw her the other day and I was like, ‘You called it mom, you knew what I was going to do with my life.”

It was kismet when a friend introduced Duggan to a vacant storefront on Knight Street in the city’s West End. The wheels immediately started spinning for how she could transform the 125-year-old former pharmacy (check out her IG Reel on the building’s interesting history below).

 

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She got the keys in early November and was originally planning to hustle to open in time for the holidays, but instead she let herself take her time and enjoy the process. A fortuitous decision in the end, as it allowed for the discovery of the space’s true potential.

“There was a terrible carpet, and we peeled a tiny bit back to find all these checkered tiles underneath. At first, I didn’t know if I wanted to do more because I had just finished six weeks of painting and it was just me and my merry band of my husband, my aunt, my parents, and some very good friends working on the space,” she explains. “But what we uncovered was just so cool: green Terrazzo, pink stone…  The colors really went with the rest of the space. And there’s a lot of other interesting architectural details and features throughout, as well.”

The hidden gem-quality of the shop lends perfectly to the inventory itself, which is made up of unique vintage clothing, accessories, décor, artwork and tchotchkes.

“I think my specialty [in clothing] is mostly from the sixties to the 2000’s. I just really love those conversation starter pieces, like, ‘Wow, what is that? That’s funky.’ Things that really grab people’s attention,” Duggan says. “I also have a couple of pieces of art I’ve been holding onto, some needlepoint embroidery, and then I have a full set of these 1970s horoscope plaques.”

Memorabilia fans will be more than satisfied, too.

“My husband has a love of nineties sports stars, so through the process of going to the markets with me he’s helped source football and hockey jerseys and things of that nature,” she previews.

Photo courtesy of Bridget Duggan

And the collection is only poised to grow now that it has a dedicated space.

“Mostly I’m excited for people to see the front of the collection and how they fit together, and to be able to put them in a space that I’ve designed and feels authentic to my vision,” Duggan says. “And to get to know the folks that come in!”

If you want to get to know her too and peruse the store for yourself, Existential Thread Co. officially opens its doors today from 4–8 p.m. with music by DJ Edwin, a pop-up bar by Kimi’s and a selection of snacks You also can swing by on Saturdays and Sundays between noon and 6 p.m. Duggan further teases that the owner of the Knight Street property will soon open a specialty grocery store nearby called Sawyer’s and plans have been made for her to host a vintage pop up in its back parking lot in the spring.

Plus, Existential Thread Co. will still appear at the occasional market, like Little City Thrifty on March 1 and 2.

“This will be my second time there and I’m so excited, it’s a great event. The organizers, BJ and Robin, have been awesome,” Duggan says. “This small business community in general is by far the most supportive and I’m really excited to be a part of it.”

Existential Thread Co., 139 Knight St., Providence, instagram.com/existential.thread.co