Vintage clothes for a better Valyou
Although it started as an inside joke, senior Angela Medina and her siblings have started their own business, Valyou Flea Market, where they sell a variety of clothes.
The family-run business sells people’s clothes at flea markets, as well as gives the original owners an opportunity to trade items.
“My team and I wanted to create the sense of a community of fashion, where everyone can just like, share…and have a place where they can not just buy clothes,” Medina said.
Having a large collection of clothes played an essential role in the beginning of her business. Medina said she has always had a fascination with other people’s fashion styles and believes that what people wear reflects their personalities. By working long hours at the flea markets, she has gained the opportunity to talk to others about their personal styles and to also share her own.
“There’s something about just having your own sense of style that can make you relate to someone else’s, and I just believe that everyone dresses a certain way for a certain reason,” Medina said. “And just to find out stories about people on like how they develop their sense of fashion is really cool.”
Value Flea Markets only receives 10 percent of the profit, which they put back into the business. Another 10 percent goes to charity, and the rest of the money goes to the person who owned the clothes and was willing to sell them for partial profit. One charity the family donates to is the Filipino Immigrant Association, because it has a personal connection to Medina’s Filipino heritage.
“ We’re [her family] all like Filipino and so a big cause for us is the Filipino Immigrant Association,” Medina said. “So we try to give our money to charities that support Filipino immigrants who are like having struggles here.”
In her upcoming flea market, Medina is having another 10 percent go to a family member battling leukemia, and she hopes to keep on giving to help others as well. Medina says that she is willing to give to different causes, and not the same one every time.
“We’re actually donating our money to my cousin who was diagnosed with leukemia. And she’s not able to work so we’re raising money for her,” Medina said. “So we kind of don’t always donate to the same things.”
Valyou Flea Market’s first sale took place in Medina’s garage where about 100 people showed up, and since then, the business has been able to obtain spots at various flea markets selling around 500 sales. One of these markets include Melrose Trading Post, a popular location in Los Angeles, which has up to 8,000 people visiting every Sunday.
“Wherever we can get a venue, we set up shop,” Medina said. “ We are going once a month but now we’re going to be more like frequent and go twice a month… I’m selling practically all morning on Sundays.”
For more information on Valyou Flea Market, you can follow them on Facebook to stay posted on when and were their latest set ups are. Also, on their page you can find clothes for sale before setups and who to contact if you want to put your clothes up for sale.
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