All aboard: A vintage bus offers Sacramento a quick detour away from fast fashion
Audrey Panson has always had a thing for the vintage vibe. When she was younger, she loved browsing thrift stores for treasures and deals.
Now she’s all in with her shop The Bus Stop Vintage, which she runs out of a refurbished school bus with partner Alika Lemon. The Bus Stop specializes in clothing, accessories and some home goods dating back as far as the 1920s.
Born and raised in East Sacramento, Panson attended the University of San Francisco to study sociology. Even though she enjoyed her time there, she was drawn back to Sacramento and its lifestyle after college.
“I especially love how easy it is to bike the city,” Panson said.
Panson and Lemon were in the restaurant industry when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and they found themselves without a regular gig. While some of us holed up in our homes to wait it out, they seized the opportunity to do something different. They bought a refurbished school bus and lived in it while exploring the Northern California coast.
After landing back in Sacramento, they knew bus life, with no air conditioning, was not an option for them. They rented an apartment again. While trying to figure out what they could do with the bus, they had the idea to combine all of their vintage loves into a store almost a year ago.
Panson already had an extensive vintage clothing collection that was more than she could wear. She loved finding good pieces, whether they were for herself or not. She had already been doing a little reselling online, so she had an idea of what people were looking for in vintage clothing. They started off at a farmers’ market.
“The farmers’ market was huge for exposure and customers for us,” Panson said.
Now you can find their big green bus at the Midtown Farmers’ Market every Saturday. They have clothing racks set up outside of the bus for mostly women’s items, but some men’s as well. The bus had been outfitted with counters to display vintage glassware. The back of the bus has a fitting room if you want to try something on. Along with the vintage finds, they also carry items such as jewelry from local artisans.
Curating the collection is exciting for Panson.
“It’s a great source of connection with people,” she said. “I love learning their stories.”
She sources most of the Bus Stop’s wares from estate sales and thrift stores from Sacramento to the Bay Area. Panson loves hearing how items came to be in someone’s possession, and often takes the next step to research the history of items. Her favorite recent find was a handwoven bag from the island of Lombak, near Indonesia, made of rattan, palm leaf and carved wood.
Panson’s passion for vintage clearly goes beyond finding unique things. She also wants to counteract some of the harmful effects of fast fashion. Fast fashion focuses on mass-producing new and trendy items at a low financial cost. Clothing fashion used to be more about well-made items you could wear frequently.
If a seam pulled apart, you repaired it. If your weight changed, you had the item tailored. According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, in 1960 1,310 thousands of tons of clothing and footwear went into landfills. By 2018, that grew to 9,070 thousands of tons of clothing and footwear.
Both Panson and Lemon enjoy an unconventional approach to work, and the Bus Stop has been a great fit for them.
“I love having the autonomy and balancing my own time,” Panson said. “And I love to do things my own way.”
This store is definitely unconventional. For every time they are going to sell, they need to park the bus, unload and set up. When the day is done, it gets packed up again. Even that temporary setup is something Panson enjoys, as she loves being able to set things up however her mood strikes.
It’s never quite the same shop. Lemon takes care of the photography and design side of the business.
Find The Bus Stop Vintage
The Bus Stop Vintage is open Thursday through Sunday. Thursday, Friday and Sunday, you can find it by the MARRS building in midtown. Saturdays, it is at the Midtown Farmers’ Market. They are also reaching out to breweries and other places that take vendors. You can even rent the bus for a private party or event. If you want to keep an eye on Panson’s new finds and where you can shop The Bus Stop, follow them on Instagram @_thebusstop_. Shopping is also available on their website thebusstopvintage.com. Once a month they do a drop of about 60 items to the website, which can either be picked up or shipped out.
This story was originally published March 10, 2022 at 6:18 AM.