Babbitt Thrift Store will celebrate its launch on June 19, opening its doors to locals and visitors in town for Peter Mitchell Days.
“My goal is affordable prices, a welcoming environment and a place where items and stories get a second chance,” said founder Kati Stage. She aims to prioritize a quick turnaround on items to keep a fresh inventory for regular customers.
Down to the smallest details of Babbitt Thrift Shop’s design, Stage practices what she preaches. The new store features shelving units and displays upcycled from locally- sourced secondhand furniture, a reclaimed pallet wall behind the counter and a vintage register.
The shop finds its home at the former location of Northern Frontiers Thrift, situated in the same building as Zup’s on Central Boulevard.
“I’ve been wanting to do this for a couple of years,” Stage said.
Stage grew up thrifting with her mother, using and wearing secondhand finds in her South St. Paul home, which featured many antiques and vintage goods. Stage’s father taught her to fix and convert objects to grant them “a second life.”
Now that she’s lived in Embarrass for six years, Stage leaped on an opportunity to bring her background to the forefront of the community.
“The reason I decided to open Babbitt Thrift Store really comes down to what thrift stores used to feel like. Growing up, thrifting was a treasure hunt. You could walk into a place, dig around and find something amazing, not because it was expensive or trendy, but because it spoke to you,” Stage said.
Stage checked out locations in Ely, Embarrass and Babbitt throughout the spring, handing out her concept card with the hopes of landing a space for her business idea. In early May, she learned that Northern Frontiers Thrift would soon shift out of their 31 Central Boulevard location.
“It happened really fast. I jumped on it,” Stage said.
By the end of the month, Stage owned a storefront — and one in good shape, too.
“The carpet was amazing, the paint was amazing. I just put my personality in it,” Stage said.
Though this will be her first brick and mortar endeavor, Stage is no stranger to entrepreneurship. She runs her own Etsy shop, ArtisticFire, a platform on which she resells “hidden treasures” sourced from her own collections or other upcycled finds.
With her foot in the door of Babbitt’s business ecosystem, Stage plans to “give back to the community” by donating money to school programs at Northeast Range, where her nieces attend school.
Stage also hopes to provide free clothing to local assisted living homes like the one she works at in Tower, Vermilion Senior Living. Once the business is open, Stage will work part-time for the care facility and part-time at the thrift shop.
“Small towns have always been built on people helping each other, and I wanted to feel less like a store and more like a community space,” Stage said.
Beyond philanthropy, Stage intends to carry this people-first ethos into her business model.
“I want my store to bring back the feeling where anyone can walk in – whether they're finding something perfect for their first apartment, shopping on a budget, a collector, a reseller, or just someone who loves finding hidden treasures and leave feeling like they found something special,” Stage said.
