Love Street Salvage is back in a brick-and-mortar location after six years of existing online only, and owner Kristal Welsh is ready to use the two-story space to its full advantage.
The new Salt Lake City store, where Welsh sells vintage clothing and handmade items, is located at 1328 S. 2100 East, in the rear of the building.
Its main floor features a groovy vintage boutique with clothing and accessories mostly from the 1960s and ’70s. In the basement sits a sewing and crafting studio, complete with vintage sewing machines and cubbies filled with colorful vintage fabric.
Welsh’s plan is to hold classes and workshops downstairs about any topic related to circular, or sustainable, fashion.
“Let’s use what we already have,” she said. “Let’s keep it in circulation, whether it’s mending it, whether it’s refashioning it, whether it’s changing it, [or] adding something to it. There’s enough clothing to go around. We don’t need to buy new stuff.”
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Vintage clothing shopper Alicia Sharpe admires items from Love Street Salvage on Thursday, February 23, 2023. Owner Kristal Welsh's vintage boutique also offers a workshop space for crafting classes.
‘Something has to change’
Welsh’s first location, which opened in 2015, was in a Sugar House shopping center across the street from Whole Foods. But when that building was torn down to make way for development, Welsh had to move, and she ended up on 2100 South, a block or so east of 700 East.
That location ended up having problems, though. “I never felt really safe there,” she said. “So I had to get out.” In 2017, she decided to close Love Street Salvage and move online.
For six years, Welsh sold vintage clothing and handmade items through Etsy, and did a few workshops for Clever Octopus Reuse Center. She had planned to offer some small workshops out of her home, but scrapped the idea when COVID-19 hit.
“I just sunk deeper and deeper into isolation,” Welsh said. “Until it was just like, ‘OK, something has to change.’”
As pandemic restrictions began loosening, and lockdown ended, “I just started to realize that all my energy is coming from people. ... I just need people,” Welsh said.
This time though, she told herself she’d “do it different, and do it all about workshops and all about people.”
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Love Street Salvage owners Kristal and Thom Welsh move a rack of clothing outside in front of their shop Thursday, February 23, 2023. Welsh's vintage boutique also offers a workshop space for crafting classes.
‘Everybody’ is creative
When browsing the racks and displays at Love Street Salvage, you’ll happen upon things that Welsh has upcycled, or reworked. Pieces of granny square afghans turned into hats, purses and clothing. A black and white striped referee shirt turned into a mini dress with pockets in the front. A flowery apron dress fashioned out of a ’70s bedsheet.
They’re all examples of what Welsh wants to teach people: recycling old fabric, and reworking clothing that could serve a better purpose or be improved upon.
Sign-ups for her classes opened last week, and following Love Street Salvage on Instagram (@lovestreetsalvage) is the best way to find out which classes are coming up. They’ll be about topics ranging from mending to sewing to crocheting. Classes will begin in March.
She’ll also host what she calls “re-workshops,” where people can bring in a few items that could be reworked in some way, and just experiment, while having access to her collection of vintage and secondhand fabric, trim and sewing notions.
“I just really want to show people how easy stuff is,” Welsh said. “I think people feel intimidated a lot by people who are crafty, or they feel like they’re not crafty, or they’re not creative.”
“I think everybody is,” she continued, adding that she wants these classes “to be super nonintimidating and really laid-back, so that people feel comfortable.”
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Love Street Salvage's crafting space on Thursday, February 23, 2023.
Welsh plans to bring other vendors to the store who will teach classes, too. Starting in March, Jacqueline Whitmore, a sewist and owner of Copperhive Vintage, will be selling her own handmade plus-size clothing made from reclaimed and vintage fabric. She will be teaching workshops as well, with dates to be determined.
“Kristal’s shop is going to be the coolest,” Whitmore told The Salt Lake Tribune. “Legit what I see for the future of fashion.”
Whitmore’s husband, Logan Whitmore, will be filling a wall in Love Street Salvage with his wood cutout art that he describes as “saucy.” Follow Jacqueline on Instagram at @chubby.dust.bunny and Logan at @trailerparkliberace.
Love Street Salvage will generally be open from 12-6 p.m. on Wednesdays through Saturdays. The store held a grand opening event on Feb. 23.
