At some point in college, I picked up the book “Overdressed” by Elizabeth Cline and stopped shopping completely at Forever 21 and H&M. Since then, it’s been both a relief and a challenge to minimize my clothing purchases and shift at least half over to resale and sustainable brands — especially when it comes to formal or cocktail events, on a budget.

Formal/cocktail dress codes especially kill my enthusiasm for shopping, so when Suzanne Behnke suggested we turn to the Valley Junction pop-up boutique Styled by Goodwill ahead of the Business Record’s 35th anniversary and Greater brand launch party, I was more than willing. 

It turns out that Sarah Ekstrand, retail and design lead at Goodwill of Central Iowa, was more than willing to dive into the racks as well.  

While the pop-up shop experiment has wrapped for the season, the idea of short-term shopping destinations is no lowly trend: Brands like Chanel have offered merchandise at limited locations outside the traditional brick-and-mortar presence. Goodwill already has 18 traditional thrift stores in Central Iowa, but Styled by Goodwill set itself apart by curating inventory from all locations to one smaller, highly styled store using all donated goods: clothing, furniture, jewelry and so on, priced a bit higher than a traditional Goodwill location based on the brand and condition of each item. 

“My whole reason for being with Goodwill is because I know there’s such good stuff, and I want to get other people excited about this good stuff,” Ekstrand told me on my visit at the end of November.

It turns out Ekstrand and the other good people of Goodwill had already tested the concept small-scale once, at a 2017 dsm Magazine cover unveiling that Goodwill hosted. 

“People were super enthusiastic about it, and we did great with our sales,” Ekstrand said. “People let us know that while they love these amazing finds at the great prices, they don’t necessarily shop in our stores for a variety of reasons.” 

Later, a friend of Goodwill contacted the nonprofit about a storefront opening up in the Valley Junction shopping district. Ekstrand and co-workers got busy sorting through merchandise, and Styled by Goodwill was open six days a week in November, and seven days a week in December.

“We will definitely have more pop-up shopping experiences in 2019, for sure,” Ekstrand said. “It’s also just important to know that all of our revenue from our retail sales goes to support the mission work that we do. … We really want to get the best value out of the donations that people are generous enough to give us. We want to be good stewards of those donations.” 

The initiative hasn’t affected how other Goodwill stores were organized for longtime shoppers, Ekstrand said, and the small boutique didn’t take up all of Goodwill’s quality donations for a smaller audience. 

“For those people who love the thrill of the thrift, there’s still plenty out there for them,” she added. 

But beyond keeping watch for a new pop-up boutique in 2019, Ekstrand emailed me a couple of days later to say the company is exploring adding styling services to regular retailing. 

“We know that time-saving services are exactly what people crave currently, and we’ve seen other thrift stores have great success with that type of service,” Ekstrand wrote. “We would offer this alternative method to save a little on both time and money, without sacrificing quality or aesthetics.” 

If that sounds like your ideal shopping experience (trust me, it’s mine), send them a note at dmgoodwill@dmgoodwill.org. For the record, Ekstrand has her own great style, and attention to detail for others — I walked away after meeting her with my first jumpsuit, black and gold, that works well under my preferred oversized blazer (or if I’m especially cold, a sweater). With a pair of black heels, the whole purchase was under $20. There’s no doubt it will make a second appearance soon.

Jan. 9: This story has been updated to correct the Des Moines Goodwill email address. We apologize for the error.