By From jewelry, clothes, hats and cameras, couple Chanel Stone and Steven Badger sell it all.
Together since 2017, Stone and Badger eventually went into business together. Their stall on campus is a merger between their two vintage shops, 5 Loaves Two Fish and Buzinessnabox, but second hand pieces are not all they sell.
Self-described curators, Stone also runs an organic pressed juice business called Juice Lyfe, while Badger works under his brand, Continual Coincidences.
Badger began selling 25 years ago, even selling toys as a kid. He started taking his role as a curator and businessman more seriously in the last ten years.
Prior to that, Badger was a business student at California Polytechnic State University. After graduating with a business degree from the university, he immediately began a corporate job at ADP, a management services company.
At the front of their vintage stall on Long Beach State’s Upper Campus stands two tables, this one features various pieces of jewelry, pins and hats. Photo credit: Jamie R. Austria
While working at the company, Badger said he had the realization of not wanting to take a check from a corporate job anymore. In 2009, after leaving his position at ADP, he went on to own a gym called Agape Fitness Bootcamp with his brother Andrew.
After over a decade of running the gym, the two closed its doors and Badger began selling vintage collectables full time.
“I had to do my own thing, make my own hours and I didn’t want a ceiling on what I could make,” Badger said. “God gave me the eye and I’ve always seen value in things since I was a kid, so it helped me to easily transition into this and have it be profitable from day one.”
During this time, he met Stone and taught her how to have “the eye.”
“Every sale that he would make online, he would text me that sale, so as I began to see I kind of developed an eye,” Stone said. “I learned, but you can’t really learn someone else’s eye, you have to develop your own, but his eye really influenced mine.”
While developing her own eye for selling, Stone’s first big sale helped to solidify her trust in herself and her instincts.
It was in 2020 when the two turned their attention to vintage hats.
When out looking for new pieces, Stone recounts picking up what she described as an “old, dirty, sweaty” hat from a bin purchasing it for $2.50.
Unbeknownst to its value, she placed the hat up for sale on eBay, and within a week, someone from the UK had bought the hat off of her for a grand total of $250.
Stone said that was when she knew to trust “in the eye.”
On another table inside the tent on Nov. 19, owners Chanel Stone and Steven Badger display a variety of vintage cameras and trinkets available for purchase. Photo credit: Jamie R. Austria
The business, to the couple, is more than just selling. Through each piece, the two hope to bring the past to the people of the present, by sparking an emotional connection through nostalgia and personal memories.
Stone emphasized the need to put people first, before money or profit.
“It’s more than just selling vintage clothing, there’s pieces in here where someone will walk in, grab a piece and they’ll put it on and you know it was made for them,” Stone said. “I’m not trying to hype you up, it looks like it was made for you and so that brings me joy.”
Minutes later, Stone made a sale.
Looking through the racks of coats was Cecelia Allen, a graduate student at California State Dominguez Hills, visiting her boyfriend at the Beach.
Passing through campus when she saw the stall, Allen found a black trench coat that caught her attention.
“I’m short, and this is like a stylish trench that I think is a little oversized which I also like for layering. The proportions feel correct and I’m only 5’3, maybe 5’4,” Allen said. “I’m going to San Francisco and I was like ‘this would be great’ and I like studying outside but it gets cold, so I can just walk away with this on and go back to doing my work now.”
After purchasing her new coat, Allen walked away from the stall telling Stone, “This was great, the greatest shopping experience.”
While waiting for the rush of students to come by their tent on Nov. 19, couple Steven Badger and Chanel Stone reorganize their merchandise. To the left, a rack of coats were on display for customers to look through and try on, selling for $40 each. Photo credit: Jamie R. Austria
Encouraging each other to elevate and work on their businesses, the two often merge their work and have created what they call ‘Sip ‘n Thrift’: A pop up where customers can go and shop vintage pieces from Buzinessnabox and 5 Loaves Two Fish, while also grabbing a drink from Stone’s drink service, Juice Lyfe.
During a pop up in Claremont, the couple met a professor who told them about the opportunity to sell at CSULB. The two pursued the opportunity with Badger doing a deep dive into the school’s demographic and specs in preparation.
Moving forward, the couple hope to expand their business by finding a place that brings the most people to them and what they have to offer.
