SECONDHAND, FIRST PRIORITY

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SECONDHAND, FIRST PRIORITY
Creating Space: Kim-Parker’s Thrilling gives secondhand sellers an online platform.

Shilla Kim-Parker, chief executive of Thrilling Inc., is turning secondhand shopping into a second career.

Actually, it would be more accurate to say Kim-Parker has turned resale shopping into a third, fourth, or maybe fifth career via her 5-month-old company, which creates a central online platform for resale and thrift shops on website ShopThrilling.com.

Kim-Parker began her career path as an analyst for JP Morgan Chase & Co., then after getting her MBA at Harvard Business School, held executive positions at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Inc. and ABC News Inc. in New York. She then moved to Los Angeles to join Disney-ABC Television Group.

That wasn’t enough for Kim-Parker. “I’ve always had a burning desire to build something myself,” she said during a recent conversation at the company’s offices in a creative workspace in Burbank. She added with a laugh, “I know I’m not the typical entrepreneur. I’m close to 40, pregnant, with a 3-year-old at home. I’m also a female person of color. That kind of makes me not fit the mold.” As of this writing, Kim-Parker, her new baby son and family are doing just fine.

Kim-Parker does, however, fit the mold of her target market — the resale shopper who may be a working parent who no longer has time to pursue that perfect find. So why not take the thrill of the hunt online? Kim-Parker said a centralized web presence helps resale store owners compete with e-commerce. “They are mostly women, often sole breadwinners,” Kim-Parker said. “(They are often) the janitor, the bookkeeper, the fashion curator and the buyer. To add having to do all the work of e-commerce is overwhelming. We are hoping to bring second hand, these local businesses, to the digital age.”

Kim-Parker added that supporting secondhand shopping also addresses environmental concerns. “It can take up to 1,000 gallons of fresh water to make a single item of clothing,” she said. “Americans wear clothes an average of seven times before throwing them in the trash, and clothing is not biodegradable.”

The Association of Resale Professionals reports there are 25,000 resale, consignment and not-for-profit stores in the United States in 2019, with annual revenues of $17.5 billion. This includes antique stores. So far, Thrilling has partnered with Southern California resale stores Top Knot in Eagle Rock, Plus Bus Boutique in Glassell Park, Cannonball & Tilly in Carthay and The End in Yucca Valley, with plans for moving into the New York City market soon. Last week, Thrilling announced a new partnership with Good Will Industries Inc. to expand the thrift shop’s reach to new clientele.

For herself, Kim-Parker relies on secondhand apparel to look first-rate. “I think I am feminine and classic,” she said. “I like to be comfortable but have a lot of fun dressing up, wearing heels and a dress. I’m probably fairly conservative, but I love to facilitate other people’s wild inner fashion gods,” she added. “I want women to feel confident and beautiful.”

Above all, Kim-Parker wants female shoppers to think of second hand first. “Making secondhand shopping not a niche activity, but a popular mainstream habit around the world, is kind of what we’re trying to do here,” she said.

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