An online consignment shop gives users a safe place to shop and help others
PHILADELPHIA - In this uncertain time, two women have joined their talents to create a new way to feel better about shopping online while connecting with others and making donations for good causes. Their online shop is called Anxiety Marketplace and since April, they have raised $7,000 toward worthy causes.
Creators Sophia Yapalater and Jolie Defeis spent time with Good Day’s Mike Jerrick and Alex Holley to explain their online store.
The page, set on Instagram, is a place where users can buy and sell clothing and accessories. “It’s a take on consignment and thrift shopping, but on the internet,” Sophia explained.
Jolie went on to talk about how shopping is a relatable stress behavior. She was furloughed at the end of March and was looking for ways to make cash, but also donate, so she tried selling clothes through her Instagram page. She wanted to spur others to donate and she set it up in way people could donate 20 percent of sales to the Domestic Workers Alliance.
Sophia contacted Jolie wanting to join. Jolie went on to say, “People seemed to be really responsive to the idea and we realized we weren’t alone. And, using shopping as a coping mechanism and also wanting to shop right now and not feel bad about it and be able to donate as much as we can, we decided to make a page.”
“What we were thinking about, was that, right now, there’s so much stress and anxiety in the world, obviously, and people are looking for ways to create community and to feel connected to others during this incredibly stressful and isolating time. Our idea was, if we created a platform on Instagram, which is already a method for connection and communication, when we’re all isolated at home, where people could shop and share this commonality of using shopping as a coping mechanism, be open about that and also. Have the option to donate money while they’re doing it to causes and efforts that are actually doing on the ground work and have the capacity for that, that was basically what we wanted to do,” Sophia explained.
More information can be found at their Anxiety Marketplace online shop, here.
Anyone wishing to purchase items can do so through Venmo or Cash App.
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