The Evolution of A to Zen: Former thrift store now provides space for other retailers

A to Zen Gifts and Thrift is a difficult business to describe - even owners Mike and Meredith Epps acknowledge it defies a neat label.

"How to define this store," Mike Epps said while scanning the thousands of items such as vintage toys, clothing, antiques, jewelry, knives, posters, furniture, fondue sets and more on display. "It isn't a thrift store, it isn't a book store. It's just a store."

The two-year-old venture started as a way for the couple to have a second income - Meredith, 36, still works as an X-ray technician - amid a sour economy that devastated the construction industry that had employed Mike, 42, since he was 17.

"We were opening a new store because we needed to reinvent ourselves," said Mike Epps, a carpenter and former contractor. "We opened as a thrift store. But that business changed and has evolved into something very different."

Today they are providing shelter - and display cases - for other local retailers who could no longer afford their own location. The Eppses like to think of it as a business co-op.

One of their dozen or so partners, for example, has a large collection of vintage toys (think original A-Team action figures).

The partner gives the Eppses a cut of his sales. Other partnerships include Halloween costumes, screen printed T-shirts and their book section with about 20,000 volumes.

"That's one of our other silent partners who had a used bookstore," Mike said. "In this economy it wasn't working so ... we absorbed his used bookstore."

"And then we send him a check," Meredith said.

Revelations Costumes - a "deluxe" costume rental shop - will set up inside A to Zen by next month, the Eppses said. The costume store is owned by Monica Coleman who also runs the Wedding Emporium in the Carson Mall.

"We didn't have room for the costumes here so that's why we partnered with Mike and Meredith," Coleman said.

Other partnerships include Michael Grimes' Haunted Dungeon. The 10,000-square-foot haunted house is set up in an empty warehouse behind the business. Another partnership in the future may include open mic nights with a nearby coffee shop.

When Mike Epps found himself out of work about two years ago he did not qualify for unemployment benefits. He said starting a new business was the only way forward.

"When I opened this store it was survive or don't," Epps said.

The business has evolved since he and Meredith opened it in February 2008, adding new lines of products from a variety of partners and suppliers.

"That makes me feel good because it's supportive in nature," he said. "By working together in this mess we can all get out of the back end of it and survive."

Meredith said customers who revisit the business months later often say the shop has dramatically changed since their first visit.

"It's what's so unique, we don't even know what to call it," Meredith said.

Adds Mike, "It's definitely under a constant evolution."