Reno’s Junkee Clothing Exchange taking another chance

Jessica Schneider always dreamed of owning the building that houses Junkee Clothing Exchange at 960 S. Virginia St. in Midtown Reno. So much so that she used to leave Post-It notes throughout the building that said as much.

“I wrote everywhere, ‘I will own this building,’” Schneider said in an interview last week. “I always wanted to buy it.”

Schneider even prequalified for a business loan through Meadows Bank to purchase the property, and made one final offer for it but was declined yet again by the owner.

“My landlord was very good to me through the pandemic – she didn’t make me pay rent,” Schneider said. “She just didn’t want to sell the building.”

The realization that she would never own the building that housed Junkee was a coming-to moment for Schneider, one which eventually led to her relocating Junkee this fall to Reno Public Market on the corners of Plumb and Virginia streets. Schneider leased 13,000 square feet of shop space at Reno Public Market and will open her doors there beginning Oct. 1.

Birth of a Burner Business

Schneider founded Junkee Clothing Exchange in 2008 in Midtown Reno as the Great Recession began to unfold across the nation and would hit especially in Northern Nevada. This was also years before opening a business in Midtown became the cool thing for Millennials to do.

Junkee not only survived the recession, but it thrived, especially as Midtown began its decade-long revitalization and became a popular retail destination anchored in no small part by hip and offbeat shops like Junkee. The funky recycled clothing, antique and furniture store quickly became a must-stop for out-of-town and international Burners heading to the Black Rock Desert each Memorial Day weekend to celebrate Burning Man, which also helped it weather being shuttered for months during the pandemic.

Schneider clearly knows how to turn a profit out of the 17,718-square-foot brick building located on the odd corner where Center Street branches off from Virginia Street. However, a short time after this year’s Burning Man festival wraps up, Junkee will cease to operate in its longtime Midtown location. Schneider timed her move to ensure she lets as many customers from both near and far know what’s coming.

“There are 100,000 Junkee bags out there in the world,” Schneider said. “I order them in 10,000 increments, and they are all over the world because of Burning Man.

“I want to go through October so I can tell the Burners where I am going,” she added. “I saw the opportunity with all this growth (at RPM), it was something new, and they gave me a very good lease. It is different, but I don’t have to shovel the driveway. That building was breaking my body, and it was costing me so much money.”

Maintenance, More Maintenance, and More Expenses

Shoveling snow wasn’t the only maintenance associated with Junkee’s Virginia Street location. Schneider was locked into a triple-net lease, which meant she had to pay for all maintenance costs, as well as insurance and property taxes for the property. Triple-net leases are often preferred by national retail tenants such as coffee shops and pharmacies, who have deep balance sheets and don’t need the hassle of having a landlord involved in the daily affairs of operating their establishments. Those expenses rolled together can be hard to bear for small and independent retailers, though.

Maintenance was especially costly for the building that houses Junkee. It houses Schneider as well – she’s lived in an apartment above the store for more than a decade. The building was constructed in 1928, and routine and unexpected maintenance costs for the nearly 100-year old building were a large capital expenditure each year. Schneider said roof leaks brought on by the unprecedented amount of snowmelt and stormwater across the region this winter proved to be the final straw.

“I just couldn’t keep pumping money into that building (for maintenance). I really couldn’t keep up with it,” she said. ““I just thought, ‘What am I doing?’ Even if I sign another five-year lease, I’m in the same spot.”

If she would have been able to buy the building, at a minimum she would have had to put in a new fire sprinkler system. More than likely, she would have had to spend tens of thousands of additional dollars to bring the building up to code in other areas. Junkee had been operating on an annual lease since the pandemic, Schneider noted.

A New Chapter

The move to Reno Public Market came after many hours of deep soul searching.

Junkee had plateaued at its current location, Schneider said. Year-over-year growth was stagnant, but as business owners across Northern Nevada know well, those pesky maintenance expenses continued to increase in cost.

Reno Public Market, a shiny and compelling anchor to the completely transformed south end of the Midtown corridor, offered a way out of that repetitive cycle while keeping Junkee rooted on Virginia Street.

“I believe in Virginia Street,” Schneider said. “(Reno Public Market) is such a different spot. I look at it differently. Yes it is way more expensive, but I have security. I don’t have to clean the bathrooms, and I have heat and air conditioning.”

Schneider plans on spending the coming months transforming the newly renovated shell space into the signature eclectic Junkee shopping experience. She’ll begin moving over some of the wall art from Junkee, and she plans to clear out the bulk of the store’s merchandise during the final few weeks of her lease.

“Right now I am telling everyone who comes to the register where I am moving,” she said.

The original Junkee location had sat vacant for five years when Schneider first looked at the space. Despite the thick layers of dust she immediately understood how her business would work in the building. Schneider said she had the same vibe the moment she toured the space at RPM.

Still, trepidation about the move has brought many sleepless nights. However, Schneider is used to that feeling — and the self-belief that comes with hard-earned success. Junkee’s longevity has silenced a lot of doubters over the early years, and Schneider expects to prove her intuition correct once again.

“Everyone thought I was crazy (for taking space in Midtown), and crazy for naming it Junkee. (The space) was dark and cold, but I just got it. Now they think I am crazy (for taking space) here,” Schneider said of her polished new spot at Reno Public Market.

And the relocation isn’t the only major operational shift underway for Schneider. She’s also opening Uncle Junkee in about 11,000 square feet of space in the old Woolworth’s building at First and Virginia Street this year as well. Uncle Junkee will feature gear for the many of the pub crawls, college wear, stickers, unique and retro souvenirs, furniture, costumes, and some playa wear. A vinyl record business will occupy a section of the space as well, Schneider said.

Customers have expressed doubts about the store’s location, but that’s a story Schneider’s heard before.

“I have to just ignore it, because that’s what they said about Junkee. I knew Junkee would catch on and be a household name,” she said.

Schneider is funding the expansions with a business line of credit through Meadows Bank. She acknowledges that a lot of changes are coming, from where she works to the fact that more than a decade of simply walking downstairs to go to work will soon come to a close.

“This is very scary. I think about this all the time and lay in bed and say, ‘Oh my God. What am I doing? But I know I have to make it. I don’t have any other option but to make it.”