Early 2000s R&B and pop music plays on the speakers as shoppers search through rows of secondhand clothing and peruse handmade jewelry and vintage handbags. Located down 5th Street Market Alley, The Racks is a student-run secondhand clothing shop and Y2K paradise.
Walking into the store is like walking into the quintessential early 2000s teen movie. The bright red loveseat resembling a pair of lips surrounded by plush, cheetah-print high heel chairs and the ceiling high glass Vintage Vault full of rare, vintage designer pieces from brands like Dolce and Gabbana and Coach are distinctively Y2K.
Co-owner Allyssa Corpuz says that The Racks is reminiscent of the classic makeover scene — a popular trope in 1990s and early 2000s movies. “Where the main characters are doing the makeover scene and they’re in the dressing rooms changing into different outfits and being authentic and true to themselves,” she says, “I feel like that’s really what describes us,” she says.
The Racks sells secondhand clothing and handmade accessories sourced from more than a dozen different vendors based in Eugene, Portland and Seattle. Corpuz and her co-owner and partner, Dylan Harloff, also resell secondhand clothing at The Racks. When it comes to finding and curating clothing to resell, Corpuz says that you have to go “everywhere and anywhere possible.”
“We go from thrift stores, garage sales, estate sales, we have people bring their clothes to us,” she says. Corpuz and Harloff even go outside of the country to source one-of-a-kind vintage pieces. “It’s really fun, it’s like a treasure hunt,” she says.
Corpuz has been reselling clothing since 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, dressing rooms were closed but thrift stores weren’t accepting returns. She had a lot of thrifted clothing she could not wear, and started listing items on Depop, the social media-style thrifting marketplace. Her account quickly took off, and she found further success reselling clothing at markets.
“I got another job at Target, and I was making more in one day selling at markets than I was for a whole two-week period at Target,” Corpuz says.
Corpuz, who graduated from the University of Oregon in 2025 with a degree in architecture, started The Racks with Harloff as a pop-up shop during her time as a student. Once a week, the two sold clothing at the EMU on the UO campus.
When students began to suggest they open a store where people could shop any day of the week, they started looking for buildings to lease. “It took over six months to find our perfect place,” Corpuz says.
In June 2024, Corpuz and Harloff opened their first store on Oak Street. Corpuz says that it was difficult running the business as a student. “It’s kind of just me learning my way around business and having to figure it all out on my own.”
In October 2025, they made the transition to a new, and four times larger, location at 5th Street Public Market. Aside from some vendors, all Racks employees are UO or Lane Community College students.
Outside operating the store, Corpuz and Harloff are active in Eugene’s fashion scene, hosting the Rackstown USA Vintage Market in the spring and publishing Snatched, The Racks’ independent, print only fashion magazine.
“We created a big community, especially with our magazine,” Corpuz says. “It’s definitely one of the biggest factors in why we’re so successful today.” Snatched has a team of around 150 volunteer writers, photographers, designers, models, videographers and art directors, the majority of whom are UO students.
“We are always welcoming anyone to join,” Corpuz says. “We want everyone to have a chance to be creative and be a part of this fashion community.”
Corpuz and Harloff are currently in the process of moving to Los Angeles in hopes of opening a second location there. Corpuz’s sister, Tamayra Nicole Corpuz, is set to take over managing the Eugene store.
“We want to get acquainted with the vintage community down there and see who people are and what areas are the best for opening a vintage store,” Corpuz says. “Ideally, we do want to open locations across the nation.”
Corpuz not only strives to grow The Racks and build community through fashion, but feels that it is important to shop sustainably and avoid fast fashion.
“There’s a lot of waste that comes from fast fashion, and lots of things get sent to landfill,” she says. “Honestly, it doesn’t matter where you go. It could be The Racks, it could be Goodwill and St. Vinnie’s, anywhere that’s secondhand is automatically better than something brand new.”
The Racks is open 10 am to 7 pm Monday through 11 am to 6 pm Saturday and Sunday at 550 Pearl Street Suite 170. Call 541-650-6722 for more information or find The Racks on Instagram at Instagram.com/therackseugene.