The Blue Urban Project Thrift, a Veteran-owned thrift store that will also serve as a community education space and disaster response resource center, is opening late May in the Grand Central District, at 1620 Central Ave.
“What we love about it is how we designed it. It’s also going to double as a workshop area, so we put a lot of things on wheels so that we can clear out space and rearrange,” said co-founder Kirsten Hutchings.
“We want people to not just shop, but also learn something new.”
Blue Urban Project is a local nonprofit with the mission of advancing sustainable urban development with marine conservation, a concept known as blue urbanism.
Founded by Hutchings (former Army) and Raymond Salden (former Navy), the idea for the nonprofit came to the graduate school classmates after participating in a beach cleanup that felt a bit tone deaf.
“We asked the person in charge – ‘What do you do with all of this, you know, all the trash and stuff that you get. Do you do data recording or anything like that?”’ Hutchings explained.
“And their response was no, and then they just took what we’d picked up and put it in the trash along with the latex plastic gloves that they gave us, and the plastic bags that they gave us to collect. We found it counter-intuitive. On the surface, it looks great, but what is it really doing?”
Frustrated by the performative nature of the event, Salden and Hutchings decided to launch their own nonprofit built around blue urbanism (“an approach that emphasizes sustainable, resilient, and equitable growth by recognizing the deep interconnection between cities and the sea”). The organization has five programmatic concentrations: policy advocacy, original research, natural disaster community services, community education and outreach, and veterans services.
The Blue Urban Project was officially established in August 2024, but the arrival of Hurricanes Helene and Milton stalled the launch of its programs. A federal administration transition and the drying up of climate-related federal grants threw another wrench in Hutchings’ and Salden’s plans.
Not to be deterred, they came up with the idea for a sustainably-minded thrift store. Selling donated second-hand wares addresses the problem of the environmental impact of fast-fashion, and creates a low overhead for the business. And the profits can be used to fund their other program areas, instead of relying on a rocky federal funding landscape.
Furthermore, in the wake of a hurricane, the store, which is a member of the Pinellas Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD), will pivot and provide direct aid.
“The thrift store becomes a distribution center locally here,” said Hutchings. “Anything that we have left over will be for the folks that have been affected. We just empty everything out and bus it over to them.”
Keeping in line with their blue urbanism ideals, the founders intend to host education and community events (like “How to Hydroponics”) so that people can reduce their waste and increase green space. As if reselling clothes wasn’t sustainable enough, Hutchings envisions taking zero-waste one step further:
“When we have excess stuff that hasn’t been selling, we’re gonna try to get together with the sewing guys and do a workshop. Like, let’s make a bag out of all the leftover stock!”
Though the Blue Urban Project has plans for expansion across the state, for now it’s focused on small-scale, positive changes that build healthy coastal and community development.
“We want to let people know that you’re not just a separate piece of the environment that you occupy. You’re connected.”
Follow Blue Urban Project’s Instagram for updates on their opening date.
