Considering there are more than 29,000 thrift shops in the United States alone, it’s no surprise settling on a unique name when starting your own thrift store is no easy task.
Picking the right name gives potential customers an idea about your business’s services, creates a good first impression, and helps you stand out from the competition.
How do you come up with a creative name? And what business names are available to use?
Learn more about the thrift store industry
If you’re not sure how to answer those questions, you’re in the right place. Keep reading to learn my top tips for choosing the perfect business name and how to make sure your favorite choices are available across the board.
Tips for Choosing the Best Thrift Store Name
If you’re struggling to choose a company name for your thrift shop, one of the best things to do is to start brainstorming. As you go through the tips outlined below, make a list of words, phrases, and terms associated with your business.
From there, you can narrow down the list and cross off ideas you don’t like.
Once you have several top considerations, we’ll walk you through how to make sure you’re allowed to use them. This last step helps you narrow down your list even more so you can make a final decision.
1. Consider the Products You Plan to Offer
There are several types of thrift shops, so it’s essential to consider the services you plan to offer. Maybe you want to focus on high-end items or clothing for families.
Add the different types of services you want to offer to your brainstorming list.
Remember to avoid limiting your business’s future growth if you decide to go in another direction.
2. Location-Specific Terms
Many thrift shops are specific to a geographic service area. So, if that’s true for your business, consider adding a location-specific term to your business name.
You can consider things like:
- City nicknames
- Neighborhoods
- Regions or states
- And descriptive terms
However, consider what happens if you expand outside your intended service area. Does the name become limiting? If so, it’s best to avoid it if you plan to expand or change directions later.
3. Avoid Business Names That Are Hard to Pronounce or Spell
Despite the technological advances in voice search, assistants like Siri and Alexa struggle to understand slang and other confusing words.
This could limit how often your business shows up in voice (and text-based) searches if your name is hard to spell, pronounce, or hear. Because of that, it’s important to avoid complicated words, industry jargon, and using numbers in place of letters. While having a unique thrift shop name is good, being too unique may not be so good.
Keep your business name as simple and easy to remember as possible so potential customers can easily find you.
4. Consider Alliterations and Rhyming Words
Alliterations and rhymes are catchy and easy to remember. Because of that, they make for great business names.
That said, it’s not always easy to come up with them. Start by choosing a few of your favorite words from your master brainstorming list.
Then, you can Google “words that start with T” to come up with a name like Trendy Treasures or B for Better Bargains or whatever letter you’re using to create an alliteration. Alternatively, you can search “words that rhyme with _____.”
It can be time-consuming, but it’s an excellent place to start.
And don’t forget to add any exciting finds to your brainstorm list while you’re at it. Try not to overthink the names you come up with. Just write them all down, as some of the more interesting ones may spark better ideas later.
5. Steer Clear of Initials or Obscure Acronyms
Initials and unusual acronyms are hard to remember, so they typically don’t make great business names. They can also be challenging to pronounce and confusing for voice search as well.
Furthermore, there are 325 different two-letter combination possibilities in the English language. And the odds of your customers remembering the specific letters you chose are pretty small.
6. Imagery Words
Another consideration when brainstorming name ideas is whether there are industry-related words that could also lend themselves to be used in a logo. For instance, a thrift shop could use an image of a coat hanger or a shopping bag and focus the name around the image.
Related: How to create a logo for your business.
7. Still Struggling? Try the Owner’s Name
If you’ve made it this far and are still struggling to find the best name, you can always consider using the business owner’s name. Doing so works well if the owner also plans to be the face behind the business.
Something to keep in mind is that using the owner’s name as the business name can make it more challenging to sell the business in the future.
List of Catchy Thrift Store Business Names
Here is a list of existing business names that may help give you some creative thrift shop name ideas. While many of these names may be available for you to use, be sure to check first to be sure they can be used.
Tips on how to check business name availability are after the list of names!
- 1 Stop Thrift Shop
- 2 Girls & A Thrift Shop
- 29th & Thrift
- 2nd Chance Thrift Shop
- 2nd Time Thrift
- 3 Monkeys Thrift
- 360 Community Thrift Store
- Agape Christian Academy Thrift
- All Angels Thrift Store
- All The Cats Thrift
- All Your Needs Thrift Store
- Amayzing Thrift
- American Thrift Of Tallassee
- American Veterans Thrift Store
- Angels Thrift Shop
- Angie’s Place Thrift Shop
- Animal League Thrift Shop
- Attic Addict
- Barely Thrift Boutique
- Bargain Alley Thrift Store
- Bargains Galore Thrift Store
- Bayside Thrift Store
- Best Resale Shop
- Best Secondhand Clothing
- Better Bargains Thrift Store
- Better Than Blessed Thrift Sore
- Big Mama Thrift Store
- Big Thrift Store
- Blessed Family’s Thrift Store
- Bow Wow Thrift
- Brass Tacks Thriftique
- Bright Eyes Thrift Store
- Buck Stops Here Thrift
- Caritas Opportunity Shop
- Catchings Gentlemens Thrift
- Cathy’s Angels Thrift Store
- Center Thrift
- Charitable Thrift Store
- Charity Boyz
- Charity Thrift Store
- Cheap Treasures Thrift Store
- City Thrift Store
- Closet Consignment
- Clothes for Kids Resale
- Community Closet Thrift Store
- Community Thrift & Gift
- Community Thrift Store
- Consignment Bar
- Crazy Penny Thrift
- Daily Thrift Store
- Deals Thrift Store
- Depot Thrift Store
- Desert Second-Hand Store
- Dollar Thrift Store
- Donna’s Nu 2 U
- Downtown Consignment Store
- Dress For Less Thrift
- Driven With A Purpose Thrift
- E Z Buys Thrift Store
- Eagle’s Nest Thrift Store
- Emma’s Closet Thrift Shop
- Fabulous Finds
- Family Thrift Store
- Family Treasures
- Fast Fashion
- Find Stuff
- Finicky Flamingo
- Fifth Street Thrift Shop
- Flamingo Thrift
- Funky Munky Art & Thrift Store
- Galaxy Thrift
- Genesis Thrift Store
- Good Vibes Thrift Shop
- Granny’s Treasure
- Halo’s Rescue Treasures
- Hammock Thrift Shop
- Hand To Hand Thrift Store
- Hannah’s Closet Thrift Store
- Happy Thrift Shop
- Haven House Thrift Shop
- Hidden Junk
- Hidden Treasure Chest
- Hidden Treasures Thrift Boutique
- His Glory Apparel Thrift Store
- Honest Thrift
- Hope Store
- Hope Thrift Service
- Hope’s Closet Thrift Store
- House Of Hope Thrift Store
- Junk Drawer Thrift Store
- Just What I Needed Thrift
- Kell’s Lil Thrift Shop
- Kings Gospel Mission Thrift
- Lakeview Thrift Store
- Liberty Thrift Store
- Lil Big Thrift Store
- Lil Thrift Shop
- Living Water Thrift Store
- Loved Things
- Lucky 8 Thrift Store
- Lucky Bird Thrift
- Meet The Need Thrift Store
- Mini Thrift Store
- Molly Mutt Consignment Shop
- My Angels Thrift Store
- Nearly New Shop
- Needful Things
- Never Know Thrift Shop
- New Again Thrift
- New Beginnings
- New Closet
- New Hope Bargain Shoppe
- New Seasons Thrift Store
- Nice Twice Resellery
- Nifty Thrifty
- Nifty Thrifty Exchange
- Nobody’s Thrift Store
- Not So Ordinary Thrift Shop
- Oldies But Goodies Thrift
- Our People Thrift Store
- Out Of The Closet
- Paws & Claws Thriftstore
- Pop’s Thrift & Treasures
- Pretty Parlor Resale
- Price Is Right Thrift Store
- Puffy’s Thrift Mercantile
- Quality Thrift Store
- Rabbit Hole Resale
- Recovery Resale Thrift
- Recycled Love Thrift Store
- Red Barn Thrift Store
- Renew Thrift Shop
- Rescue Ranch Thrift Store
- Sacred Heart Consignment
- Scrappy’s Thrift Store
- Second Bliss Resale
- Second Chance Racks
- Second Chance Thrift Store
- Second Daze Consignment
- Second Hand Heaven
- Second Hand Resale
- Second-Hand Thrift
- Second Time Resale Shop
- Something Old Something New
- Sparrow’s Nest Thrift Store
- Sunshine Thrift Store
- Super Value Thrift Store
- Tahoe Thrift
- Take Two Thrift Shop
- The Attic Shop
- The Best Thrift Store
- Thirty Mom’s Attic
- This & That Thrift Store
- Three Hearts Thrift Store
- Three Thrifty Girls
- Thrift & Gift
- Thrift Avenue
- Thrift City
- Thrift King
- Thrift N Style
- Thrift On Woodlawn
- Thrift Restore Treasures
- Thrift Shoppe
- Thrift Store City
- Thrift Warehouse
- Thrift World
- Thriftopia
- Thrifty 2nds
- Thrifty Dog
- Thrifty Finds
- Thrifty Missy
- Thrifty Payless
- Thrifty Store & Boutique
- Thrifty Thready
- Thrifty What Nots
- Thriftyrascals
- Tiny Huts Consignment
- Tomorrow’s Hope Thrift Store
- Tom’s Treasures & Thrift
- Treasure Chest Thrift
- Treasure Coast Thrift Shop
- Treasure Hunt Thrift Store
- Treasure Hunters Estate Finds
- Treasures Thrift Shop
- Trends Thrift Shop
- Trendy Bitty Consignment
- Tropical Thrift
- Twice Around Thrift Store
- Twice Vintage Shop
- Two Sister Thrift Store
- U Save Bargains
- Unique Outlet Thrift
- Unique Treasures Thrift Store
- Variety Thrift Store
- Veterans Thrift
- Village Thrift Shop
- Vintage Clothing
- Vintage Thrift
- Wee Bitty Kidz Consignment
- Weekend Thrift & Beauty
- Wifes Dis N Dat
- Wish Upon A Thrift
- Wonderful Wardrobe Consignment
- Yard Sale Thrift Store
- Your Everyday Thrift Store
Is Your Thrift Store Name Available to Use?
At this point, you should have several top considerations to choose from. And the best way to narrow it down further is to check each one for availability.
This step is vital because using a name that someone else is using could be very costly, time-consuming to rebrand your business, and possibly embarrassing. There are several places to look to check whether a name is available to use, so let’s walk through some of the common ones.
Can the business name be registered in your state?
If you plan to register your thrift store business name as a corporation or LLC, each state requires a unique company name.
This makes it important to search the Secretary of State’s name database in the state you plan to register to ensure your name isn’t already in use.
In most states, sole proprietorships and partnerships are required to register a Doing Business As (DBA) or Assumed Name if they aren’t doing business under the owner’s full first and last name. A few states require them to use a unique name, while others will let you pick just about any name you choose.
Related: How to check business name availability in your state
Is your business name already trademarked?
When searching for a name for your new thrift store, you need to make sure your new name isn’t trademarked by someone else. If it is, you may not be allowed to use it legally.
Thankfully, the United States Patent Trademark Office (USPTO) makes trademark searching a breeze through their Trademark Database.
If your name is available and you want to protect it from being used by anyone else, you can register your name with the USPTO.
Related: How to check for a trademark
Hopefully, you now have some good name ideas for your thrift shop. Once you have narrowed this list to just a few and researched that they are all available, start asking friends, family, and potential customers their thoughts to get feedback and then pick your perfect thrift shop name!
