Thrifting 4 decades

Hidden in a basement on the side of West State Street, Amused Clothing was founded by a former Purdue student who fell in love with thrifting nearly 40 years ago.

“When I was still a student, I was looking for a place off-campus to live. And so I found some people that could help,” said Robert Krusinski, owner of the store. “One of these people was this woman who taught me the ins and outs of thrift shopping.”

Krusinski studied natural resources and environmental science and had no idea his new hobby would stick. At the time, this person, Linda Vanderkolk, did not drive, which made the two a good pair because Krusinski could play chauffeur

“I ended up in a relationship with her,” Krusinski said. “She taught in the art department at Purdue, so she was an artist.”

Vanderkolk helped set up Krusinski’s first Amused Clothing store in 1986. She then became one of the founders of Artists’ Own in 1999, a local art gallery and shop, before passing away about 10 years later.

Krusinski is still involved in the items the store sells, and enlisting the help of four staff members, each responsible for a specific section of the store.

“I manage the skate section,” Ellie Parr said. “So, I do all the ordering for the decks, wheels and trucks.”

She began working at the store in 2020, during her freshman year. Parr was originally a customer, as this was one of the few skate shops in the area.

“I started skating, honestly, pretty much since I could walk; it was one of the first things I ever learned to do.”

She took to her job easily, fitting the profile of the average customer at Amused. Parr thinks deeply about what customers her age might be interested in.

“Whenever I’m looking for skateboards (for the store), I typically go for brands that I know the students will like because that’s a big majority of our clientele. The biggest thing is picking out a graphic on the deck that I know people would like,” she said. “I like to narrow it down to which ones I would feel comfortable skating and would know that other people would too.”

This is also similar to what the rest of the store workers follow. According to Parr, in addition to the items in Krusinski’s collection, Amused workers will often go to Goodwill or Millie’s to choose clothing for the store.

“We typically look for brands that are not fast fashion,” Parr said. “We try and find clothes that kind of have a uniqueness to them.”

The staff at Amused often bond through thrift shopping and have become friends. Parr even works with her sibling and childhood friend at Amused.

“I think people end up working here because we create a very welcoming environment,” Parr said. “And we allow people to take responsibility for certain portions of the store, which creates a big sense of accountability.”

The store has changed significantly since the late ‘80s. It even used to offer piercings at some point. However, Krusinski said all the changes have been made to improve the shopping experience. The 68-year-old store owner still tries to stay involved in the store as much as possible.

“I still go thrift shopping two, three times a week,” Krusinski said. “I like vintage because a lot of the time the fabric is better, the quality is better, there can be really interesting buttons and just styles,”

Parr will go on to other things as she wraps up her final few months.

“Having to leave this place is going to suck, but I’m also excited to see what’s next,” Parr said. “It is just a really unique space. There isn’t anywhere like this at Purdue.”